Chapter 2

I called an encrypted number and arranged for a new identity.

After hanging up, I got ready to go to my lawyer’s office.

Gavin saw me on his way downstairs, his voice laced with a clumsy attempt at appeasement.

"Going out? Viola, did you get that cut on your face looked at? Let me call a doctor… And don't worry, as soon as the baby is born, I'll send Sofia away. We can start over."

He thought I was just throwing a tantrum. He thought I'd be just like the last two times, that if he just bowed his head a little, I'd come running back.

I looked at the man I had once loved so deeply. He was handsome, powerful, the king of the New York underworld, yet he seemed so blind and pathetic in that moment.

"I'm going to my lawyer's office, to handle some... property matters," I lied, tucking the divorce papers into a stack of unimportant documents.

"I'll take you," Gavin said immediately. "I have to go out anyway, it's on the way."

Before we left, he made a detour to Sofia's room.

"You just rest. I have to step out for a bit, I'll be back soon," his voice was so soft it could have been water, and he gently patted her barely-there baby bump through the blanket.

I stood at the door, watching coldly.

The car moved through the bustling streets of Manhattan.

The silence in the car was deafening. Gavin, seemingly unable to stand it, tried to break it.

"Viola, remember this street?" He pointed to a French restaurant. "Our first date was there. My father was against us, said the Rossi family had fallen and wasn't good enough for the Whitestones. But I pulled my gun at the meeting, pointed it at the table, and told them if you weren't the Godfather's wife, I wouldn't be the Godfather."

He turned to me, his eyes full of emotion, trying to take my hand. "I swore that day I'd make you the happiest woman in the world."

I pulled my hand back.

"Yes," I said, looking at the passing scenery, my voice flat. "That Gavin would have fought the world for me. The Gavin of today nearly got me killed by a sniper."

Gavin's face stiffened.

"That was an accident, Viola. The situation was critical…"

Just then, his phone rang.

A special ringtone. It was Sofia.

Gavin glanced at me, hesitated for a second, but answered.

"Gavin! Help me… sob… I had a nightmare, there was blood everywhere… my stomach hurts so bad…" Sofia's panicked screams tore through the phone, loud enough for the whole car to hear.

Gavin's expression changed in an instant. All the nostalgia, guilt, and pleading vanished.

"Don't be scared, I'm on my way back!"

The screech of tires filled the air.

Gavin yanked the steering wheel, and the car stopped in the middle of the road. Outside, a torrential downpour had begun.

"Viola, get a cab to the lawyer's office," he said breathlessly as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Something's wrong with Sofia, it might be a miscarriage. I have to go back now."

We were on the expressway. There were no cabs here. The rain was so heavy you could barely see.

"Gavin, this is an expressway," I reminded him calmly. "You're just going to leave me here?"

"You're a grown woman, Viola! You can take care of yourself!" he yelled, his eyes filled with nothing but panic. "But Sofia only has me! If something happens to the baby, that's a life!"

That was his logic.

Because I was strong, I deserved to be abandoned. Because she was weak, she deserved everything.

"Fine."

I didn't argue. I opened the door and stepped out into the pouring rain.

I heard the engine roar behind me. Gavin's car made a sharp U-turn in the rain and sped off in Sofia's direction without a second thought, splashing muddy water all over me.

I stood in the rain, watching his red taillights disappear.

In that moment, Gavin Whitestone missed his last chance. If he had driven me just a little further, if he had glanced at the papers in my arms, he would have known I was leaving him for good.

But he didn't get that chance.

I walked three kilometers in the storm, arriving at the lawyer's office soaked to the bone.

"Mrs. Rossi, the proceedings have begun. Because of the assets involved, it will take about a month to finalize," the lawyer said, looking at me with pity. "You can still withdraw during this time."

"I won't need to," I said, signing my name. My fingers were cold, but my hand was steady. "The sooner, the better."

It was late when I returned to the villa.

I was burning up, my vision blurring. It was the start of a high fever. The long-term stress, combined with the storm, had finally broken me.

The villa was brightly lit.

As I passed the master bedroom, I heard Gavin’s gentle voice. He was reading a parenting book to the "traumatized" Sofia, his tone soft and full of wonder.

No one asked how long I had walked in the rain. No one asked why I was dripping wet.

I went back to my room and collapsed on the bed, too weak to even change.

Darkness washed over me. The fever made me delirious. In a daze, I thought I saw Death in a black robe, standing by my bed, beckoning to me.

Take me away, I thought. Get me out of this sickening place.