All Chapters of Until the Infinity Ran Out: Chapter 11 - Chapter 17

Cardo didn't leave Los Angeles.When he learned that the residency program held a public art salon and awards exchange every week, he made a reservation three days in advance and arrived at the Los Angeles Arts Center three hours early that day.The arts center had only one public entrance, the main hall.He sat in the lounge closest to the front door, where no one coming or going could escape his line of sight.At two in the afternoon, the salon and award ceremony began on time.Through the heavy soundproof wooden doors, he heard the host announce Vivian's name with great ceremony, followed by a burst of warm applause from the whole room.Cardo stood up on instinct, wanting to take a step forward, then stopped.For seven years, he'd been used to seeing Vivian standing behind him in elegant, refined dresses, receiving respect as "the Falcone Donna," but he'd never truly stepped into the art world that belonged to her.Now she had finally shed that shackle and stood in the spotlight of

But as Vivian became famous at major art exhibitions across the country, she quickly drew the jealousy and malicious suppression of her peers.Her wedding photo with Cardo, photos of Cardo out to dinner with Camilla and Ellie, and photos of the argument at the hospital went viral on social media.Everyone was talking about how this emerging artist was "the Don's abandoned canary.""After being dumped by the mafia, she can only sell her talent in the art world as a failed canary. What a familiar script.""She can't even manage her own marriage, and now she's playing the sympathy card to beg the foundation for handouts…"Some even spliced her old society wedding photos together with her current signing ceremony, maliciously spreading rumors that she'd been thrown out of the family for bad conduct.These malicious smears weren't just aimed at Vivian. They quickly sent shockwaves through the Falcone family.The family elders had already started whispering behind closed doors, even spreadin

Cardo began rooting out the traitors who had caused Marco's death, and he reinvestigated Marco's family.When he got to Camilla, he found that she had five properties under her name, all equipped with top-level security systems.The dates on the property registrations were long before she'd reached out to Cardo.And Ellie didn't have the severe PTSD Camilla had claimed. She wouldn't be in life-threatening danger from ordinary crying or insomnia.Most critically, Camilla came from a mafia family in the South. After Marco died, her family had sent people three separate times to offer her and her daughter the highest level of family protection and living arrangements, and every single time, she'd flatly refused.The only protection she'd ever accepted was Cardo's.Cardo met Camilla at a café.When she saw the property deeds, the medical evaluations, and the negotiation letters from her family's side spread across the table, Camilla's face went instantly pale.First she denied it frantical

Three months later, using the first royalty payment from my new picture book, I bought a studio of my own on the West Coast.It wasn't spacious, but it had a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.I kept my little deer necklace. The fine crack along its side was still clearly visible, but I never once thought of covering it with an expensive gem or replacing it.On the day of the new book's national release, the publisher sent a batch of donated copies to several partner public legal aid organizations across the country.On the recipient list was the legal aid foundation for abused minors where Cardo now worked.He didn't send any letter through it, didn't have anyone pass along a single word, and never appeared at any corner of my book tour.I named the new picture book The Meaning of Setting Out.It tells the story of a girl who, after a great loss and upheaval, finds the courage again to embrace the world with a smile.There's no endless waiting in the story, and no dramatic reunion