Alex

The hospital room felt too quiet after my parents left. Their voices still rang in my ears—Mother’s promises, Father’s anger.

For the first time in my life, I thought we were finally working together toward one goal: destroying Adriano.

I closed my eyes and drifted in and out of restless sleep, holding onto that small feeling of victory. Tomorrow, I told myself.

Tomorrow I would wake up to hear that Adriano was dead, and everything he owned would finally be mine.

But morning came with something very different.

The TV on the hospital wall was showing breaking news. At first, the words were blurry. The pain medicine made it...