LOGINCiara’s pov.Dax held me closer, patting my back lightly and more tears fell“It’s all right, little moon,” he murmured, one hand settling against the back of my head. “Daddy's here, I'm sorry I left you all alone.”“I don’t know what happened,” I whispered against him. “She was speaking and then those things appeared around her neck. We couldn’t touch them, Dax. She couldn’t breathe.”“I know.”“They said she was already sick. How could she be that sick without anyone treating her?”“We will find out.”His calm voice did not dismiss my fear. It held it, giving me room to fall apart without feeling ashamed.I clutched the front of his shirt. “What if she doesn’t wake up?”“She will, love, she definitely will.” he planted a kiss on my head and I sobbed more “You don’t know that.”“No,” he said quietly. “But I know she is receiving the best care available, and I know you need to breathe before you frighten the pup.”I tried to breathe, but another sob rose instead. Dax held me closer,
Ciara’s POVI had lost count of how many times I had walked from one end of the private hospital corridor to the other.The polished floor reflected the harsh white lights above me, and the smell of disinfectant sat heavily in the air, making my already unsettled stomach turn. Each time I reached the doors leading to the operating theatre, I slowed down, hoping someone would come out with news, but the red light remained on and the hallway stayed painfully quiet.My mother was still inside.Only a few hours ago, she had been kneeling before me, crying into my dress and calling me Cici as though the years between us had disappeared. Then those red threads had appeared around her throat and tightened until she could no longer breathe.The memory refused to leave me.Her face turning red, fingers clawing uselessly at her neck and the silent terror in her eyes as blood formed beneath the glowing strings.I had panicked so badly that I barely remembered what happened after screaming for he
Ciara’s pov.The tune came slowly at first, pulled from a memory I had not touched in years. It was an old Italian lullaby she used to sing whenever I woke from nightmares as a child. I could not remember every word, so I hummed the parts I knew, running my hand gently over her back the same way she used to do for me.My mother went still and her grip tightened painfully around my waist but I ignored the pain and continued humming.The room seemed to soften around us. Ella quietly moved farther away, giving us privacy, while I held the woman who had once sung the same melody beside my bed.For a few minutes, I was no longer a pregnant woman sitting inside a dangerous estate. I was a child again, and she was still the mother I believed could protect me from anything.Her sobs slowly weakened and her breathing steadied, though she did not release me. When the last note faded from my throat, silence settled between us and I blinked back the tears that were taking form in my eyes “You re
Ciara’s POVI stared at my mother, unable to move.Cici.She had not called me that in years.There was a time when the name followed me everywhere. She used it when I stole sugar from the kitchen, when I hid beneath her dresses during family gatherings and whenever I ran into her room with scraped knees after playing too roughly with Valerio. Back then, she would shake her head and call me her troublesome little Cici while cleaning the dirt from my skin.Then Valerio died or at least, we were made to believe he had.After that, everything changed. The laughter disappeared from our home, my father became colder and my mother slowly stopped looking at me like I was her child. Cici died with my brother, replaced by Ciara, spoken with distance and painful formality.Yet now she was on her knees, holding my legs and crying that forgotten name into my dress.“My Cici… Dio mio(My God), my little Cici.”Her voice broke, and something in my chest twisted painfully.I looked at Ella, silently
Ciara’s POVMy father’s hand froze in the air.For one terrible second, nobody moved. His palm remained raised, my mother’s fingers tightened around mine and I stood between them with my heart pounding so hard that the room seemed to pulse with it. Then his eyes shifted towards the doorway, and the anger on his face disappeared beneath something I rarely see in him...Fear.I followed his gaze and Dax stood at the entrance.I had been so focused on my father that I had not heard the doors open, and the sight of him there pulled the breath from my lungs. His face was calm, but his eyes had turned crimson. The colour burned against the cold stillness of his expression, and the pressure coming from him made the air inside the room feel thick.Lance stood beside him, silent and rigid. He did not look as openly furious as Dax, but the dark look in his eyes suggested someone had offended him personally. His current pressed faintly against the walls, controlled but heavy enough to make the se
Ciara’s povThe look on his face held the same cold, unreadable expression I remembered from the day my brother died and right now, seeing me, there was no joy in seeing me after so long, no relief that I was safe, not even anger. He looked at me as though I were a matter he had come to settle.My mother sat beside him.From across the room, the expensive dress, carefully styled hair and jewellery made her look as composed as always, but now that I was paying attention, I saw what the presentation was hiding. The makeup beneath one of her eyes was heavier, and there was a faint swelling near her cheekbone that the powder had not fully concealed. She kept one arm close to her body, moving stiffly whenever she adjusted her position.My stomach turned.Had my father hit her again?I could not be sure. There could have been another explanation, but my mind went there because I had seen enough throughout my childhood to know it was possible.I looked away before she noticed me staring and







