☕ Chapter 17 —THE SCAR AND THE KISS
332 Words
The hospital room was quiet, save for the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor and the soft hum of the city beyond the window. Luciano lay in the bed, pale but alive, his shoulder bandaged, his breath steady. Elias hadn’t left his side.
He sat curled in the visitor’s chair, legs tucked beneath him, watching the man who had once terrified him. Now, he was just a man — wounded, vulnerable, and impossibly dear.
Luciano stirred. His eyes fluttered open, finding Elias instantly.
“You stayed,” he murmured.
Elias leaned forward. “Of course I did.”
Luciano tried to sit up, wincing. Elias was there in a heartbeat, adjusting the pillows, steadying him with gentle hands.
“You’re not supposed to move,” Elias said softly.
Luciano smirked. “I don’t take orders well.”
Elias smiled, brushing a strand of hair from Luciano’s forehead. “Then consider it a request.”
They sat in silence for a while, the weight of everything that had happened pressing gently between them.
Elias reached for a damp cloth and began cleaning the dried blood from Luciano’s hand, his touch reverent.
“You saved me,” Elias whispered. “Again.”
Luciano’s gaze was steady. “You’re worth saving.”
Elias paused. “Even if it costs you everything?”
Luciano nodded. “Especially then.”
Elias leaned in, pressing a kiss to Luciano’s temple — soft, lingering, full of everything words couldn’t say. Luciano closed his eyes, exhaling slowly.
“I never thought I’d need someone,” he said. “But I need you.”
Elias took his hand. “Then you have me.”
Luciano turned his palm upward, revealing the scar from the bullet wound. Elias traced it gently, then kissed it.
“A mark of loyalty,” he said.
“A mark of love,” Luciano replied.
And in that quiet room, surrounded by machines and silence, they found something stronger than power, deeper than submission.
They found peace.
- Writer
