Confusion flickers across his face, then pain, then acceptance.
Blood blooms across his white shirt.
Our eyes connect one last time.
His lips part as if to speak, but no sound comes.
Then his knees buckle, and he crumples to the marble floor.
34
VALENTINA
Everything stops.
The room falls eerily silent.
Both families freeze.
Alessandro stands with his gun still raised. "The Dante family disowns this action," he announces, voice filling the silence. "This man acted alone, out of jealousy and obsession."
I can't tear my eyes from Cristian's body. His blood covers his chest.
My child's father lies dead at my feet.
My brother murdered him.
And I have nothing left to lose.
I lunge toward Cristian's body. “No!”
A heated discourse erupts between the Bratva and my brother and his men.
“We’ve got to go.” Adriano’s arms wrap around my middle and haul me up, dragging me to a side door.
“Let me go to him!" I flail, but Adriano’s grip is too strong.
"You can't," Adriano hisses in my ear. "It's not safe."
I thrash against him, my hands clawing at his arms. "He's dying! Let me go!"
But Adriano is relentless, pulling me out the side exit while Alessandro continues addressing Bratva men, Luca by his side.
“It’s a powder keg, Valentina. They’ll kill you if they get a chance.”
At first, I still want to fight against my brother, but then I think of the baby.
Of the sacrifice Cristian just made for us.
I can’t let that be in vain.
I twist my head for one last glimpse of Cristian, sprawled on the floor. He looks so small now, so still.
This man who loved me, who risked everything to save me.
"Alessandro killed him! He murdered Cristian!" I sob, giving up the fight.
Adriano leads me out of the building and to a waiting car. “You’re free. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
