“You disappeared,” he accused. “You ran like a coward.”
I stared at him through tears, the man I once believed I would build a life with.
“I ran?” I shouted, finally losing what little control I had left. “You threw me out of your life like I was trash! You didn’t give me a single chance to defend myself!”
“Because you didn’t deserve one!” he roared, emotion flashing raw in his gray eyes—rage I rarely saw in him.
“Didn’t deserve one?” I threw it back, voice loud enough to echo through the house. I shoved his chest, but he didn’t move an inch. “I gave you everything, Enrico! My heart, my trust, my whole life—and you tossed it away like it meant nothing!”
We were face to face now, eyes locked, both of us consumed by rage and pain we’d carried for years. The bitterness exploded between us, turning my kitchen into a battlefield.
“You don’t know the meaning of trust,” he snapped. “All you know how to do is lie, manipulate, pretend—”
And before I could answer, a small, frightened voice cut through the air like a blade.
“Mommy…?”
I turned instantly.
My heart clenched so hard it felt like it might tear.
Clara stood at the entrance to the kitchen, clutching her stuffed bear to her chest, eyes wide with fear.
I wiped my face quickly, uselessly, and rushed to her.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I whispered, pulling her against my trembling body. I shot Enrico a furious look over her head. “It’sokay. Go back to bed, alright? Mommy just needs to say goodbye to our… visitor, and I’ll come right in.”
Clara nodded timidly. Her eyes flicked to Enrico for a brief, terrified second—then she turned and disappeared down the hallway, silent as a shadow.
The moment she was gone, I faced him again, anger turning darker, deeper.
“Satisfied?” I hissed, my whisper shaking with fury and grief. “Is this what you wanted? For me to lose control in front of her?”
Enrico didn’t answer at once.
For the first time that night, the arrogance seemed to drain out of him.
His entire body went rigid. Shoulders tense. His eyes stayed fixed on the place Clara had stood seconds before.
His usually unreadable face looked… shocked.
Pale beneath his perfectly trimmed beard. Jaw locked. Pupils blown wide by something intense and unexpected.
My heart started pounding out of control.
Fear spread through me like icy hands.
The possibility that Enrico could hurt my child—reject her the way he had rejected me—hit so hard I moved instinctively.
I lifted my chin, stepped into a protective stance, and placed myself directly between him and the hallway.
“Who’s the father of that girl, Valentina?” he asked.
Each word came out low, cold, almost threatening—gray eyes now filled with a storm he couldn’t hide.
A bitter, disbelieving laugh escaped me.
“Who do you think, genius?” I snapped, fury renewing like fire. I stepped forward. “And don’t you dare think about hurting my daughter, Enrico. You’ll have to kill me first.”
