When I woke the next day, I found myself lying in the bed.
Lorenzo was leaning against the headboard, reading the financial daily.
Seeing me stir, he had the men send up breakfast.
Halfway through breakfast, he asked out of nowhere why I'd changed my phone passcode.
"I wanted to, so I did."
The old code had been our two birthdays combined.
Since I'd decided to leave, of course I couldn't keep using it forever.
Lorenzo set down his knife and fork.
"Adriana, weren't you always nagging me to take you to a movie? There's a theater right nearby."
When the Don decides not to work, no one beneath him has the right to refuse.
In a quiet, near-empty theater, leaning against the man I'd given seven years, sharing popcorn over a comedy.
That sweet picture I'd once dreamed of, in this exact moment, came perfectly true.
And yet I had no interest in it at all, yawning over and over.
Noticing how absent I was, Lorenzo frowned. "You picked this movie. What? You don't like it?"
"No, it's good."
He heard the hollowness in it. His thin lips pressed flat, like he had something to say. Just then, a message landed on his phone.
And with that, he walked straight out without a single word to me.
Right up until the credits rolled, Lorenzo didn't come back.
I was about to call him when I heard it, not far off: that familiar, sweet female voice.
"Lorenzo, you're just too, too amazing!"
I saw Bianca, clutching a giant stuffed animal, laughing in excitement as she leapt onto Lorenzo and planted a loud kiss on his cheek.
Lorenzo held her by the thighs, and the smile in his eyes vanished the instant he saw me.
"Adriana, so you're here too."
Bianca looked at me, all surprise, and after a few seconds let out a bashful little shriek, covering her face as she slid down off of Lorenzo.
"Adriana, please don't get the wrong idea. It's all my fault, I just got too excited, so..."
Lorenzo gave the tip of Bianca's nose a gentle flick and told her, voice doting, what was there to apologize for.
Then he looked at me and said, casual as anything,
"The movie's over already?"
Before I could open my mouth, a piercing fire alarm tore through the building.
The crowd scattered in panic.
Before I could even react, Lorenzo had already grabbed Bianca's hand and was shielding her with his body as he ran for the emergency exit.
Five minutes later, the alarm, set off by accident, was cleared.
Lorenzo came back to where he'd been.
He scanned the crowd for a long time, but couldn't find me anywhere.
Two hours later, the blood-pact with the Moretti Family signed and folded away, I appeared at the train station, dragging my suitcase.
While I waited to board, my phone rang and rang for no reason I cared to answer.
The caller ID said Lorenzo.
I couldn't be bothered to pick up, so I just set it to silent.
The moment before I boarded the train.
I sent Lorenzo one message:
【Let's sever it. We're done.】
After it went through, I pried out my SIM card and dropped it in the trash.
...
I reached my hometown station near midnight.
The moment I walked out past the gate, I saw my father, who'd been waiting a long time.
In the passenger seat of his car, I found a big bag of the snack yogurts I love.
Before he started driving, he cheerfully poked a straw into the yogurt and put it in my hand.
Seeing the gray creeping into his temples, I finally couldn't hold it in, and burst into wailing sobs.
"Papà, this time I'm home for good. I'm never leaving again. I want to be with you and Mamma for the rest of my life."
"Silly girl. Whether you're by our side or not, you'll always be our most precious Adriana."
My father could tell I was in a bad way, but since I didn't volunteer to talk about it, he asked nothing.
Home, a shower, a meal cooked by my own parents' hands.
At ten that night, I lay in bed and opened my music app, meaning to put on something soothing to help me sleep.
Instead I found several private messages, to my surprise.
They were from the woman I'd been closest to among the Family's people.
Stunned by my sudden disappearance, she asked me, sincerely.
Had something happened?
Was there anything she could do to help?
Just as I was thinking about how to reply.
She sent a video.
She said, Adriana, this video of Don Falcone and Bianca is already going around all the inner circles...
