Because now that I could see...
I understood just how fragile everything was.
And how quickly it could collapse.
A bitter thought surfaced before I could stop it.
Vincenzo.
My brother.
I shouldn’t have deleted his contact.
That thought came back like a wound that never properly closed.
I had erased his number months ago—on purpose. After the pregnancy. After the agonizing loss that had torn through me like shrapnel, leaving nothing but ruins where hope used to live.
The cramping pain, the endless blood, the sterile hospital room that smelled of antiseptic and finality... it had shattered everything I wanted to live for.
A miscarriage they called it, clinical and cold.
To me it was a stillborn dream delivered in silence and crimson stains on white sheets.
How the hell was I supposed to tell him?
If I reached out now, he would ask
Did you have a safe delivery?
Are you and the baby all right?
And I would have to answer with the truth that still choked me: there was no baby. Only blood. Only loss. Only the hollow ache that followed me from room to room.
I missed Vincenzo so much it physically hurt.
I missed the way his voice would drop when he sensed something was wrong, the quiet concern that wrapped around me like armor.
I missed the man who could command a room full of killers with a single look, yet hold me like I was the only fragile thing left in his brutal world.
I needed to find a way to contact him—not just to reunite, not just to fall back into the dangerous comfort of his arms, but because the war breathing down our necks had grown teeth.
Tensions between the Spanish and Italian factions were no longer simmering; they were boiling over.
And the latest poison in the wound? Rafael’s own blood brother had switched camps.
Moved his entire crew to the Italian side.
Betrayal on that level didn’t just escalate a war. It made it apocalyptic.
I needed Vincenzo now more than ever.
“Can you fly me to Italy?” I asked suddenly.
Ramiro turned toward me sharply.
“Why?”
“My brother,” I said, swallowing. “I need to talk to him. In person.”
