CHAPTER 253: LOST OF FEELINGS
CHAPTER 253: LOST OF FEELINGS
"No, no, no!" The doctor, Maria, and Alexandro said in unison, hands gently reaching out to press her shoulders back down against the pillows.
"Do not attempt to sit up yet," Dr. Vance warned gently. "Your core muscles have been completely inactive for twenty-one days. You need to rest."
Bella let out a dramatic, frustrated huff, sinking back into the soft pillows. She looked up at Alexandro, her dark eyes narrowing into a sharp, calculating stare.
"Did you get him?" she asked flatly.
Alexandro didn't need to ask who she meant by him. He knew she was asking about Antonio.
His smile faded slightly, a somber shadow passing over his face as he shook his head. "No. Antonio vanished. The police and our crew are still hunting for him."
Bella’s jaw clenched, a faint curse slipping from her lips. "Fuck."
She paused, her eyes locking onto Alexandro's with intense focus. "But I got the other one, right? The bastard who shot Rosa?"
Alexandro offered a small, proud smile, nodding his head. "Yeah. His name was Fendir. I recognized him from my days back in that hellhole of a compound. He is dead. You took him down before you fell."
A small, victorious smirk touched the corner of Bella’s cracked lips. She let out a long breath, relaxing her head back into the pillows.
She looked sideways at Alexandro, then over at Maria, both of whom were standing by her bedside, staring at her with wide, unblinking eyes as if she might vanish if they looked away.
"Can you two stop staring at me like freaks?" Bella grumbled, though a faint trace of amusement laced her raspy voice. "You're creeping me out."
Maria let out a wet, watery laugh, wiping her nose with a tissue. "Well, forgive us! I can see you're getting your obnoxious personality back."
"Come on," Bella muttered softly, a faint smirk lingering. "You think a little bullet is going to wipe me out?"
Dr. Vance finished unbuckling the blood pressure cuff from her arm, unhooking the secondary IV line from her port. "We will let you rest now, Miss Moretti. I will be just down the hall if you experience any nausea." He motioned to his nurses, and the medical team quietly gathered their equipment and stepped out of the room, shutting the heavy doors behind them.
Silence settled over the master suite once more.
Bella lay still on the bed, her dark eyes fixed on the ceiling.
Slowly, the faint smirk vanished from her face. Her expression shifted, her brow pulling into a tight, severe knot.
Then a sharp wince cut across her features, her skin turning noticeably paler as she drew a sudden, sharp breath through her nose.
Alexandro caught the shift instantly, leaning forward with deep concern. "Bella? Are you alright? Are you in pain?"
Bella didn't answer. She kept her eyes locked on her own blanketed body.
Her jaw worked silently. She raised her left hand, bracing it against the mattress, and tried to shift her hips.
Another sharp wince tightened her face and her chest began to heave in short, rapid breaths, a sudden wave of sheer, unadulterated panic breaking through her guarded demeanor.
Maria stepped closer, her heart hammering. "Bella? What's wrong? Is it your back?"
Bella didn't look at Maria.
She slowly raised her hands, staring at them, then looked down toward the lower half of her body beneath the heavy white duvet.
Her fingers twitched against the blanket, pressing hard into her thighs, trying to force a reaction.
Nothing moved.
Her breathing turned ragged, gasping, her eyes widening into large, terrified orbs of pure horror.
The blood completely drained from her face, leaving her looking more ghostly than when she was in the coma.
Alexandro stood up from the armchair, his hands hovering over her shoulders, his pulse spiking wildly. "Bella, speak to me. Where is the discomfort? Is it your chest? Your spine?"
Bella slowly turned her head toward him.
The fierce, untouchable expression on her face was completely gone. In her eyes was a raw, terrifying void of absolute helplessness.
"Alex..." she whispered, her voice barely audible, tiny and terrified. "Why... why can't I feel my legs?"