Fake Sickness, Real Consequences

Ice-cold water crashed over my head, shocking me awake.

My back stung as the water hit the open lashes, and a violent shiver ran through me. My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.

Luca stood in front of me, face dark with anger. “Helena almost suffocated just now. The doctor says she was scared. What did you say to her?”

I coughed twice, more blood slipping from the corner of my mouth. The metallic taste clung to my throat.

“Luca, when are you going to wake up? She’s faking it.”

“Faking?” He crouched down, grabbing my chin. “She’s been in a hospital bed for ten years. She can’t even walk. What would she gain from pretending?”

“What she gains is watching you destroy me!”

I met his eyes, finally shouting the truth I’d buried for a decade. “During the shootout, Marcus saw her go into the danger zone with someone from a rival family! He was your trusted man. Ask him!”

Luca’s expression flickered, then twisted into a cold sneer. “Marcus defected three years ago. You expect me to believe a traitor?”

“He didn’t defect. You threw him out!”

I tried to sit up, panic bubbling in my chest, but Luca shoved me flat against the floor. The wound on my back scraped against the ground, and a sharp hiss escaped me.

“He tried to tell you the truth back then, but you refused to listen! You said I bribed him! Luca, you just don’t have the courage to face what really happened!”

Before he could reply, a voice called from outside the door. “Don Vittori, Miss Helena feels unwell again. She says she wants to see you.”

He released me instantly and got up to walk out the door, not wanting to stay even a second longer.

At the doorway, he paused only long enough to leave one more threat. “Mention Marcus again, and I’ll throw you into the rival family’s territory myself. You won’t survive a day.”

The door locked shut, and silence swallowed the attic once more.

Pain burned across my back, but the cold inside me hurt worse.

Luca would never believe me unless I found proof. However, Marcus had vanished the moment Luca drove him out. Where was I supposed to look?

I didn’t know how long I lay there before the lock clicked again.

Helena wheeled herself in, holding a stack of papers.

She tossed them onto the floor in front of me. “This is the termination agreement. Go ahead and sign.”

I stared at her, stunned. “You would be so kind?”

“It’s not me being kind. Luca told me to bring it.” She smirked, pride gleaming in her eyes.

“He said that as long as you sign and leave the Vittori family, he won’t hold your past crimes against you. But…”

She paused, then pulled a knife from the side of her wheelchair and let it clatter to the floor in front of me. “You’re going to write a statement first. Admit you pushed me into the danger zone on purpose and caused my ten-year coma.”

“I’m not signing that.” I shoved the papers back toward her, my fingers trembling with anger.

“I won’t write lies about something I didn’t do.”

“Oh, you’ll write it.” Her expression darkened, and she said viciously, “Either write it, or I’ll cut myself and tell Luca you tried to kill me. Who do you think he’ll believe? You or me?”

I stared at the knife, then at her smug face, and laughed.

“You really think that’ll work? Helena, you’re wrong. Even if I die, I won’t sign your statement.”

Her expression twisted. She lunged forward, reaching for the papers.

Instinctively, my hand closed around something on the floor, a shard from the broken soup bowl. Its edge was still sharp.

The moment she came close, I lifted it and pressed it to my throat. “Don’t come any closer! One more step and I’ll end it right here!”

Helena froze, startled. “You’re insane.”

“Driven insane by you and Luca!” My hand trembled. The shard had already sliced my skin, and blood trickled down my neck. “If you tell Luca, I’ll say you tried to force me into writing a false confession and tried to kill me! Let’s see who he believes, then!”

She stared at the blood streaking down my neck and let out a cold laugh.

“You think he’d believe you? Even if you die, he’ll say you killed yourself out of guilt.”

Before I realized what she meant to do, she suddenly shoved the armrest of her wheelchair.

The chair shot forward, slamming into me.

The shard flew from my hand. My body was knocked backward, and my skull cracked hard against the sharp corner of the wall. A burst of pain exploded behind my eyes, and everything went black.

Before consciousness slipped away completely, I heard her taking photos with her phone and her trembling voice on the phone.

“Luca… Eva tried to kill me… She cut her own neck and said she wanted to drag me down with her…”