Chapter 9
504words
Word spread quickly afterward. In a fit of rage, Enzo personally ordered her punishment. She was the woman who had destroyed everything he possessed.
Monica's hands were severed. She was dumped into the city's filthiest red light district and left to fend for herself.
After that, Enzo began trying to contact me like a madman. There were no more threats and no more commands. There were only relentless apologies, pleas, and confessions soaked in regret.
I never answered.
Frank’s people intercepted every attempt he made or resolved it quietly, all the way up to that day.
At the end of the corridor, near the floor-to-ceiling windows, Frank stood slightly behind me and lowered his voice. “Miss Vitale, the news is confirmed. Enzo is dead. He shot himself in the study at the Galante estate. He left a letter for you.”
I looked out over the city below, its lights spread wide against the dark. After a long moment, I answered with a single sound. “Mm.”
I felt neither satisfaction nor grief. Only a deep, unmoving stillness.
“The letter?” I asked.
Frank placed a sealed folder in my hands. Inside rested a single, thin page. Enzo’s handwriting appeared uneven and heavy, as though each word had been forced onto the paper with the last of his strength.
[Sophia,
When you read this, I should already be gone.
Lately, I have been dreaming. No, they were not dreams. They were memories. Memories of another me. Another timeline. I remember everything now.
In our previous life, the armory exploded. Monica died. I poured all my hatred and pain onto you. I pretended to forgive and care for you. Then, on the day you gave birth, I locked you and the child in a warehouse and set it on fire.
I saw your despair through the flames. I heard our child's faint cries.
I remember it all.
In this life, I repeated the same sins, worse than before.
Because of Monica's lies, I abandoned you again. I personally caused the death of our child again.
Across two lifetimes, I owe you more than I could ever repay.
I do not deserve forgiveness.
I do not ask for it.
I know nothing I do could ever make up for even a fraction of the harm I caused you and our child.
So let my life end this.
Sophia, I am sorry. These words are weak and meaningless, but I still have to write them down.
If there is another life, do not ever meet me again.
Enzo]
The page slipped from my fingers and drifted onto the polished floor.
He chose death as his final accounting for two lifetimes of blood debt.
Fine. The grudges that spanned two lives finally came to an end, written in blood.
I walked to the window. The city lights below glittered like a river of stars.
"Baby, did you see that? Everyone who hurt us has paid their price. At last, I can truly move forward."
