Chapter196 What Bella Told Them Third Person POV

Chapter196 What Bella Told Them Third Person POV
Emma was already straightening her clothes as she stood. "What is it?"
"Bella called." Steven stopped at the foot of the bed, his tone serious. "Grayson's people had her. She managed to get out, but she didn't hold up under questioning."
Emma's face went white.
"What did she say?" Emma's voice tightened.
"She told them about the Alpha's memory loss." Steven looked at her directly and said it plainly.
Emma stood very still. Her mind was moving fast.
If Grayson knew the truth about Klaus's condition, everything they had done to stall and misdirect had just fallen apart. Grayson would not let an opportunity like this slip through his hands.
Klaus had been propped against the headboard the whole time, taking in every word.
He watched Emma's face go pale, then looked at Steven's grim expression.
He didn't fully understand what memory loss meant in the context of pack politics and power. But he could read the room. The air had shifted. Something dangerous was getting closer.
"Grayson." Klaus looked at Emma. "Is he going to hurt you?"
Emma turned to face him. She didn't know how to explain betrayal and power grabs to someone who didn't remember what any of it meant.
She kept it simple. "He's been after your position for a long time."
Klaus didn't respond right away.
Then he threw back the blanket and swung his legs off the bed. The look in his eyes was something primal, the instinct of an Alpha who senses a challenge.
"Let him come." His voice was ice.
Steven watched him, his expression unreadable.
He knew the Alpha's fighting instincts were intact. But the Klaus sitting in that bed right now had no idea who Grayson was, what resources he had, or how far he was willing to go.
Steven looked back at Emma.
"I've locked down the hospital. Andrew is pulling in everyone we can trust." He paused, then said the part that mattered most. "Grayson is done being careful."
--
Less than half an hour later, hurried footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Steven's people arrived with Bella.
To avoid being seen from outside, they had brought her up through the internal passage from the underground garage.
Bella could not stop shaking.
Her clothes were plastered to her skin and dripping. Both cheeks were swollen. There was a split at the corner of her mouth. Her hair was matted against her forehead with rain and sweat. She looked like she had been through hell.
Emma crossed the room immediately and caught her by the arm.
"Andrew. Get the treatment room next door ready."
Andrew nodded and pushed open the door to the small adjoining room, flicking on the lights.
Emma guided Bella inside and helped her onto the bed.
The moment Bella sat down and looked up at Emma's face, she completely fell apart.
"I'm sorry." Her voice came out in broken pieces. "I'm so sorry, Emma. I ruined everything."
Emma picked up a clean towel and draped it over Bella's shoulders.
"Stop. Don't do that right now." Emma's voice was steady, quietly reassuring. "You're safe. Tell me what happened."
Andrew pulled on exam gloves, picked up a cotton swab and a pair of tweezers, and came over.
"This might sting. Hang in there." He started cleaning the blood from Bella's face.
Bella flinched but held it. She bit her lip and kept her eyes on Emma.
"They kept me in a warehouse." Her voice was ragged, coming out in pieces. "They hit me for a long time. They wanted to know about the night of the accident."
She took a breath. The tears mixed with the antiseptic running down her face.
"I couldn't hold on. I told them everything about finding him."
"What exactly did you tell them?" Emma asked.
"I said it was raining hard that night. I found him in the mud by the road." Bella was pulling the memory back carefully. "He was covered in blood and his clothes were shredded. He was burning up. His forehead was scorching hot."
The ICU door next door hadn't been fully pulled shut.
Klaus lay against the headboard, listening without a sound.
"I brought him home," Bella continued. "When he woke up, he didn't know anything. He kept looking at me and asking over and over, 'Who am I?'"
Andrew worked the gauze around the scrapes on Bella's arm.
Bella sucked in a breath at the sting, her voice wobbling.
"He didn't even know his own name. I was scared to tell anyone, so I just gave him one off the top of my head. I called him Ah Dai."
Emma kept her eyes on Bella's injuries and said nothing.
"When the headaches came, he'd shake." Bella's tears wouldn't stop. "But most of the time he was quiet. He'd sit in the corner and not move for hours. He never let strangers near him. Anyone who got too close, he'd push them away."
"I didn't mean to say it. They just kept hitting me. They kicked me in the stomach. I couldn't hold on anymore."
Emma reached out and placed her hand on Bella's shoulder.
"I know," Emma said quietly. "This isn't your fault. You held on longer than most people could have."
--
In the room next door.
Klaus sat against the raised pillows, his expression growing darker by the minute.
He didn't say a word.
This was the first time he had heard it out loud, from someone else's mouth, the full picture of what he had been like when he first woke up.
Knowing nothing. Not knowing who he was. Being given a random name by a stranger. Living for days in an unfamiliar place with nowhere to go and no idea why.
--
Andrew finished bandaging Bella's last wound and stepped back.
Klaus had gotten out of bed without shoes and appeared in the doorway of the treatment room.
Emma heard the footsteps and turned.
Klaus stood at the threshold, looking at Bella on the exam table.
His voice was rough around the edges.
"So that's how I woke up?"
Bella lifted her head. Her eyes were red. She nodded slowly.
"You had a lot of nightmares back then," she said softly.
Klaus didn't respond.
He stood there for a long time.
Then he raised his eyes to Emma, who was standing beside Bella.
Emma met his gaze.
Something tightened in her chest.
She hadn't fully understood until now, not until she heard Bella say it all from beginning to end, what those days had actually cost him.
The two of them looked at each other across the small room. Neither of them said anything.
--
At Golden Moon Pack headquarters.
The door to the Grand Elder's office opened quietly.
A man in a white lab coat stepped inside. He was holding a sealed manila envelope. His forehead was damp with sweat and he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.
He walked to the desk and placed the envelope down.
"Grand Elder." He kept his head low, eyes on the floor. "These are the copies pulled from the hospital."