Enzo’s Pov
I heard it before I saw it. Shouting. Sharp. Angry. It echoed through the quiet like a slap
I was upstairs with Aria, just sitting there watching her sleep. Her breathing was soft, steady. She looked peaceful for once. Her fare didn’t have that take look it wore when the nightmares came. She was okay right now. So I stayed close, not moving mrich. Just keeping watch. Like always.
But then the noise came again. Louder this time. A voice I knew.
Chiara.
My jaw tightened. I looked at Aria one more time and brushed her hair off her face. “I’ll be right back,” I whispered. I didn’t want to leave her, but iner something was wrong. I felt it in my gut.
I moved fast. Down the stairs. Past the hallway. The closer I got, the louder it got. Chiara was yelling. Her voice cracked with emotion, and I could hear the edge in it. She wasn’t just mad. She was hurt.
I turned the corner and found her in front of the basement door. Two guards were blocking her path, trying to hold her back. But Chiara wasn’t becking down. Her eyes were red. Her hands were shaking. She looked like a storm.
“I want to see her,” she snapped. “Move. Now.”
The guards looked at each other, unsure. One of them reached out like he was going to grab her arm. She slapped his hand away.
That’s when I stepped forward.
“Chiara.”
She turned fast. Her eyes landed on me, and something in her face broke. Her anger crumbled and turned into pain.
“I just want to talk to her,” she said. Her voice dropped. “I just… I need to know.”
I walked up to her slowly. I didn’t say anything at first. I looked at her, really looked. Her hair was messy like she hadn’t slept. Her mascara was smudged. And there was a faint smell of wine on her breath. Not strong enough for me to think she was drunk. Just enough to tell me she’d tried to calm the storm
inside her and failed.
“I need to ask her,” she whispered. “Was it fake? All of it? Did I ever mean anything to her?”
I didn’t have the answer. But I knew what it felt like to want one. To need it so badly it made your chest hurt.
Chiara’s shoulders dropped. Her eyes filled again. Then she broke.
She fell into me like her legs gave out. I caught her fast and held her close. She started crying. Not soft tears. Not quiet. These were the kind that came from deep. The kind that made your whole body shake.
I wrapped my arms around her tight.
“I got you,” I whispered.
Her fingers dug into my shirt. She gripped me like I was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. And maybe I was.
I turned my head toward the guards. They were/still standing there, watching.
“If either of you ever raise your voice to my sister again,” I said, calm but deadly, “Til kill you. And I won’t do it quick.”
They didn’t say a word. Just nodded and stepped back.
Chapter 216
I rubbed Chiata’s back slowly. “Come on.” I said. “Let’s get mit of here.
I guided her away from the basement. Her steps were unsteady, I didn’t let go of her. We walked into the living root, neuf i got her to sit down on the couch. She curled up there, still wiping at her face with trembling hands.
“I’m fine,” she muttered.
“You’re not.”
“I don’t need anything.”
“You need water.”
She didn’t answer. I walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass. When I came back and handed it to her, she stared at it for a second before finally taking a small sip. Then another. And another.
She set the glass down and leaned her head against my shoulder. I let her. My arm went around her again.
It reminded me of when we were kids. She used to sneak into my room whenever there was thunder. Said the noise scared her. She’d curl up beside me under the blanket, holding on to my arm like it was the only thing that could protect her. And I’d always tell her the same thing.
“I got you.”
I said it again now. She didn’t answer, but she didn’t pull away either.
The room was quiet again. But my mind wasn’t.
She was my sister. And I loved her. And the people who did this, the ones who hurt Aria, the ones who turned Valentina into something cold and sharp and dangerous… they were going to pay.
Because I don’t care how far I have to go. I don’t care what lines I have to cross. You mess with my blood, you mess with me.
And I’m not the forgiving type.
She felt so small like this in my arms and it brought back every memory I had ever buried of all the times I had to be strong for her when we were younger when our father was still alive and everything around us felt too big and too cruel for kids to understand and I had to grow up too fast because someone had to protect her someone had to be the wall when the storm hit and now here we were again both of us older both of us broken in different ways but still holding on to each other because that is what family does and I hated that she was hurting like this I hated that she had to question something that had felt so real to her because love is supposed to be honest even when it ends and Valentina had shattered that for her twisted it into something ugly and sharp and left Chiara bleeding with no answers and I knew that kind of pain I knew what it felt like to look someone in the eye and realize you never really knew them at all and maybe Chiara was still holding on to the hope that there was something worth saving in what they had maybe she still wanted to believe that not everything had been fake and maybe she just needed to hear it from Valentina’s mouth so she could finally let go but what scared me most was that if Valentina looked her in the eye and lied again it might destroy what little strength Chiara had left and I didn’t know if I would be able to pick up those pieces again and maybe that is why I held her tighter maybe that is why I didn’t say a word because sometimes words just make things worse and sometimes the only thing you can do is stay close and let them cry and remind them without saying anything that they are not alone not now not ever because I will always be her brother I will always be the one who stands in the way of anything that tries to break her and I do not care who I have to hurt to keep that promise.
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