I opened my mouth, but before I could answer, his father cut in.
"Forget that," he said smoothly. He straightened his tie with a single precise downward tug, resetting the conversation to something he found acceptable. "How's Nico? I heard Gianna might be expecting again. True?"
I stayed quiet, clutching my skirt. My chest ached like it would crack.
"See," his mother continued, "she brings life into Lucian's world. No fuss. No tantrums. Composed. Pleasant. Unlike… others."
I lowered my gaze.
Then his father's voice came down like a hammer.
"Go help the chef. But first, serve us some espresso. Tell Lucian we expect him next week for our anniversary dinner. You may bring your sick child if you like."
I nodded, voice quiet. "Of course."
I moved to the kitchen, told the chef they wanted espresso, arranged the tray myself. The silver demitasse cups the Ferro family insisted on. The small spoons laid at precise angles. Polished. Perfect. But inside, I was screaming.
As I set the cups on the table, my hand slipped. One shattered on the floor with a hard, final crack.
His mother gasped. Then glared.
"You've always been clumsy!" she snapped. "Even something as simple as espresso… you can't get right. Bitter, just like your life."
I looked at the broken shards. Straightened my spine.
"Forgive me," I whispered. Not for the cup. Not for now. For the girl who begged them to love her. That girl had died with Matteo.
They didn't stay to eat.
Lucian's parents rose, faces sculpted in quiet disgust. His mother adjusted her pearl earring with a single precise turn. "I'll tell Lucian how weak you've become. Maybe this time he'll see the truth. You've never belonged. Never worth the trouble."
The front door closed. The armored sedan whispered down the gravel drive, past the gate soldiers who straightened as it passed. Then silence returned. That same silence that had swallowed this house long before Lucian ever controlled it.
I turned to the maid.
"You don't need to prepare lunch. They're gone."
She nodded. I moved upstairs, one slow step at a time. My legs felt like dead weight, my body not my own.
Halfway up, whispers drifted from the kitchen. Soft. Quick.
"She didn't cry when they left."
"See the urn in her room? That boy… Matteo… gone."
"Don Ferro only talks about Nico now. Brings Gianna flowers. Doesn't visit the grave. Doesn't care."
"Even if he did, he wouldn't. Matteo was gentle… always at the mercy of them."
"She used to be the lady of the house. Now? Surviving. That's all."
I kept moving. Didn't flinch. Didn't speak. Didn't defend myself. Maybe they weren't wrong.
I reached my room and closed the door behind me.
Then my phone rang. Lucian.
Once. Twice. I stared at it until it stopped. No message. No voicemail.
I let the silence settle back in. Heavy. Permanent. Like it always had been.
…
I changed clothes in silence.
I chose the soft blue dress Matteo loved, the one with little white clouds stitched across it. He used to press his tiny hands against it and smile. "Mama, you look like the kind of mom in storybooks," he'd say. "The safe kind. The happy kind."
I picked up his urn. Held it like I was holding him again, chest to chest. Warm sunlight spilled through the curtains and fell across the compound grounds outside, across the men stationed at the perimeter who never looked up at my window.
I left the house without a word. Lorenzo was waiting by the car, and he adjusted the rearview mirror before I even settled into the back seat. He didn't ask where we were going. He never did. I told him to drive to the only place Matteo had ever begged to visit on his birthdays: Ocean Park.
"Just once, Mama," he'd whispered every year. "I wanna see the dolphins. I'll be good. I promise."
Lucian always said no. Always. Too risky. Too weak. Too sickly. Too small. The world was dangerous for Matteo, but not for Nico.
I bought a ticket. Paid for two seats, one for me, one for him.
I held him with me, told him stories, laughed quietly when the dolphins leaped.
People nearby probably thought I was mad. Sitting there on a bench, murmuring to a blue urn like it would answer.
I didn't care.
This day wasn't for them. Not for Lucian. Not for his Family. Not for his territory. Not for Nico.
It was for Matteo. Only him.
I lit a candle by the railing, letting the wind tease the flame.
"Happy birthday, my baby," I whispered.
When I got home, night had already swallowed the compound, turning the glass corridors into long, shadowed veins. The air was thick. Even the lights seemed afraid to brighten. The gate soldiers had changed shifts. The new pair didn't acknowledge me.
I stepped into the foyer.
And Lucian stepped out of the dark.
Before I could breathe, his hand lashed across my face so fast, so brutal, the sound cracked through the house like a gunshot. My skull hit the doorframe. My vision exploded into white stars. A ringing filled my ears.
