Chapter 63: Near Death
Dora continued to stay there for a long time—well into the evening—when Rossi, her stepbrother, finally arrived, whose presence she truly couldn’t stand.
Getting something to eat was easy, but taking a nap was harder since she was confined to a chair and unable to get up.
By the time she finally had enough, her bones creaked even as she got up to leave so that Rossi could have a chair to sit on.
"You don’t have to come back," Maria told her, even as she turned around to leave. But Luca, her father, gave her a look that said her stepmother didn’t mean a word she said—even though they both knew she meant every single one.
Dora didn’t speak, impatient to leave and head straight to the estate—which was safe and somewhere she actually enjoyed being.
She headed out of the hospital, making her way back with Ettore, who had been standing in front of the door, and they both returned to the car.
She settled into the seat when her phone instantly vibrated. It was a message from Llara, who wanted to meet.
Dora instantly beamed with excitement as she called Llara, trying to figure out where, only for her not to pick up and instead send a message saying that she couldn’t speak at that moment.
"I’ll meet you there!" the message said, which Dora received. Of course, at first, she thought it was weird, but a while later, she realized that it wasn’t so strange—Llara sometimes acted like that when she was busy.
She informed Ettore to head to the location, which was a busy place and not somewhere hidden where they had to take extra precautions.
But they were just a minute away from the restaurant when Dora’s phone vibrated again. She looked at it, shocked to see a number she didn’t recognize, and decided to ignore it at first.
Since the number wasn’t saved, it was most likely a spam number that she didn’t need to pay any attention to.
But her phone had only just stopped vibrating when it began to vibrate all over again. Dora’s first reaction was to cut the call—only for her to breathe out and decide to pick it up on a whim.
She was shocked as she placed the phone to her ear and heard Llara’s voice—a bit out of breath as she spoke.
"My—my phone just got stolen!" she said, breathing hard. "...To be honest, it almost felt like I was about to be kidnapped!" she continued, her voice coming in gasps as she spoke. Dora’s eyes fluttered in shock as she realized what had happened—or what was currently happening.
It was insane. Her mouth dropped open as she heard Llara continue to speak. "It’s a good thing I had your number! If you got a message from my phone, discard it!" But Llara was still talking when the phone in Dora’s hand lowered slightly, her eyes fixing on Ettore as she instantly told him what had happened.
She was relieved to see him react immediately, speaking to the driver, who instantly began to reverse. They had just gotten to the restaurant and had even parked in the parking lot when the driver began to pull out so they could hurriedly leave.
Neither of them knew exactly what was going on, but the fact that they were in a place where they didn’t need to be made them wary—especially Dora, whose palms were sweatier than usual, her heart racing in her chest as she spoke a bit more to Llara before hanging up.
Her heart was pounding so hard that it almost hurt as she realized what was happening—something that could only be a trap, considering the situation they were currently in.
Dora had no idea what exactly was happening, but it was clear that whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good. Ettore understood it too, as he went ahead to hurriedly tell the driver to reverse so they could get out as fast as possible.
But Ettore was still talking when Dora, whose gaze had been focused on the restaurant, suddenly gasped—just a split second before she watched a huge truck barrel right into the front side of the restaurant lobby where she should have been standing.
It was almost like she could see what would have happened to her future self as she watched the truck tear through people like they were paper, bodies flung and crushed in an instant.
Dora’s skin paled at the sight—one she barely managed to stomach—as the driver of their car accelerated even faster the second the loud, booming sound of the crash echoed all around them.
They rushed out, abandoning all else, realizing that whatever happened with the truck might not even have been the complete goal intended for them.
It didn’t help that Dora’s heart was still pounding violently in her chest as she tried her best to calm her racing heartbeat. Still, the horrific memory was now embedded in her mind as she listened to Ettore quietly speak to someone on the phone—with a calm she couldn’t bring herself to feel.
Her heart felt lodged in her throat as she realized that if Llara hadn’t called, she would either be dead or in a state much worse than her stepmother already was.
Gritting her teeth hard, she tried to calm herself down, only to fail—but she continued to try regardless.
It wasn’t until they got back to the estate that she finally felt somewhat relieved. She stepped out of the car, doing her best not to appear as shaken as she actually felt.
Heading inside, she greeted Giulia, who was already waiting with a concerned expression. Clearly, she had already heard about what had happened, but Dora was not in the mood for a conversation and instantly made it clear that she was heading straight to her room with no intention of eating.
She was relieved when Giulia seemed not to have any messages for her—and even better, Dante had not yet arrived.
Silently, Dora headed straight to her room, falling onto her bed even as she tightened her fists, struggling to keep them from trembling any more than they already did.
Was she scared? Yes. She was terrified—realizing that even with all the protection she had, if she hadn’t picked up Llara’s call, she would have died, and Dante wouldn’t have been able to help.
She also knew that it was Don Tiberio’s intention to scare her—but even though she knew it, she still couldn’t help how she felt as she closed her eyes and willed herself to be calm, only to fail again.
