ANTONIO POV

She wouldn't wake up.

I paced the hospital corridor for what felt like hours, my mind cycling endlessly through every possible reason her body had simply shut down at that dinner table, refusing every offer from Carlos or the nurses to sit, to rest, to drink water someone kept pressing into my hands without my noticing. The doctors had rushed her into an examination room the moment we arrived, running tests I didn't fully understand while I stood helplessly outside, unable to do anything except wait.

Waiting had never been something I tolerated well. Tonight, it felt unbearable.

Madame Loretta sat in the waiting area nearby, her rosary...