After The Don Left Me To Die I Chose Freedom Chapter 06
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in an intensive care unit.
I turned my head and saw Adrian sitting at my bedside.
He was my senior from medical school—and the only person who had ever truly been there for me through the years.
He held out a glass of water, his movements gentle.
“Don’t try to talk yet. Your fever just broke.”
I stared at him, my thoughts still tangled and blurred.
“Aren’t I… dead?”
Adrian was quiet for two seconds, then said softly: “I’m the one who dug you out of the snow.”
“By the time you reached the hospital, you were barely breathing. The hypothermia had suppressed your vitals to the point where you were nearly misdiagnosed.”
“I insisted they continue rewarming and resuscitating you. Long story short—you’re not dead.”
I gazed at him for a long time, and then, inexplicably, I smiled.
Adrian watched me and said quietly: “While you were unconscious, I heard your parents… they’re full of regret.”
“So is Luca.”
I lowered my eyes. A cold edge tugged at the corner of my mouth.
“Is that so?”
The night they thought I would never wake up, the three of them hadn’t slept at all.
That evening, the police came to them with a sealed evidence bag.
Inside were my personal effects—and an encrypted USB drive.
The police said what happened to me might be connected to its contents.
They plugged the drive into the monitor in the hospital room.
The instant the screen lit up, Grace’s voice filled the room—a recorded phone call with someone.
“That’s right. This time, make sure she really suffers. I’ve already called the rescue line and told them not to believe her.”
The rest of the files were evidence of every scheme she’d ever carried out against me, stretching all the way back to childhood.
“Emma, so what if you’re Mom and Dad’s real daughter? I’ve been by their side all these years. I’m the one they love most.”
“I framed you on purpose. Go on—see who they believe.”
“Luca is the man I love. In the end, he’ll be with me.”
The room went deathly still.
Luca’s head snapped up. His eyes locked onto Grace like a vise.
“You said all of this?”
Grace looked like the ground had fallen out from under her. Her lips wouldn’t stop trembling.
“No… it’s not like that…”
“I didn’t—”
Then her legs buckled, and she collapsed to the floor.
“Dad, Mom, Luca… let me explain…”
But this time, no one believed her.
Mom was the first to charge at her, eyes blazing with fury.
“You’ve been lying to us this whole time? You’ve been the one hurting Emma? That day when she was screaming for help on the mountain—you knew…”
Grace broke down, shaking her head frantically.
“I didn’t. I was just so scared of losing all of you…”
The instant those words left her mouth, even Luca’s expression changed.
He looked at her as though he were truly seeing her for the first time.