Because I didn’t have to mean it for it to be real.
My breath shudders.
I press my lips together hard enough that they shake.
Something inside my ribs gives way.
Not loudly.
Just… finally.
It isn’t sobbing.
It’s worse.
It’s the part of me that stayed hollow on purpose, finally realizing it carved out something innocent.
If I stay—
I see it with brutal clarity—
There will be more fractures.
More fear.
More blood in places it has no right to exist.
I am not a gentle woman.
I am not safe to love.
And this family?
This broken, violent, cornered family?
They don’t need me.
They need less of me.
My throat burns.
Santino still stands there—split down the center between want and duty.
God and blood.Me and his brother.
And I know it deep and sickening—
Only one of us survives this without being destroyed.
He’s already chosen.
Even if he hasn’t spoken it out loud.
I drag in a breath like it might be the last one I ever take inside these walls.
And something inside me settles.
Not with peace.
