I blinked. “You mean the evil witch from middle school who threw chalk like ninja stars?”
He laughed. “Yeah, that one!”
Turns out, we’d known each other when we were kids.
Funny how time can make you forget things until they come rushing back in a single
conversation.
Eason invited me over to his parents‘ house, just up the road.
His mom cooked us a homemade dinner, nothing fancy, but it was warm, real.
We sat around the table, laughing and talking like we’d known each other forever.
Meanwhile, back at the Moretti mansion, the anniversary party was in full swing, but without
- me.
even show
- up.
He spent the night alone in some bar, drinking, and calling me over and over.
***
The next morning, I woke up in Eason’s guest room.
Sunlight spilled through the window, warm on my skin. For the first time in a long time, I felt peaceful. Quiet. Safe.
This was the life I wanted. No drama. No power games. No one lying through their teeth.
So I turned on my phone and hit call
K
Y2N
“Luca,” I said the second he picked up, my voice calm, firm. “Don’t call me anymore. Don’t text. We’re done. If you me one last favor, just sign the divorce papers.”
He was quiet for a second. I braced myself for the yelling, the threats, the guilt trips.
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But all I heard was a soft whisper: “Catrina… I’m sorry.”
Then silence.
I hung up.
Over the next few days, Eason came by every day.
He listened when I wanted to talk, and when I couldn’t find the words, he didn’t push. I told him about my marriage. About Dora. About the hell I’d lived through for the last seven years.
But when I started getting into the darker stuff, he just shook his head.
“You’ve been through enough,” he said. “Let me make the future easier.”
And slowly… I started to believe him.
The pain, the betrayal, Dora’s cold little voice. They all began to fade, just a little.
Then one afternoon, my phone rang.
It was Fiona.
I almost didn’t answer, but something in me said pick it
- up.
“Catrina,” she said, voice trembling. “Please… Luca…he’s
doing well. He’s hurt. Please come. And Dora… Dora needs you.”
I held the phone tighter. “Fiona, I’m not falling for this again. I’m done.”
“No…please,” she said, her voice breaking. “I’m sorry for everything I did. I swear, this time I’m not lying.‘
For the first time, I heard her cry.
Eason walked in, saw my face. “You okay?”
I looked at him and whispered, “I don’t know.”
But I booked the next flight back to the Moretti estate.
When I got to their private care clinic, Luca was laid up in a hospital bed, pale
He looked… small. Weak. Nothing like the ruthless mafia I’d once married.
“What happened to him?” I asked Fiona, barely recognizing my own voice.
as
ghost.
૧૯ તેના જ
બાપુ સન્માન
octions hd he was thinking about you. He
She turned, eyes puffy from crying. “He got shot. Ambush. He was trying to settle got distracted.”
My heart twisted. I didn’t want it to; but it did.
Then I saw Dora, standing behind Fiona.
Her eyes were red too. She walked up to me, slowly, and slipped her little hand into mine.
“Mom,” she said in a small voice, “are you gonna stay with us this time?”
I froze.
N
Fiona explained. How Maria treated Dora like dirt after she realized Luca was never gonna marry her. How Dora was confused, how she thought I hated her. How she believed Maria’s lies because I was never around,
Now she knew the truth.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Dora said again. “Please stay.”
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I looked at her, then at Luca.
I sighed. “I’ll stay. At least… until he recovers.”
And for the first time in weeks, Luca smiled.
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