CHAPTER 7.

For several minutes, he remained awake, in a struggle between his thoughts, his conscience, his feelings. He was a sea of confusion, and he disliked it intensely; it was so unpleasant, carrying with it that feeling of being a traitor.

Sleep inevitably came, yet less than a couple of hours later, his cell phone began to ring. It was on the nightstand beside the bed, and he answered it quickly before the sound could wake his wife. He answered.

"One moment, please wait," he instructed his caller.

Carefully, he laid his wife back down on the bed, grabbed his boxers, put them on, and walked out of the room, where he finally answered the call.

"Hello, yes, tell me, what do you need?" he asked, frowning.

"Are you Mr. Matteo Sebastini?" the voice at the other end inquired.

"Yes, that's me. How can I help you?" he asked, a bit irritated because the person wouldn't get to the point. "Would you be so kind as to tell me, once and for all, the reason for your call?"

"Sir, we're calling from the Place Roma Hotel. We have a problem. The young lady in the master suite, Helena, suffered an incident. She's having a hysterical attack, and we didn't know what to do with her until we saw her cell phone, where you're listed as an emergency contact."

Matteo remained silent, running a hand through his hair in a gesture of helplessness. When he said goodbye to Helena, he was convinced it would be forever. He truly didn't want her near again because he feared falling into temptation. For him, it would be best to stay away. However, given the situation, "Would it be right not to go when it was an emergency? Would it be right to abandon her when she needed him most?" He already owed that woman so much; he couldn't add another debt.

"Sir, the young lady is very unwell, she's not responding. We called a doctor to attend to her, but he's recommending not leaving her alone. It could be very dangerous for her, as she might even attempt to harm herself," the man replied on the other end of the line.

"What happened to her?" he asked with curiosity.

"She was attacked. Luckily, someone heard and called hotel security," the man mentioned. "Are you coming, or should we call someone else?"

He thought about it for a few more seconds and finally decided.

"Alright, please take care of Helena until I arrive. I'll attend to her for the rest of the night," he responded, cutting the call.

He took a deep breath, squeezing his nose in frustration. He walked to his son's room, picked him up, and laid him down with Galata, as he didn't feel right leaving her alone. He kissed his son's forehead and his wife's, found a pair of jeans and a shirt, and quickly put them on, along with socks and a pair of shoes.

For a moment, he stood at the door, looking at his family, preserving that beautiful image in his heart before leaving.

**

As soon as Matteo left, Galata stirred, opening her eyes. She felt as if her heart had been taken and squeezed until it was minuscule, useless. She couldn't hold back the tears that welled up in her eyes, bathing her face.

She was still the same fool she had always been. She had believed in Matteo again, after the conversation she had overheard. She thought things could improve between them, and as he made love to her, she felt it. For the first time, she perceived tenderness and devotion. He focused on making every nerve ending in her body tingle. It had been one of the most emotional moments of her life, because she felt loved for the first time, alive.

Before, it wasn't that sex was bad, but it had become a mechanical act. She enjoyed it, but it didn't make sparks fly; it was more out of obligation than delight. This time, however, it had been different, sublime, explosive. She felt Matteo's caresses with every fiber of her skin. This time, he was warm, so much so that at first, she thought it was a dream. When she realized the reality, her heart raced wildly in her chest, and despite her mind disagreeing and screaming at her to stop him, her body and heart couldn't. In that moment, she was the happiest woman in the world, and because of that beautiful act, she knew she hadn't been loved before.

However, now she was there, receiving a dose of reality. For those sublime moments, she believed he loved her, but just one phone call about that woman was enough for him to leave her alone after making love.

"Love!" she exclaimed, unable to disguise the sarcasm. "That wasn't making love; that was simply sex, because the one Matteo Sebastini loved was Helena, and she wouldn't be able to change that. Would she be able to live that way? Sharing her husband's love and attention with a third person? Could she do it for her children?"

Thus passed the rest of the night, waiting for Matteo's arrival. Hours went by until the dark night was left behind, and on the horizon, the sun's rays made their luminous appearance. A yawn escaped the girl's mouth, at the same time the sun's rays filtered through the immaculate windowpanes of the room.

"He didn't come! He woke up with Helena," she thought, feeling the entire weight of the world thrown onto her shoulders. She looked at her phone, and there wasn't even a message from her husband.

She got up feeling more tired than when she lay down. Her legs were trembling, made of jelly. She walked to the bathroom, looked at herself in the mirror, and saw deep black circles, dark beneath her lower lashes. She washed her face, feeling her breath weak. She closed her eyes because for the second time, she didn't like the reflection looking back at her.

She felt a fury emerge from the depths of her being, like a powerful volcano. She clenched her teeth, grinding them, at the same time hitting the mirror hard with her fists, shattering it instantly. Glass shards flew everywhere, while blood gushed from her hands.

She herself was impressed by her reaction. She peeked out of the bathroom door and looked towards the bed to check that her son was asleep. To her relief, he was. At that moment, her cell phone rang. She rushed out, carefully avoiding slipping on the glass.

When she answered the phone, she didn't look at the caller ID, though she did recognize the voice on the other end of the line.

"I'm here! I woke up from a nightmare and had the impression you needed me. Was I wrong?" the person on the other end of the line asked, while she couldn't help but be a little surprised by the offer.