Chapter 236 The Moment I Let Her Choose

Chapter 236 The Moment I Let Her Choose
ADRIAN

“Why would you do that?”

My voice echoed through the hallway as I turned toward Costa. My hands clenched at my sides, trying to control the anger building inside me.

“He has a fight with me, not with you,” I said, running a frustrated hand through my hair. “This was between me and him.”

Costa didn’t even look bothered.

He stood there calmly, like what happened outside the mansion didn’t matter. Like the person fighting for his life behind those operation room doors was nothing more than a problem he had already solved.

“You are too soft, Adrian,” he said. My eyes narrowed as I looked at him. “You should be thanking me. I was ready to get rid of him for you.”

My jaw tightened. Get rid of him. Like Alessandro was nothing. Like he wasn’t lying inside that room right now, fighting for his life.

My eyes moved toward the closed operation room doors. The red light above it was still on, reminding me that every second mattered.

That bullet… it wasn’t normal. It was poison, and Costa knew exactly what he had done.

“He has a fight with me,” I repeated, my voice dropping lower. “Not with you.”

Costa finally looked at me. “That bullet was meant for our enemy.”

My expression hardened. “And Alessandro is also our enemy.”

“Fuck.”

The word escaped my mouth before I could stop it. I turned away and slammed my fist against the wall. The pain shooting through my hand meant nothing compared to the anger burning inside me.

We stood there outside the operation room, waiting. Waiting for the doctor to come out. Waiting to know if Alessandro would survive.

And the worst part?

The man I once wanted to destroy was now the man I was silently hoping would open his eyes again.

The sound of footsteps behind me made me turn.

Elara.

Before I could say anything, Elara moved.

I watched as she walked straight toward Costa, her steps slow but determined. The tears in her eyes were impossible to miss, but the anger behind them was stronger.

Costa looked at her, almost surprised. Then the sound of her hand hitting his face echoed through the hallway. Everyone froze, even Costa. For a moment, nobody moved.

I immediately stepped forward and grabbed Elara’s arm before she could do anything else.

“If anything happens to him,” she said, her voice breaking but filled with rage, “I will kill you personally.”

Her eyes never left Costa, not once. I had seen Elara scared before. I had seen her hurt. But I had never seen her look at someone like this, like she was ready to destroy everything standing between her and the person she loved.

Costa slowly turned his face back toward her. The usual confidence in his eyes disappeared for a moment. He had no reply, no excuse, nothing.

I looked at my sister, at the tears falling down her face, and at the way her hands trembled even though she was trying so hard to stay strong. Something inside me finally broke.

Maybe Mia was right.

Maybe I had been protecting Elara in the wrong way.

I kept telling myself I was saving her. Saving her from pain. Saving her from Alessandro.

But maybe all this time, I was only taking away her choice.

Because love wasn’t forcing someone to walk away from the person their heart still chose.

Love was letting them decide, even when you didn’t agree.

And if Elara was willing to forgive Alessandro… if after everything he did, after every reason she had to hate him, her heart still reached for him… then maybe I had no right to stand in the middle.

The sound of the operation room door opening pulled me away from my thoughts. Everyone turned instantly as a doctor stepped out, but his expression told me something was wrong before he even spoke.

“Boss.”

I walked toward him. “What happened?”

He hesitated, and that hesitation alone was enough to make my chest tighten. “The poison is spreading fast.”

My stomach dropped, and the hallway suddenly felt colder.

“The only option we have left is to cut off his hand.”

For a second, I thought I heard him wrong. Cut off his hand. The words repeated in my head.

“If we don’t do it,” the doctor continued, “the poison will keep spreading through his body. He won’t survive.”

Nobody spoke. Not Costa, not the guards, not even me. My mind went completely blank.

Then Elara’s voice cut through the silence. “Cut it off.”

I turned toward her.

She was crying. Her face was pale, but her decision was clear. “It’s better for him to lose one hand than to lose his life.”

Her eyes moved toward the operation room door, like she was already seeing him lying there, like she was already imagining a world where he never opened his eyes again.

Then she looked back at me. “I can’t lose him.”

Those words hit me harder than anything else because, in that moment, I finally understood.

This wasn’t about what I wanted. This wasn’t about what I thought was right.

It was about her.

I pulled her into my arms. “I won’t let you.”

I held her tightly as she broke down against me. “No matter what happens, I won’t let you lose him.”

Because for the first time, I accepted the truth.

I couldn’t stop my sister from loving Alessandro. I couldn’t force her heart to choose what I wanted.

Maybe I had spent too long trying to protect her from him.

Maybe now…

I needed to let her choose.