The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 238

Liora’s POV

By the time we returned to campus, I was dead on my feet. Each step felt like wading through mud, and my body ached from the rogue’s attack, but it didn’t matter. Bella was alive. The rogue encampment, the hub of their operation, had been demolished. The lockdown would be lifted.

Bella was taken straight to the infirmary to assess her injuries. Zane refused to leave her side, and I went with him. Marcus told me to have a nurse check me out, but I didn’t care about that.

I just cared about Bella.

And the fact that Bianca had tried to fucking kill me.

My veins still burned with fury every time I thought about it. Bianca had pushed me into a rogue, knowing that I might not survive. She’d left me there and prevented the others from coming back for me.

Maybe I should have revealed myself right then and there. I could have had her thrown in prison for what she did.

But I didn’t.

No. I had other plans. Now, more than ever, I wanted to wait until the perfect moment to reveal myself. I wanted to watch her crash and burn.

The nurses worked on Bella for a long time. They said she had sustained multiple injuries—deep bruises, burns, a broken arm. Zane was beside himself. I tried to comfort him with what energy I had left, but eventually, exhaustion won out.

I must have dozed off at some point in the chair beside Bella’s bed, because I suddenly woke to the sensation of someone shaking my shoulder. I jerked my head up and blinked, clearing the fog from my eyes.

Bella was slightly propped up in bed and looking at me. I almost cried with how relieved I was. She was alive and awake, albeit battered beyond all belief. Her eyes were ringed with dark bruises, and her beautiful honey-colored hair had been shorn by dull scissors, likely as some kind of humiliation tactic by the rogues.

“Bella,” I breathed, sitting up straighter. “You’re awake.”

She glanced at Zane, who was sitting beside me. The relief on his face was palpable. I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen him smiling like that.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked me. “Alone?”

Zane’s smile faded. “But…”

“Go, Zane,” she said curtly. “This doesn’t involve you.”

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