Luna basked in it. She soaked in their support the way she had soaked in their flattery, and when she was full, when she was swollen with it, she walked toward me and drove her sharp, high heel into my face.
The point of the stiletto pressed into my cheekbone. I felt the skin split. A thin line of heat.
"Hahaha! Regret?" Luna laughed. "I've never regretted anything in my life. I'd love to see how someone like you could make me regret a thing."
The heel pressed harder.
I didn't make a sound.
On the ground, my right hand lay open against the cold stone. And slowly, so slowly that no one noticed, my thumb moved across the face of my mother's signet ring. The heavy gold band with the Valente crest. The ring I had never taken off, not even when I was pretending to be no one. Not even when I was letting a man from a dying rust-belt crew call himself my husband and run my territory into the ground.
I had already decided.
The verdict was sealed.
Luna just didn't know it yet.
None of them did.
Just as Luna's laughter reached its peak, a sound cut through the courtyard. Engines. Not one. Many. The low, controlled growl of heavy vehicles moving in formation, the kind of sound that doesn't belong outside a school.
A line of black armored sedans swept up to the academy gates and stopped in precise sequence, one after another, like a funeral procession that had arrived early.
Doors opened in unison.
Men in dark suits stepped out. One after another after another. They moved with the coordinated silence of soldiers who had done this a thousand times. Broad shoulders, hands at their sides, eyes scanning the courtyard with the flat, professional attention of men who were paid to notice everything and react to nothing until told.
The laughter died.
The courtyard went still.
And every parent who had been holding me down slowly, very slowly, let go.
The sudden commotion caught everyone's attention.
The noisy crowd fell into an eerie silence.
The parents who had been holding me down immediately let go, straightened up, and turned their eyes toward the academy gates. Every head in the courtyard swiveled as if pulled by the same invisible wire.
Luna withdrew her foot from where it had been pressing against my side, her gaze fixed on the convoy of black armored sedans rolling through the wrought-iron gates in a slow, deliberate procession. Three cars. Tinted windows. The kind of vehicles that didn't belong to civilians.
I quickly stood up and helped my daughter off the ground. Emilia's fingers found the hem of my sleeve and curled into the fabric, holding on without a sound.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, a man in a dark suit stepped out of the second vehicle and walked to the lead car. He opened the rear door with the practiced deference of someone who had done this a thousand times and would never be thanked for it.
Out stepped Davide, dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, his tie knotted with precision, exuding a charisma that instantly drew the attention of the crowd. He adjusted his cufflinks as he surveyed the courtyard. His handsome appearance and distinguished aura caught everyone's eye. He carried himself like a man who believed he owned the ground beneath him.
I knew better. He was wearing borrowed authority like a stolen coat.
"Isn't that Mr. Ferraro?"
"Yes, it's him! Look at the cars. Even his entrance is so grand."
"And he's so handsome too. No wonder that shameless woman was trying so hard to cozy up to him."
The whispers circled the courtyard like smoke. The parents who had been pinning me to the ground moments ago now stood at a respectful distance, smoothing their clothes, adjusting their expressions into something presentable. As if they hadn't just beaten a woman in front of her child.
As the envious murmurs grew louder, Luna proudly approached Davide, linking her arm through his. She moved through the crowd the way she always did when she had an audience. Chin lifted. Shoulders back. A woman performing the role of queen in a kingdom that didn't belong to her.
"Honey, what are you doing here?" she asked, smiling sweetly.
Davide gave her a loving smile and replied, "Didn't you mention you had a little run-in at the academy?" His palm smoothed slowly down the front of his tie. "Of course I came to back you and our son up."
Luna batted her eyes at him, clearly enjoying the attention. "Really? So no matter who messes with me, you'll always be on my side?"
Davide didn't hesitate. "Of course. You and our son are my treasures. Anyone who dares to hurt you will have to deal with me."
