Page 137 of King Of Order

‘Chiara,’ I rasped, shaking my head, still in disbelief. ‘The man you saved—.’

I stopped to find the right words, but they were tangled in my windpipe until they burst out in a hoarse cry. ‘That man was me.’

CHIARA

The room closed in around me when understanding dawned on me.

My soul stuttered, my breath caught in my throat, and I couldn’t move for an instant. I couldn’t think.

The man I dumped at the hospital entrance all those years ago—the one whose life I had fought so hard to keep from slipping away—wasRio?

My mind whirled as I tried to piece it all together.

I inhaled as a rush of images washed over my cognition.

The young man in Olivio’s office.

The broken, wounded, bleeding man with a wild, lost, and rage-filled look in his eyes.

It had been him all along.

The memory had always been present, tucked away in the farthest corners of my memory bank.

Rio? Wounded and shattered, brought to me on a night when hope seemed forfeited?

I’d done everything I could: gotten him to a clinic, begged them to treat him like family, and pushed until they did. I never expected to see him again.

He’d been a shadow in my past, a fleeting second when my conscience nudged me to do the right thing.

Now, that man was standing in front of me, alive and whole, and I hadn’t realized up to this moment that it washim.

‘Rio,’ I whispered, the name sounding different now, weighted with a shared, mind-blowing history. ‘Tu?’

He nodded, his eyes searching mine as if unable to believe it himself.

The blood drained from my face, a wave of shock washing over me so powerfully that I had to steady myself against the table nearby. My hands trembled, my pulse racing in my ears.

All the time spent with him, never knowing, never realizing our connection was more profound than I had ever imagined.

A breathless laugh escaped me—part disbelief, wonder, and sheer awe at the strangeness of fate. ‘I can’t comprehend it,’ I said, my voice breaking. ‘I savedyou.’

I glanced up at him, and my vision blurred with tears I didn’t know I was holding back.

His face softened, and something in his eyes—tenderness and gratitude—had my chest tightened.

‘Chiara, you didn’t only save me,’ he rasped, stepping closer. ‘You gave me a chance to live. All this time, I never discovered who made that possible.’

His words expanded in my mind, soul, and psyche, filling me almost to bursting.

The air smelt and was flavored anew, more pure somehow.

Was this real? Had I saved the life of the man I loved so long ago?

My hands flew to my mouth, stifling a sob that bubbled up from deep inside me.

‘I never thought I’d see you again,’ I murmured, my voice trembling as I tried to make sense of the overwhelming emotions flooding me. ‘I thought you were a mere stranger. I didn’t know I didn’t know it would be you.’

Rio’s palms found mine, pulling them away from my face.

---