"The charges aren't proven. I'm innocent until—"
"That's for the courts to decide. Until then, you're suspended. I'm sorry, Valentino." He hung up.
I sat there staring at my phone. Suspended. My career destroyed in one phone call.
"What did he say?" Luca asked.
"Suspended. They won't publish my work until after trial." I set down the phone. "It's over. Everything I worked for."
"It's not over. After we win—"
"If we win. And even if we do, who's going to hire me? I'm the journalist who dated a mob boss. Who got arrested for conspiracy. That doesn't go away."
Luca pulled me into his arms. "We'll figure it out. One day at a time."
My phone rang again. Another journalist. I declined the call. Then another. And another.
"Turn it off," Luca said. "You don't have to talk to anyone."
"They'll keep calling."
"Let them. You don't owe anyone explanations."
I turned off my phone and leaned against him. We sat there in silence, both processing what our lives had become.
Around noon, I turned my phone back on. I had to—couldn't stay disconnected forever.
Immediately, one call came through. My mother.
"I have to take this." I answered. "Mom?"
"Valentino." Her voice was tight with emotion. "I saw the news. Tell me what's happening."
"I..." Where did I even start? "It's complicated."
"Are you okay? Were you hurt?"
"I'm okay. I wasn't hurt. Just arrested and arraigned. I'm out on bail."
"I saw. They showed you in handcuffs." She was crying. "My son in handcuffs on television."
Guilt crashed over me. "I'm sorry. I never wanted you to see that."
"Tell me the truth. All of it. Are they right? Did he force you?"
I looked at Luca, who was watching me carefully. "It started that way. He coerced me at first. But Mom, it's not like that anymore. I love him. I chose to stay."
Silence. Then: "You love him."
"I do. I know how it looks. I know everyone thinks I'm crazy or brainwashed or compromised. But I love him and I chose this."
More silence. I braced for judgment, for her to tell me I'd made the worst mistake of my life.
"Then I support you," she said finally.
"What?"
"If you love him, if you chose him, then I support you." Her voice was firmer now. "Fight for him, Valentino. Fight for what you want. I didn't raise you to give up."
