Chapter 4

Damiano scoffed. "You don't get to decide that."

The line went dead.

I mustered what strength I had left to reach for my suitcase, but my hand had not even found the zipper before everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, eight or nine hours had passed, and the sheets beneath me were soaked through with a dark red stain. As my consciousness flickered in and out, someone was shouting near my ear.

"Stay with me! We're doing everything we can to save the baby!"

I managed to whisper. "Maybe this was how it was always meant to be."

The last thing I remembered before the darkness took me was the doctor saying the surgery was over. When I woke again, three days had passed. I had been gone for three full days, and Damiano had not called once.

I went straight back to the Morvani estate. The moment I pushed open the door, I saw the living room table covered in cakes and flowers. Damiano was standing there, trimming the stems of white roses.

I turned to leave.

He caught up and pulled me into his arms before I could take another step, resting his chin on the top of my head. "Things have been crazy with the family lately. That's why I forgot our anniversary.

"Let me make it up to you today. All of it. Whatever you want."

I stood perfectly still. The only thing running through my mind, over and over, was the image of myself lying alone on that operating table.

He reached around from behind me and held out a velvet box. Inside was a ring, and beside it sat a yellowed Polaroid. Someone had snapped it the very first time we met, at a family banquet.

"Remember that night? You wore a red dress and stood by the floor-to-ceiling window. I couldn't take my eyes off you the entire evening."

I stared at the photograph without a word. He leaned in close, his voice barely above a whisper. "Am I forgiven?"

Then I remembered what I had seen the night before. Valeria had posted a new video. Her table was piled high with designer jewelry like a small mountain. She looked straight into the camera and said, "What can I say? He just spoils me."

Then she picked three pieces at random and announced she was giving them away in a raffle.

One of them was in a velvet box identical to the one Damiano was holding.

I took the box from him with trembling hands, then raised my arm and hurled it to the floor. The ring tumbled out and rolled across the tiles.

My mother heard the noise and came out of her room. "You're carrying a child. Can't you control that temper? Damiano has been good to you. Stop being so ungrateful."

Damiano froze. Pure joy broke across his face. "A baby?"

The happiness in his expression was so real it almost made me want to laugh.

I tilted my head back and let the tears slide into my hair.

"The baby's gone.

"Damiano, let's just end this."

He went rigid, and something rare flashed through his eyes. It was panic.

"Tina, don't joke about that. You know I'll never agree to it."

Mamma frowned in disapproval. "Just a few days ago you flew to Solverno to bring him home, and now you want a divorce?"

Damiano turned sharply toward the television screen. The news was showing footage from the conflict zone in Solverno. Smoke, rubble, and ruins filled every inch of the frame.

"You went to Solverno?" he asked me.

Mamma answered before I could. "What kind of question is that? She's the one who went to bring you back."

Damiano stood there, stunned. His hand began to tremble at his side.

I did not care what was going through his head. My voice came out flat. "Damiano, didn't you say Valeria is the woman you love?

"Well, now I'm leaving. You can love her all you want."

With that, under his stricken gaze, I walked out the front door of the Morvani estate.