Chapter 125 CHAPTER 125
Went into coma
The night outside the hospital was still, moonlight washing the glass walls with a soft, haunting glow. Inside, the fluorescent lights hummed faintly as nurses hurried past, their rubber soles squeaking against polished tiles. The faint beeping of machines and the rhythmic hiss of ventilators filled the air like an orchestra of tension.
Tessa sat beside Lady Bianca’s bed, her back stiff, eyes fixed on the woman lying motionless beneath white sheets. The steady rise and fall of Bianca’s chest had become Tessa’s only source of comfort these past few hours. She had barely blinked. Her eyes burned from fatigue, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away.
Lady Bianca looked fragile. Her usually commanding presence, that aura that made every room fall silent, was gone. What remained was a pale, weak woman with tubes running from her nose and wrist, her heartbeat echoing faintly through the monitor beside her bed.
Tessa reached for her hand. “You’re strong,” she whispered softly, brushing her thumb over Bianca’s knuckles. “You’ve always been strong. Please, don’t leave now.”
But Bianca didn’t respond.
Outside, thunder rolled faintly, distant, like the sky itself was holding its breath.
The door creaked open, and a nurse stepped in quietly. “Miss Tessa, we need to adjust the IV.”
Tessa nodded, stepping aside. Her phone lay on the chair, screen dark, as though mocking her with silence. She picked it up and pressed the side button again. No missed calls. No texts. Nothing.
Ares still hadn’t answered.
She’d been calling for the last hour, ten, maybe fifteen times but every attempt went straight to voicemail.
“Hey, it’s Ares,” his recorded voice said, sounding lazy and calm. “Leave a message.”
Every time she heard it, her stomach tightened with frustration.
Tessa tried again. The call rang once before cutting off. “Come on, Ares,” she murmured under her breath. “Where are you?”
Behind her, the machines beeped steadily, indifferent to her worry.
The nurse adjusted the drip, glanced at the monitor, then looked at Tessa. “Her vitals are fluctuating,” she said carefully. “We’ll need to keep monitoring her closely tonight.”
“Fluctuating? What does that mean?”
“It means her body is struggling to stabilize. She’s fighting, but…” The nurse hesitated, lowering her voice. “She needs rest. And faith.”
Faith. The word struck deep. Tessa swallowed hard, blinking rapidly. “I’ll stay with her.”
“You should rest too, miss,” the nurse advised. “You look exhausted.”
“I can’t,” Tessa said quietly. “Not yet.”
When the nurse left, Tessa sank into the chair again. The quiet returned, only the soft mechanical sounds filling the air. Her fingers trembled slightly as she redialed Ares’s number again, and again, and again.
Still nothing.
She sighed shakily and set the phone down.
Somewhere in her chest, a bad feeling was growing, one she couldn’t explain. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.
She turned toward Bianca again, reaching to fix the blanket at her shoulder. “You know your son would be here if he could,” she said softly. “He loves you, even if he doesn’t say it enough.” Her lips trembled as she forced a small smile. “He’s just… he’s been through a lot. But he’ll come.”
Her words sounded hollow in the sterile room.
Across the city, rain began to fall, slow, hesitant drops that splattered against windshields and neon lit streets.
Meanwhile, far from the calm of the hospital, chaos ripped through the night.
Ares’s car, a black luxury coupe swerved violently across the wet asphalt, its tires screaming as they lost traction. Headlights cut through the rain, blinding and wild, reflecting off soaked pavement. Lila’s laughter had died minutes ago, replaced by panic.
“Ares! Slow down!” she yelled over the roaring wind.
Ares’s eyes were glassy, his grip tight on the steering wheel. The dashboard lights painted his face red and blue. “I’ve got it,” he muttered, though his words slurred slightly. “Relax, I’m fine.”
Lila grabbed the dashboard. “You’re not fine! You’ve been drinking!”
He chuckled, shaking his head, his vision blurring as raindrops smeared across the windshield. “You wanted the old Ares, right? The one who didn’t care? Here he is.”
She reached for the wheel. “Stop being stupid!”
He jerked it back. “Lila, don’t—”
The car fishtailed, time fractured, the world flipped. A screech. A flash. A scream, then silence.
The coupe spun once, twice, before slamming sideways into a street pole. Metal shrieked. Glass shattered. Smoke billowed from the hood as rain hissed against the wreckage. For a moment, there was nothing but stillness.
Ares’s head hung forward, blood trickling from his temple, his breath ragged. Lila’s body was slumped against the passenger door, motionless, her hair matted with glass.
Far away, the phone he’d tossed into the backseat buzzed weakly, Tessa’s name lighting up on the screen.
It rang.
And rang.
And went dead again.
At the hospital, Tessa jolted up from her chair as a loud alarm went off. The monitor beside Lady Bianca flashed red, sharp, piercing tones that made her blood run cold.
“Nurse!” she shouted, scrambling to her feet.
Within seconds, three nurses and a doctor rushed in, pushing a cart. “Step aside, ma’am!”
“What’s happening?”
“She’s going into cardiac distress!”
“No, no, no…” Tessa’s voice broke as she backed into the wall, watching them press defibrillator pads to Bianca’s chest.
“Charging to 200—clear!”
The sound of the shock ripped through the room. Bianca’s body jerked once, then fell still again.
The machine kept screaming.
“Charging to 250—clear!”
Tessa covered her mouth, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Please, please…”
“Come on,” one of the nurses muttered under her breath. “Come back to us.”
But Bianca didn’t move.
The beeping flattened into a long, steady tone.
The doctor’s face fell. “She’s in a coma,” he said finally, his voice heavy. “We’ve stabilized her heartbeat, but she’s not responding.”
Tessa felt her knees weaken. “A coma?” she whispered, her throat dry.
He nodded grimly. “We’ll transfer her to the ICU and keep monitoring her brain activity.”
When they wheeled Lady Bianca away, Tessa followed them, numb. She didn’t feel her legs, her hands, or her heartbeat, everything was just… distant.
In the ICU, they connected Bianca to more machines—one for every sound, every breath. Wires covered her body like a web.
The doctor placed a hand on Tessa’s shoulder. “You can talk to her. Sometimes, they hear.”
When he left, Tessa sat beside the bed again, her hands trembling as she reached for Bianca’s. “Ares…” she whispered. “He’d break if he saw you like this.”
She tried calling again, no answer.
Her reflection on the window looked haunted, her eyes hollow. “Where are you, Ares?”
The rain outside grew heavier, pounding against the glass. Ambulance sirens wailed faintly in the distance, one, then two, cutting through the night.
In a twisted irony, they were speeding toward the wreckage on the outskirts of the city, where paramedics were pulling two bodies from a crumpled car. One male, one female. Both unconscious.
The man’s wrist bore a familiar bracelet, a silver band engraved with the initials A.
The medic’s voice crackled through the radio. “We’ve got two survivors. Severe trauma.”
The ambulance doors slammed shut, sirens blaring as it vanished into the storm.
Back in the ICU, Tessa sat motionless beside Bianca, unaware that fate was already twisting again. Her phone buzzed briefly on the table, a call from an unknown number flashing across the screen.
She didn’t notice.
Her gaze stayed locked on Bianca’s still face.
“Please wake up,” she whispered, voice breaking. “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave him.”
The rain outside hit harder, thunder rolling through the sky as if echoing her plea.