Lahat ng Kabanata ng Ruined By Desire : Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Sofia had been at Mia’s apartment for nine days.Nine days that felt like nine years.She spent most of her time curled up on the couch, blanket pulled tight around her like a shield. The television was on more often than not, but she rarely paid attention to what was playing. Her mind was elsewhere trapped in an endless loop of memories, anger, and a deep, aching emptiness she couldn’t name.Mia was patient. She brought her food, made her tea, sat with her in silence when words felt too heavy. But even Mia’s presence couldn’t fill the hole that had opened up inside Sofia the night she walked out of the villa with her suitcase.The anger came in waves.It would hit her suddenly sharp and hot when she remembered the kitchen. The sound of the glass shattering. The sight of her father’s hips moving against Valentina on the counter. The way he had groaned her name like she was the only thing that existed. The way they hadn’t even stopped when the glass broke they had kept going, thinkin

The silence in the villa had become unbearable.Luca and Valentina sat across from each other at the kitchen table, the untouched cold pancakes still sitting between them like a silent witness to everything that had gone wrong. The empty chair where Sofia used to sit stared back at them, a constant reminder of the daughter who had walked out with a suitcase and a broken heart.Neither of them had spoken in nearly an hour.The conversation about their choice whether to stay together and accept permanent estrangement from Sofia, or sacrifice their love for her sake had left them both drained and raw.Luca’s phone suddenly vibrated on the table.They both froze.The screen lit up with Mia’s name.Luca’s hand trembled as he reached for it. He answered on the second ring and put it on speaker so Valentina could hear.“Mia?” His voice was rough, cracked. “Is she okay?”Mia’s voice came through, tense and worried. “She’s… not great. She had another bad night. She’s been crying for hours. S

After Sofia walked away from the café, the silence in the villa became even heavier.Luca returned home looking like a ghost of the man he used to be. He didn’t speak when he walked through the door. He simply sat down on the couch, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor. Valentina watched him from the doorway, her own heart aching with the weight of what had happened.She didn’t ask for details right away.She knew he needed time.Instead, she made tea.She brought him a mug and sat beside him on the couch close, but not touching. They had both agreed to respect Sofia’s boundaries, even when she wasn’t there.Luca took the mug with trembling hands.“She’s considering moving away,” he said finally, voice hoarse. “She said she might transfer to another university. Maybe even another country. She wants to get away from everything. From both of us.”Valentina’s breath caught.“She said she’s not ready to forgive us,” Luca continued. “She said she still sees us in the kitchen every ti

Luca stood alone in the dimly lit attic, dust motes dancing in the single beam of light from the small window. He had come up here looking for an old toolbox something practical, something to keep his hands busy so his mind wouldn’t spiral. But his fingers brushed against a small, faded cardboard box tucked behind a stack of old photo albums.He knew what it was the moment he saw it.His hands trembled as he pulled the box down and sat on the dusty floor. The lid came off too easily.Inside were memories he had buried for years.A small ultrasound photo, dated years before Sofia was born. The image showed a tiny, perfectly formed baby their first child. The one they had lost.Luca’s breath hitched.He remembered the day the stillbirth happened. Elena had been so excited, rubbing her belly and talking about names. Then the sudden silence in the delivery room. The doctor’s quiet voice. The way Elena had screamed when they told her the baby had no heartbeat.He had held her while she c

Valentina stood in the middle of the guest room, the suitcase open on the bed like a wound.Her hands moved mechanically as she folded the last of her clothes. Each item she placed inside felt heavier than the last the soft sweater Luca had bought her during one of their secret outings, the scarf Sofia had given her two birthdays ago, the simple black dress she had worn the night everything had changed.She didn’t cry anymore.The tears had dried up somewhere between the attic and this room. What remained was a numb, hollow ache that made every movement feel distant, as if she were watching someone else pack her life away.She zipped the suitcase shut with a quiet finality.No note.No letter.No goodbye.She couldn’t face Luca again. She couldn’t look into his eyes and see the same broken man who had just relived the stillbirth, the damaged womb, the years of failure, the miracle birth that had cost Elena her life. She couldn’t bear to hear him beg her to stay when she knew, deep in