CHAPTER 34
MAUREEN
The light was too white. Blinding, sterile.
My throat felt like sandpaper, and there was a slow, persistent beep somewhere nearby. Machines. Needles. A tube in my arm.
I tried to move.
Pain.
Not sharp—but dull and deep, like someone had hollowed out my chest and stuffed it with concrete.
My eyes fluttered open.
A ceiling. Off-white. Cracked slightly at the edge.
Then… shadows.
“Maureen.”
That voice.
It was low, quiet.
Steady as ever.
Domenico.
I turned my head slowly. He was sitting in a chair by the bed, legs apart, elbows on his thighs, watching me like he hadn’t looked away once.
“…What happened?” I croaked. Even my voice sounded wrong.
He didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he stood and poured a glass of water from the table. He held it to my lips,
