Three nights later - 1:12 a.m., Florence
The call came while she was in the bath.
Skin soaked. Eyes closed. A rare moment of quiet.
Her phone buzzed once.
Twice.
Then again.
She almost ignored it.
Until she saw the name on the screen: Rocco - Leonardo's second-in-command.
> "What?" she answered, water dripping from her arm.
But Rocco's voice didn't come smooth and calm like always.
It came tight. Choked.
> "Isabella... he's been hit."
Everything in her stilled.
> "What?"
> "Ambush. Near the port. He's at Santa Maria Nuova. Critical. He-he asked for you."
The world snapped.
---
She didn't think.
Didn't dress.
Didn't call a driver.
She ran.
Out of the apartment. Down marble steps.
Still barefoot.
Hair dripping down her back.
Her silk nightgown flying around her knees in the cold Florence night.
People stared.
She didn't see them.
She crossed streets without looking.
Barged through hospital doors like she was on fire.
Security tried to stop her-she screamed.
> "Valentini. Leonardo. Where is he-WHERE IS HE?!"
Blood on her hands.
Not his. Her own.
From where her feet had sliced on gravel and glass.
She didn't care.
She had to see him.
---
Finally-Room 407. ICU.
And when the doors opened,
and she saw him there-
bloody, pale, tubes in his nose, his mouth stitched shut with pain-
She collapsed.
Straight to her knees.
On the cold tile floor.
Like her body couldn't hold her love anymore.
---
A nurse tried to pull her up. She shoved her off.
> "Don't touch me. That's my man."
> "Miss, he's sedated-"
> "That's my f**king man!"
Her voice cracked.
> "And if he dies, I die with him."
---
Later, they let her in.
She sat beside him, bloody feet curled beneath her, fingers curled in his hair.
She whispered into his ear, not knowing if he could hear her:
> "You promised you wouldn't leave me."
"You said we'd survive."
"You're not allowed to go before me, Leo. I swear to God, I'll come drag you back by the soul."
Tears ran down her face.
She gripped his wrist, feeling the weak pulse thud against her palm.
> "You breathe, Leonardo. You fight. You come back to me."
> "Because I won't survive this world without you."
ICU, Florence - 3:19 a.m.
The machines beeped softly around them.
Monitors glowed. The air stank of antiseptic and grief.
She hadn't moved from his bedside.
Not even when they cleaned his wounds.
Not when they stitched the hole in his side.
Not when they told her he might not wake up for days.
She just sat there-
Blanket over her shoulders.
Feet bandaged.
Eyes hollow.
Fingers locked in his.
---
She was whispering his name for the thousandth time when it happened.
A twitch.
She didn't notice it at first.
Then-his fingers tightened.
Just slightly.
She froze.
> "Leonardo?"
His eyelids fluttered.
Once.
Twice.
Then-open.
And the first thing he saw-
Was her.
---
Hair tangled.
Eyes swollen.
Blood on her knees and toes.
Her silk nightgown wrinkled and stained from the street.
And God-
she looked like an angel crawling out of hell.
He tried to speak.
His throat cracked, raw.
> "Bella..."
She gasped. Choked.
> "Oh my God-Leo-"
She rose too fast, nearly fell.
Gripped his face like he might vanish again.
> "You're here. You're f***ing here-"
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
> "You stupid, reckless bastard-you scared me. You f*ing scared me."
His eyes scanned her-her wounds, her bare feet, the shaking.
> "What happened to you?" he rasped.
She let out a sound that was part laugh, part sob.
> "I ran here. Barefoot. In a nightgown. Through the streets like a lunatic."
She leaned in close, her forehead pressed to his.
> "Because I thought you were dying."
He coughed-winced-groaned.
> "You came barefoot... for me?"
> "I would've come in chains."
---
His hand lifted slowly, fingers brushing her jaw, her lips, her cheek like he couldn't believe she was real.
> "I should've died," he whispered.
> "Don't say that."
> "No, listen."
His voice cracked.
"If you hadn't been here... I would've let go. But I heard you. I felt you. You pulled me back."
She kissed his knuckles.
> "Don't you ever leave me like that again."
> "I won't."
His eyes darkened.
"But if something happens to you... I swear, Isabella, I'll kill the whole f***ing world."
---
He fell asleep again-this time, safe, with her wrapped around his side.
And when the nurse came in, shocked to see her still there, barefoot and bloodstained, Isabella just looked at her and said:
> "He's mine. You can't move me."
Five Days Later - Florence Hospital
She never left his side.
Not for meals.
Not for sleep.
Not even when her family demanded she come home.
She bathed him with trembling hands.
Fed him soup like a soldier nursing her king.
Slept in the same bed-curled into his side, afraid he'd vanish in the night.
---
When her father arrived, she didn't flinch.
He walked into the hospital suite like he owned it.
Two bodyguards. Black coat. Wrath in his eyes.
He took one look at her-bandaged feet, bruised mouth, hospital blanket still wrapped around her shoulders-and exploded.
> "Get up. Now."
She didn't move.
> "I said get up, Isabella!"
> "No."
> "You're coming home. I'll deal with him-"
> "Don't touch him."
Her voice didn't rise.
But her eyes said it all.
> "If you try to hurt him again, Father, I will never forgive you."
---
He slapped her.
Once.
Across the face.
Sharp enough to cut her lip.
She gasped but didn't cry.
She just stood there.
Blood at the corner of her mouth.
Head turned, shoulders still.
Leonardo, weak and half-asleep, muttered her name.
> "B-Bella..."
She turned back slowly.
> "You can hit me.
You can drag me.
You can throw me in a coffin for all I care.
But I love him. And I'm not leaving him. Ever."
---
Her father's face twisted.
But then-he didn't yell again.
He just looked at her.
Really looked.
And what he saw
was a daughter he no longer recognized.
Or maybe-for the first time-truly did.
> "You're your mother's child," he whispered. "Too much fire. Too much heart."
Then he turned to the guards.
> "Take her to Nonna's estate. The one in Marche. No phone. No internet. Just keep her alive."
And walked out.
---
They tore her from Leonardo's side.
Kicking. Screaming.
Bloody footprints on the hospital floor.
Her cries echoing in the halls-
> "LEO! LEO! I'LL COME BACK! I SWEAR-I'LL COME BACK!"
---
Two Weeks Later - Italian Countryside, Marche
The air was quiet here.
Too quiet.
She sat by the vineyard.
Bandages off. Lip healing.
Heart still split in two.
She had no phone.
No contact.
Only letters from the housekeeper who snuck them in when she could.
That's how she got the first note:
> "He's asking for you. Every day. Refuses to eat. Keeps the chain you gave him around his neck. Said if you don't come back soon, he'll walk into enemy fire just to feel something."
She crumpled the letter to her chest and sobbed like a widow.
---
Then came Giovanni.
He arrived without warning.
No guards. No rage. Just a white linen shirt and eyes full of something... softer.
She didn't speak when she saw him.
But he did.
> "You love him."
She looked away. "It doesn't matter."
> "It does to me."
She turned sharply. "Why?"
> "Because I thought I was the one meant to protect you.
But I was just... convenient. Expected. Safe."
She blinked. He kept going.
> "I see it now. What he means to you. What you become around him. And it kills me, Isabella."
She opened her mouth.
> "No. Let me finish."
He stepped closer.
> "I wanted you to be mine. For years. But not like this. Not with your soul rotting in a villa while he bleeds out in Florence."
> "I don't want you like this."
Her voice cracked.
> "Then what do you want?"
He smiled softly.
> "I want you alive. Wild. Screaming. Loving someone the way I never could."
> "I want you to run."
She gasped.
> "What?"
> "Run. Back to him. I'll cover for you. I'll lie to your father. I'll take the blame."
Tears spilled again.
> "Why would you do that?"
> "Because you're not mine to keep."
He reached out, brushed her hair from her eyes.
"But I'll always be yours. In whatever way you need me."
---
And that's how she escaped.
In the middle of the night.
Hair wild. Bag packed.
Feet once again hitting stone roads.
Running back to Florence.
Running back to him.