My eyes had widened in dismay.
"How…"
"How? Imagine my surprise when I was casually strolling through the city and a certain Special Agent McNaught approached me, calling me Mrs. Agosti and asking me if I'd reconsidered his offer."
"Then you know that I didn't take his offer," I'd worded my phrase carefully, trying to get her to back off.
"I do, but our parents don't."
"What do you mean? You told them?" I'd burst out, worry gnawing at me.
"Them and…" she'd paused, satisfaction filling her features as she'd watched me slowly lose my calm. "Rocco."
"What… why…" I'd stammered, suddenly realizing where this was all going.
"Because, dear sister," she'd taken a step forward, her finger poking into my chest, "you're living the lifeIshould have been living. And I intend to remedy that."
"You can't do that," I'd wrapped my fingers around her hand, twisting it away from my body. "Enzo won't let you."
"Won't let him? He proposed the whole idea since, let's faceit, I'm not only better looking," she'd paused, looking down her nose at me, "but I also fuck better."
"I don't believe you," I'd replied, my hand searching for my phone. "Why don't we give him a call then? He can confirm for himself what a great lay you are," I'd decided to play her game, knowing that Enzo would never betray me like this.
And I'd been right. Just as I'd made a run for the phone, Chiara had jumped me, tackling me to the ground. My body had still been recovering from the birth, so the fall had been excruciatingly painful.
"Fucking bitch," her punch had connected with my jaw, her knuckles catching the left side of my face. A low moan of pain had escaped me, and I'd mustered all my remaining strength to try to push her off me.
But I couldn't.
A few more punches and I was already dizzy from the cumulative pain.
At some point I'd heard Luca cry, but I'd been immobilized on the floor, unable to do anything.
"Luca," I'd whimpered, still under a barrage of punches.
"Guess who your fucking brat will callmamma," she'd laughed, taunting me further.
Eyes wide in fear, skin ruptured and bleeding, I'd tried to fight back. Anything to go back to my baby and hold him to my chest, whisper loving words, and make sure he was safe.
But just as I'd started gaining some ground while returning her punches, she stopped holding back. Wrapping one hand around my neckline, she'd dragged my body across the floor until she reached a table.
I'd been so battered that only inarticulate sounds escaped my lips. Still, I'd tried to reason with her, beseech her to let me be.
My baby… Luca…
My only thought had been Luca and what would happen to him when I was gone. And so my eyes had honed in on him asChiara wrapped her fingers in my hair, her nails digging into my scalp. Dragging my head toward her, she'd applied maximum strength as she'd pushed me back toward the leg of the table. One side of my face had taken the brunt of the force, and I'd felt myself slipping.
Time after time she'd smashed my face against the table until I knew I wasn't whole anymore. Through some sort of divine punishment, I felt everything. I felt the skin rupturing, the bone crushing and digging into my flesh. I'd felt the blood pour out of me, and I'd known in that moment.
I was dying.
She'd continued until I stopped moving completely, my limbs paralyzed, a pain unlike any other filling my entire being.
"Not so strong now, are you?" she'd spat on me before rising to her feet to make a phone call.
In a state between life and death, I could only wait for the blackness to come. Briefly, I thought of Luca and Enzo, the two people I loved more than anything.
And as I was dying, I'd hoped to meet them again.
