All Chapters of Until the Infinity Ran Out: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I waited for Cardo all night, but he didn't come back.At six in the morning, he sent a message saying there was no sign of gang activity near Camilla's place, but Ellie had gotten hurt and he needed to stay and handle it.At the end of the message, he reminded me to get some sleep.I didn't reply.At seven that evening, I arrived early at the restaurant on the Hudson waterfront.The waiter poured my wine and asked if I wanted to order.I said I'd wait.I waited until ten, when Cardo finally called."Sweetheart, I'm sorry. Something came up on my end."In the background, Ellie was crying and Camilla's voice was soft."Camilla again?"A brief silence on the other end."Ellie has a fever and seizures. Camilla can't handle it alone. Let's cancel tonight. I'll make it up to you another day."Then he hung up fast, without waiting for my answer.I listened to the dial tone and looked down at the carefully wrapped gift box beside me.Inside was a cloth-bound picture book I'd spent a month mak

"You can't touch this."I pulled the necklace back.Ellie hadn't expected to be refused. Her whole face scrunched up."Uncle Cardo said I can use anything here. Everything here is mine.""But this is mine."I closed my fist around the pendant.She looked furious. Suddenly she lunged at me, her voice sharp."I don't like you! Get out!"Her hand grabbed the chain and yanked, hard.The silver snapped. The pendant slipped through my fingers and hit the floor.I went completely still.When I was little, my father called me his little deer.Every birthday, he'd make me a deer-shaped pancake with his own hands.The year he died, he couldn't make pancakes anymore, so he found a silversmith and had this necklace made.The pendant was a little deer, my name engraved on the back.He said, this is the last little deer I'll ever give you.After I became Cardo's Donna, I had more fine jewelry than I could count.But I always kept it.And now it was broken in the hands of a six-year-old.Ellie froze

The wound got infected, and sometime after midnight I started running a low fever.The next morning I forced myself out of bed, checked my passport, packed what was left into my suitcase, and dragged it out to the hallway.I ran right into Cardo coming out of the guest room.He blinked when he saw me."Vivian, you look awful. What's wrong?"He took a step toward me and raised his hand like he meant to feel my forehead.The phone on the coffee table rang. The caller ID read C.Cardo glanced at the screen and answered. Camilla's voice on the other end was soft.He smiled. "Okay, got it. I'll be right down."He slipped the phone into his pocket, the half-raised hand already forgotten."Camilla's ankle is more swollen than last night. I need to take her to the hospital." He bent for his car keys and straightened again. "If you're not feeling well, take something yourself. We'll talk when I get back.""Mm."He walked to the door, then suddenly stopped and turned around."Vivian, don't overt

"What do you mean, the last time?"Cardo chased her out the door, but Rachel was already at the end of the hallway."I don't know."Rachel shrugged.Cardo stood in the doorway without moving.He didn't believe it. Seven years, not seven days. It couldn't just be cut off clean over a few arguments. Even less could it be so absurd that she'd leave without giving him a single explanation.He went back inside and called Marco's former lieutenant, told him to pull the security footage from the early hours of this morning.By the time the bodyguard delivered the recording, it was already dark. Cardo sat in the study and watched it frame by frame.In the footage, he carried Ellie out first. Camilla followed, her hand on his arm.Later that night, Vivian came out of the bedroom, dug out a box of fever medicine, then bent down and searched the storage cabinet for a long time before finding a thermometer.She leaned against the kitchen counter, tucked the thermometer under her arm, waited a few

For a whole month after the call was cut off, Cardo barely left the estate.He made a list of every possible place, from the studio she'd had while studying art at Columbia to her family's abandoned old house. He even listed the small town she'd once mentioned seven years ago, the one she said she wanted to hold an exhibition in.But every instruction he sent out came back with nothing but disappointment.Gradually, he stopped using the Falcone family's privileges. He just sat in front of his computer day and night like an ordinary man stripped of everything, scrolling through every public art and illustration site he could find.Then, on the morning of the thirty-first day, the New York Contemporary Arts Foundation's website published the winners of this year's Emerging Artist Award.At the very top, in the most conspicuous spot, was written: Vivian Underwood, Lead Winner of the Los Angeles Emerging Artist Residency.Below the announcement was an image of her winning work: Caged Bird