She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence.
Bella wrapped her in a tight hug, as if afraid she might disappear again. The embrace was real. No fear. No politics. No clans. Just friendship.
“Oh God… you have no idea,” Bella pulled back, searching her face. “I thought you were— that you’d died. Or vanished. No one let me see you at the hospital. I called—your phone was unreachable. Messages bounced back. Nothing. Not a single word.”
“I noticed that too,” Nicoletta stepped inside and sank onto the old couch. “It felt strange that no one wrote. Not you. Not the girls. Nothing. I thought… maybe everyone had turned away.”
“How could anyone turn away?” Bella snapped, setting the kettle down hard. “You almost died, Letta! I stood outside the hospital begging security. I called your brother
