The band around Selina's arm felt tight. Gauze pressed hard. A thin dark line seeped through. The room smelled of disinfectant and lemon soap. Light came through high windows. Plush chairs. Marble floor. It looked more like a private suite than a ward.
She watched the ceiling. Footsteps moved past outside. A nurse checked the IV and smiled too quickly. Selina's hand went to the band and pressed. Her fingers trembled.
The smell of antiseptic pulled a memory forward. Her late mother, Ella had lain in a white bed like this one. Ella's lips had been blue. Machines had kept time in small clicks. A doctor had come and taken off his glasses.
"I'm so sorry," he had said.
She screamed then. "No, Mum, wake up." Her hands had pushed at the sheets until someone took her away. No one had woken.
The memory lived behind her eyes like a cold stone. She had not thought of it for years. Now it was raw and close.
Who sent the gang to scatter the reception? she asked in the quiet room. The room did not answer.
Amanda's whisper from the penthouse came back like a sting. 'You have never seen anything yet. Very soon you will know my true color.'
Selina tasted metal. She kept the whisper in her mind and let it burn.
A knock came at the door. The nurse opened it and let two people in. Hector first. He moved like a man who had rehearsed sorrow. His jacket sat right on his shoulders. Amanda followed like light, pale silk and bright hair. She looked as if the hospital belonged to her as much as the penthouse.
Selina straightened. Tears had leaked earlier; she had hidden them. She would not show more now.
"Hector," she said. The name held too much.
He stood near the bed but did not touch her. His eyes moved to Amanda like a man checking the weather. Amanda smiled at Selina with neat teeth.
"Are you all right?" Amanda asked, voice high and soft.
Selina looked at her. The picture of Amanda by the flowers returned. The smile. The way guests had circled like moths.
"You said it," Selina said. Her voice was low. "You said we'd see your true color. You did it. You're responsible. You hurt my family, the Vernetti people while you pretended to be innocent."
Amanda's smile froze, thin as a crack in porcelain.
"You think that?" Amanda said, as if surprised. She reached out and touched Selina's hand quickly, like a comfort. The touch felt like a dare.
Selina did not wait. She moved like someone who had run out of time. Her hand slapped Amanda's cheek. The sound cut the room.
Amanda staggered. A red mark bloomed upon her face. Selina's palm left its print for a beat. Voices at the doorway gasped. The nurse stepped in fast.
Amanda's hand flew to her cheek. Her eyes flashed hot and then went cold. She lunged. The two women grabbed hair and hands and rocked the room with noise.
Hector moved to pull Amanda back. The nurse gripped Selina's arm. Two more nurses came and a security guard from the corridor. They made a practice wall between the women.
"You are insane," Amanda hissed, voice sharp. "And so what if I did it? Go and bring your lawyer. I'm waiting. No mercy for Vernetti. No mercy for your father. No mercy for you, Selina."
Her shouting filled the room and spilled into the hall. Curtains shifted. Other patients turned their heads. The guard tightened his hold. The nurse shoved Amanda toward the door. The guard steered her out, his hand firm on her elbow. Someone clicked the door shut behind them.
Amanda kept shouting down the corridor as the guard led her away. "No mercy for Vernetti! No mercy for you, Selina! You will pay for this!"
The door closed. The corridor swallowed the sound.
Silence fell after the roar. The nurse leaned on the bed rail and looked at Selina with that flat, careful face hospital staff keep. "We need calm now," she said.
The bandage at Selina's arm warmed. Fresh blood had come through. The nurse moved with a steady speed. She peeled back the dressing and pressed at the cut. Selina shut her eyes against the sting.
"Breathe," the nurse said. "Easy. Hold still."
Hector stood at the foot of the bed and watched. For a long minute he said nothing. The nurse looked at him, then said, "Mr. Draven, please come closer. Your wife is upset." Her tone was plain. It expected obedience.
He half-smiled and stepped forward. "My wife?" he said, the words like something foreign. He touched Selina's cheek with cool fingers and wiped a tear away.
"I'm sorry," he said, the apology small and practiced. The words landed flat, like a line read from a page.
Selina let him. She let him swab her face. It did not make the cut smaller. It did not warm the hollow in her.
The nurse bandaged her arm and offered pain meds. She told Selina to rest. Selina watched Hector fold his hands by the window. He sat in the chair like a man who had been told to keep watch.
An hour passed that smelled of lemon and chart paper. Nurses came and left. A doctor peered in and left with a note. A tray with soup grew cold on the side table.
When the nurse said Selina could see her father, she blinked. Nicholas had been moved two rooms over. She stood, legs unsteady. The nurse steadied her. Hector offered his arm. She took it and felt the stiffness at his elbow.
Nicholas turned when she entered. He lifted his head and tried a small smile. "My girl," he said. His voice was rough with worry and something like pride.
Selina sat and put her hand over his. He smelled of tobacco and old paper. His skin was warm and real.
"Sorry, Dad," she said. She had practiced the words and now they came plain. "I'm sure Amanda did this. She must pay."
Nicholas closed his fingers on hers. He cleared his throat and tried to make plans with the sound of his voice. "We will not let this end like this," he said. "We will get the facts."
She nodded and moved down the corridor. She checked on the other Vernetti people. A cousin had a wrapped arm. Owen's hand showed a bruise. Lila had a pale line where she'd been struck. Selina knelt by each and said sorry, close and fast.
"Sorry," she told a server with a bandage at his temple. "I'm sorry you were hurt."
They nodded back, tired. Her friend, Ruby hugged her when she returned and held her long. Caleb stood at the doorway and looked as if he wanted to speak but could not find words.
By late afternoon the ward had slowed. Visitors had left. Machines hummed softer. Selina sat with the bandage at her arm and watched light move on the marble floor. She felt tired down to her bones. Anger waited under that tiredness like a coal.
Amanda's words kept running through her head. She could still feel the slap she had landed. She could still see Amanda's neat smile by the flowers. She thought of guests gathering with Amanda after the attack. One simple fact would not leave her mind.
No cameras had caught the attackers. They had come and gone without trace. That detail pulsed at the edge of her thinking like a small, raw thing.
Once I prove Amanda did this, Amanda will rot in jail.