“Exactly. No reason to lie. But it’s the truth. Vincenzo... he’s not cut out to have a family. Don’t fool yourself into thinking he could ever love you—because he won’t. Not now, not ever.”
My mouth opened, words stuck in my throat, my heart hammering.
Then the lecture siren blared again—sharper this time.
Final warning. Time was up.
I had to move.
But Ciro’s words clung to me, heavy and insistent:
Vincenzo isn’t cut out for a family...
Don’t fool yourself into thinking he could ever love you—
My chest caved in, pain tightening around my ribs.
I took a step away from Ciro.
Then another.
“Elena.”
His voice stopped me.
I paused.
For a fleeting moment, something unspoken passed between us.
Something fragile, heavy, and unsaid.
Then he exhaled, almost as if deciding against whatever he had meant to say.
“I... I have something I want to tell you,” he said quietly, his voice hesitant. “But... it’s dangerous to say. Rebellious, even.”
I held his gaze a beat longer than I should have.
“Then I hope... someday you find the courage to say it,” I murmured, letting my words hang in the air.
“Do you ever miss my old life?” He asked. “Running. Hiding. Fighting.”
“I do,” I admitted softly. “And... I think I will go back to it someday.”
I swallowed hard, the thought cutting deep.
I couldn’t keep living like this—not under Vincenzo’s shadow, not trapped in this... suffocating life.
The lecture siren blared again.
I turned and walked toward the Crimson Chamber lecture hall, feeling the weight of Ciro’s stare like a shadow pressing down on my back. I didn’t dare turn around.
Chapter 12
ELENA
It was ten minutes to 10:00 p.m.—ten minutes before I would leave this room, as I had for the past eight nights, to go to Vincenzo’s.
I sat at my vanity table, the oval mirror reflecting a version of me I barely recognized anymore.
