James was escorted to another hospital room by Bella and a bodyguard. He sat in silence as the doctors examined his hand, bandaging it and giving him more painkillers.
Bella said nothing. She had watched the whole thing unfold and understood that years of pain had come pouring out of James all at once.
It only made her realize even more how unpredictable he had become after Rafael’s death, or maybe he had just stopped giving a fuck about everything.
"What?" James asked as the doctors finished and left the room.
"Nothing." Bella said, looking at him.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Why didn’t you kill him on the spot when he slapped my mom?"
Bella was stunned by the question, by the very idea of it.
"I can’t hurt your family member, James. And your mother wouldn’t have let me, even if I had tried." She said.
"I don’t blame you. At least I got to beat the shit out of him."
Bella stepped closer to him, her eyes were full of worry.
"I think you’re losing yourself, piece by piece, and you don’t even realize it."
James didn’t respond right away. He just stared at her, as if trying to decide whether to dismiss her words or actually let them sink in.
After a long pause, he spoke. "Maybe there was never much of me to lose in the first place."
She sighed. "I just don’t want you to wake up one day and realize there’s nothing left of you except anger and regret."
James closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he looked straight at her. "Then tell me, Bella. What else do I have?"
Bella held his gaze, but for once, she didn’t have an answer.
She hated that....hated that for the first time, she had no answer to give him.
"See? Even you don’t know."
Bella frowned. "That doesn’t mean there’s nothing left, James. It just means you refuse to see it."
"Then tell me, what the hell am I supposed to see? At the moment all i feel is pain and emptiness."
She had seen this happen before, to people who let their rage consume them until there was nothing left but emptiness. And now, she was watching it happen to James.
"You know what that means, don’t you?" She asked.
"It means this isn’t what you really wanted." She said. "You wanted justice. You wanted him to suffer, but not . If it was enough, you wouldn’t feel empty right now."
James shook his head. "Justice? There’s no such thing."
"So that’s it, then? You’ll just keep going down this path until there’s nothing left of you?"
James smirked again, but this time, it was tired. "Maybe there’s nothing left already."
"I don’t believe that."
James studied her, something flickering in his eyes, doubt, maybe. Or something he didn’t want to admit.
"Why do you care so much?"
Bella didn’t hesitate. "Because someone has to.".
James looked away first, but Bella wasn’t done.
"And don’t forget…that I’m your girlfriend. Even if you didn’t ask me out, that kiss was the confession."
James froze. His tired eyes snapped back to her, caught completely off guard. "What?"
Bella smirked slightly, tilting her head. "You heard me."
"So you’re just deciding that on your own now?"
Bella shrugged. "If you had a problem with it, you wouldn’t have kissed me back."
James opened his mouth as if to argue, then closed it. He narrowed his eyes at her, but there was no real malice behind it, just frustration mixed with something else.
"Maybe. But you like it."
James shook his head, but he didn’t deny it. Instead, he leaned back against the hospital bed.
"So, what? You think being my girlfriend means you get to lecture me now?"
Bella crossed her arms. "That’s exactly what it means."
As James sat there, still trying to process everything, his mother came into the room and sat beside him.
She looked at his bandaged hands, her fingers hesitating before gently resting over his.
James glanced down at his hand, flexing his fingers slightly. "Not really."
"You scared me, you know." She continued. "When I saw you like that… I didn’t recognize you for a moment."
Erika reached out, gently turning his face back toward her. "Listen to me, James. What you did… I won’t say it was right. But I also won’t lie to you...I don’t feel sorry for him."
She let out a bitter chuckle. "After all these years? After everything he’s done? I thought I would feel guilt. I thought I’d feel shame for letting this happen. But I don’t."
"Then what do you feel?"
Erika’s lips parted slightly, as if she was hesitant to say it out loud. But then, with a slow exhale, she admitted,
James blinked, surprised. Even Bella straightened slightly at that.
"I should have done more. I should have protected you and Rafael better." As she said it she started crying and hugged James.
James hugged her back. "You did what you could, mom. You were the only one who ever tried."
Erika’s eyes softened, filled with both love and regret. "And look at what it turned you into."
James let out a humorless laugh. "A murde—"
"A boy who fought back when no one else would."
For a long moment, James said nothing. Then, he sighed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "So… what happens now?"
Erika gave a small, tired smile. "We move on. We heal. And James—" she hesitated, then added, "—you don’t have to fight anymore. At least, not alone."
He looked at his mother with confusion. After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"I thought you hated me."
"I meant what I said, James." she admitted. "But even if I hated you, you’d still be my baby. You always will be."
James swallowed, his fingers twitching slightly in her grasp.
"And I don’t want to lose you." She continued. "No matter what happens, no matter how much we fight, you’re still my son."
James didn’t say anything right away. He just stared at their hands, at the warmth of her touch.
"I’m not going anywhere, Mom."
A tear slipped down Erika’s cheek, but she smiled through it. "Good."
She stood up, letting James out of her grip, and looked at him with determination in her eyes.
"We are the Bellini family, you are the head of our family, and I will stay with you forever."
For years, he had survived, and controlled the chaos around him, but he had never truly acknowledged what that meant. Not until now.
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James let those words sink in, and this time, he didn’t push them away. He didn’t question whether he deserved them. He simply accepted them.
"That means you’re finally admitting it?" Bella asked.
James met her gaze, then, he gave a small, confident smirk of his own. "Yeah. I’m the head of the Bellini family."
"Took you long enough."