My voice got louder, shakier. All those nights alone in this town, wrapped in blankets crying until dawn. That scene in the church where he bent down to kiss another woman. Those days locked in the villa, unable to take a single step outside. Everything came flooding back.
"Did you ever ask me? Even once?" I stared into his eyes, tears blurring my vision, but I wouldn't wipe them. "Did you ever once ask, 'Chloe, what do you want? Are you willing? Are you happy?' No. Not once. You made all the decisions for me, then told me it was to protectme. But Enzo, you weren't protecting me. You were protecting your own need for control."
"It's all too late. You and I—impossible."
When those last words came out, my voice was already hoarse. My throat burned, my nose ached. But I didn't regret saying them. Every word was something I'd carried alone through these lonely nights, chewed up, swallowed, vomited back up, and wrestled with countless times. Today I finally said them. Said them to him.
Enzo listened carefully to every word. He watched me silently, didn't argue or defend. He just stood there, enduring it.
Then he did something I never imagined Enzo Falcone would do.
He knelt down.
His knees hit the wooden porch floor with a dull thud. He looked up at me, liquid sliding from those dark eyes, down his cheekbones, dripping onto his sweater collar.
Enzo Falcone was crying.
I'd never seen him cry. From day one, this man had seemed like an iron tower that couldn't bleed. But now he knelt on the old boards of my porch, tears streaming down his face, no different from any ordinary person.
"My engagement to Valentina is over." He knelt on the ground, voice hoarse like sandpaper. "I handed the family to Julian. Power, territory, business—none of it's mine anymore. I gave up everything, Chloe. Just for one chance to see you."
He drew a breath, deep and heavy.
"I know what I did. Every bit unforgivable. I lied to you, I locked you up, I said those inhuman things at the church door. I don't deserve your forgiveness." He paused, Adam's apple bobbing, looked up, eyes pleading as they fixed on me. "I can give you money, a house, security for life. If you won't come back, I can buy you the best house in this town, provide everything for you and the baby. I'm not asking to get back together. I just want a chance—even just to visit the baby sometimes."
I looked down at this man kneeling before me. Watching himdiscard his old pride, begging me in a low voice, that wall in my heart cracked again. The pain nearly made me bend over.
But I couldn't trust him. I didn't want to trust anyone anymore.
"I don't want your money," I heard my own voice say. "Don't want your house. I just need you to stay out of my and this baby's life. I spent a long time learning not to need anyone's rescue. I won't go back to any kind of cage."
My heart still ached, but during this time, I'd learned how to heal myself.
"If you keep staying here, I'll just have to move again," I looked into his eyes, word by word. "If you try to lock me up like before, I'll die with the baby."
All color drained from Enzo's face in that instant. He knelt there, body swaying slightly, lips opening and closing, unable to say a word.
Silence spread between us. Leaves from the old oak in the yard rustled in the wind. The sound of waves came from the distance, over and over.
Finally, Enzo nodded.
"Alright. I'll set you free... if that makes you happy." His voice trembled, hoarse to the point of inaudibility.
He braced his hands on his knees and stood up, legs shaking as he rose. He stepped back once, then again, and walked down from the porch steps.
Enzo looked back at me one last time, then turned and walked along the gravel path toward the gate. His silhouette stretched long in the slanting sun.
I stood on the porch, legs so weak I could barely stand. I held onto a post and slowly sank down, burying my face in my knees.
On the kitchen windowsill, that bunch of white daisies sat behind the glass window, soaked in the last rays of light. I held my belly, crouched on the porch, waiting for my heartbeat to return to normal.
You made the right choice, Chloe. You protected yourself. You protected the baby.
So why, after he left, did you feel so heartbroken?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chloe
