CHAPTER 174
ROMEO POV
Katya's eyes lifted slowly. They found Nonna first. Recognition but not fully. It was like her gaze slid over her, unfocused, glazed, as if Nonna were a ghost standing where a wall should be.
Then her eyes dropped. Back to the floor. Back to the maid. Back to what she was on.
Something in Katya seemed to snap back as she scrambled backward with a sharp, broken gasp, the shard slipping on floor as she lets it go.
Her movements were frantic, uncoordinated—like an animal realizing too late it had wandered into fire.
She hit the wall hard, curling into it, knees dragging to her chest. Her back pressed flat against the cold marble like she was trying to disappear into it.
Her eyes never left the girl on the floor. The maid was trembling now. Alive but barely.
That realization seemed to hit Katya all at once. Her hands came up in front of her face, shaking violently, smeared with red she didn't seem to recognize as real.
