After dropping Noemi at the departure terminal, Alessio floored it back to the hospital.
Ever since Danicla’s “accident,” her pregnancy had been touch and go. She’d become pathologically needy, dissolving into hysterics if he left her sight for more than an hour.
He took the hospital stairs two at a time.
“Marco! Where are you?” Daniela’s voice cracked with panic.
When silence answered, her breathing quickened. Pain knifed through her belly, but she ignored it,
struggling out of bed.
The door flew open. “Daniela! What the hell are you doing?”
She swayed. He caught her just before she hit the floor.
Safe in his arms, months of fear exploded. She fisted his shirt, tears soaking his collar.
I thought you’d abandoned me…”
Like Father abandoned Mother after his mistress got pregnant. Like every rich man eventually rades in his wife for someone younger, prettier.
These past months, Alessio had been her salvation–pulling her from poverty, drowning her in designer clothes and five–star dinners. Since his miraculous “return,” he’d been ravenous for her, fucking her senseless every night like he couldn’t get enough.
she’d clawed her way out of the gutter. She’d die before going back.
Jesus, you’re drenched.” She touched his soaked shirt. “What happened?”
‘Car died halfway back. Had to run.‘
Her heart stuttered. This powerful man, racing through the streets just to reach her…
She dabbed his forehead, then let her voice tremble. “But Marco… leaving poor Noemi alone at the airport? There’ve been muggings lately. What if-”
2022
Chapter 10
What if she gets stabbed? Kidnapped? Never comes back?
His muscles locked. Then: “She’s fine. She’s always been fine without me.”
All these years managing alone. One flight home won’t kill her.
“I called her parents.” he added. “They’re picking her up in Rome.”
Daniela pressed against his chest, masking her disappointment. “You’re so good to your family.”
“Family’s everything.” His voice was distant, his gaze somewhere else entirely.
“Marco?” She stroked his jaw. “Where’d you go just now?”
“Nowhere.” He blinked back to the present. “I’m here. With you. Our baby.”
But even as he spoke the words, his mind painted images of another woman, another life, another future that was slipping further away with every passing moment. The one he’d thrown away with
his own hands.
Noemi’s face at the terminal haunted him–her straight spine as she walked away without looking
back. He’d made his choice at that airport curb. Each mile back to the hospital had cemented it. The forbidden thrill of Daniela’s body, the intoxicating wrongness of fucking his brother’s widow–it had
its hooks in him now.
After the baby, he told himself. Once it’s born, I’ll fix everything. Explain to Noemi. Make it right.
But watching Daniela curl against him, feeling her tears on his neck, he knew the truth.
The scales had already tipped.
