Chapter 26
The text came in just after noon, my phone vibrating on the bedside table.
I had been staring at the ceiling, barely able to sleep the night before. My thoughts tangled in everything that had been weighing on me. Luca, Nico, the way my life felt like it was falling apart.
At first, I ignored the notification. I wasn't in the mood for another pointless text from Nico. But I reached for it anyway, swiping the screen open.
Another Unknown Number.
My fingers hovered over the screen as I hesitated. Something in my chest twisted, a warning curling in my stomach.
I opened the message.
A picture of Luca.
It took me a second to understand what I was looking at but when I did, my fingers went numb around my phone.
Luca sat in a dimly lit club, his shirt unbuttoned at the top, his posture lazy. A woman was draped over his lap, her body pressed against his, her lips on his neck. The women had her hand pressed to Luca's groin.
The caption beneath the photo was simple.
Is this your husband?
My hands trembled as I clicked on the picture, enlarging it, looking for anything.......anything that could prove it wasn't real.
It had to be old. It had to be.
Maybe Nico was trying to mess with me. Maybe he found an old picture and sent it just to hurt me.
Another image came through.
It was the same picture but now with a timestamp.
Last night. 11:47 PM.
My ears started to ring.
A numb, icy sensation crawled through my veins, replacing every bit of warmth in my body.
Last night.
When I had been wondering if I was overthinking that maybe things between us weren't as bad as they felt. I had been doubting myself, questioning if I had done something wrong. He had been out drinking, letting some woman touch him like he belonged to no one.
I stared at the screen, my vision blurring as tears welled up. The room around me faded, the only thing left in focus was the undeniable proof in front of me.
He was faking it all along.
God, I was so fucking stupid.
I wanted to scream. To break something. To march down to wherever he was and throw this phone in his face, make him see what he had done to me.
I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes, trying to stop the shaking in my chest, the ache that felt like it was ripping me apart from the inside.
Why did I ever believe him?
Why did I let myself hope, even for a second that maybe he wasn't like this?
Luca had been lying. Pretending. He hadn't just been distant, he had been cheating. All those moments when I thought that he was starting to care, they were nothing.
My phone buzzed again but I didn't look. I couldn't.
I had my answer.
And I wasn't staying here any longer.
I grabbed my phone, scrolled to Marco's number and pressed call.
He picked up on the second ring. "Mrs. Moretti?"
"Can you come to the penthouse," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "I need you to drive me home."
A pause. "Home?"
"Yes," I snapped, then exhaled, softening my tone. "My father's house."
Another silence, longer this time. "Does boss know?"
I clenched my jaw. "I already spoke to him. No need to ask him anything."
It was a lie. A weak one. But Marco didn't argue.
"I will be there in a minute."
I ended the call and left the room, phone still clenched in my hand.
Then slowly I reached for my ring.
I had worn it every day since the wedding. Even when I didn't want to. Even when it felt like a weight on my finger, a reminder of what I had been forced into.
But now?
Now, it felt like a joke.
I slipped it off and let it drop onto the kitchen counter with a dull clink.
Good thing I knew the elevator code now. I typed it in: 2 4 0 5 #. And then I left.
Marco didn't ask any questions when I slid into the backseat.
He glanced at me through the rearview mirror and maybe he saw something in my expression but maybe he knew better than to push. Because he only gave a short nod before pulling out onto the road.
I stared out the window, my mind lost in a storm of emotions.
Anger. Hurt.
I hated Luca for this. For making me believe that we were something more than two people forced to live together.
A liar and a cheat and a heartless bastard.
And I hated that I had let him matter.
The roads blurred past. I barely registered the scenery. My thoughts kept circling back to that image. To the way Luca had let that woman touch him. To the way he had acted so unaffected.
Like I meant nothing.
A sharp jerk snapped me out of my thoughts.
I frowned, looking up.
The car swerved slightly, Marco's hands tightening on the wheel.
Then I saw it.
A black car coming straight at us. The last thing I heard was Marco cursing under his breath, his grip tightening on the wheel.
A flash of black. A deafening crash. The world tilted, the sound of metal screeching, glass shattering—
Then, nothing.