“You think I did all of that without reason?” she asked, and she didn’t deny it. Not even once. Her voice was ice. “That woman was a direct threat to everything we built. You were blinded by your childish desire and too weak to see what she represented—a danger to our name, to our family.”
“She was innocent!” I shouted, anguish and fury twisting together until my voice shook. “You destroyed her life without mercy—and you destroyed mine with it!” The words tore out of me. “Valentina didn’t deserve what we did to her.”
Eloá stopped only a few feet away, holding my gaze with venomous defiance.
“I did what was necessary to protect you,” she said, contempt sharpening every syllable. “If you can’t see that, you’re a sentimental fool. Your obsession with that little woman has already cost you too much.”
Something sharp and hot burned at the center of my chest, spreading fast, reaching into every part of me.
I stood still for a moment, staring at the woman in front of me as if I were seeing her for the first time.
The woman who raised me.
The woman I spent my entire life trying to impress—trying to repay an impossible debt after she took me and my brothers when our parents died.
“Protect me?” My voice came out low and rough, soaked in pain I never believed I’d show her. “Is that what you call it?” I swallowed hard. “You destroyed an innocent woman’s life. You destroyed mine, Eloá.” My chest tightened. “You stole any chance I ever had at genuine happiness.” The words turned darker. “You stole four years from my daughter’s life. From yourgreat-granddaughter.” My voice broke around the truth. “All because I loved someone you deemed unworthy?”
She lifted her chin as if my words couldn’t touch her.
“Don’t be dramatic, Enrico,” she said. “Your happiness was never in that woman. You’re too weak to admit you were being manipulated by a cheap opportunist.” She took another step as if closing the conversation with her presence. “I simply did what you didn’t have the courage to do.”
Bitter taste rose in my throat.
Rage and grief tangled until they were nearly indistinguishable.
“She wasn’t an opportunist,” I said, my hands shaking with restrained violence. “She never was.” My voice rose again, raw now. “I loved her, Eloá.” The confession hit like blood on my tongue. “I loved her more than I’ve ever loved anything in this miserable life.” I stepped closer, unable to stop. “And you destroyed it like it meant nothing.”
My voice betrayed me at the end—unsteady, almost breaking. Years of emotion I’d buried under arrogance and control surged to the surface.
For the first time in my life, I was completely vulnerable in front of her.
Eloá didn’t soften.
Her eyes held disgust like it was a virtue.
“You’ve always been disappointing, Enrico,” she said coldly. “I expected you to be strong. Worthy of everything I invested in you.” Her gaze sharpened. “But now I see I was wrong. You’re weak like your father—sentimental, foolish, incapableof making necessary decisions.” She didn’t blink. “You would throw everything we built away for a woman of no value.”
Something inside me cracked.
Not a small fracture.
A breaking.
Her words went through me with a violence I wasn’t prepared to feel. A helplessness—an absolute despair—flooded my chest and stole my air.
“How can you be so cruel?” I whispered, my voice trembling. Heat burned behind my eyes—tears I had always forced back, always swallowed, now threatening to spill. “Everything I’ve done… every choice I made… was to honor you. To prove I was worthy of your approval—your love.” My throat tightened. “How could you destroy everything I am so easily?”
“Because you never understood what it means to be a Ferrara,” she replied. She moved closer, slow and calculated. “You were never worthy of it. I’ve always needed to ensure you didn’t destroy what I built.” Her voice lowered, ruthless. “Every action I took was necessary. Because you’re too weak to do what must be done.”
I shook my head as each word demolished what was left of my loyalty, my faith—my entire understanding of who I was.
My certainty broke apart in real time.
“No,” I breathed, stepping back, nausea rising hard and fast. “You’re wrong.” My voice turned sharper, desperate. “You’re the one who’s never been human.” I stared at her, suddenly sick with clarity. “You’re the one who’s never known how to love anyone but yourself and your power.” My chest heaved. “You manipulated me. You destroyed my life. You stole everythinggood I had.” My voice cracked. “You killed who I was—and now I don’t even know what’s left of me.”
One tear slipped down my face—heavy and hot, carrying years of pain in a single line.
I didn’t care if she thought it made me weak.
