I wear his name like a scar.
Alessandro Rossi stole everything from me; my freedom, my future, the lie I told my father to keep him alive. He thinks I'm a tool to be used, a bride to be displayed, a Fraga to be broken. He thinks the ring on my finge...
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I stood on the balcony, staring down at the empty driveway, replaying my own words.
Kidnap his daughter.
The phrase repeated inside me with a cruel clarity. I had spoken it in a voice that did not sound like mine, and now that I was alone, the full weight of it settled upon me.
I had ordered the kidnapping of a young woman who had done nothing wrong. I had become the architect of the very kind of terror that had defined my own life for so long.
My breath shuddered as it left me. The city lights in the distance flickered with indifference, while somewhere beyond those lights a girl was being taken from her home because of me. Because of my order.
My mind was a storm of fear and a sickening sense of hypocrisy. What gave me the right? The memory of Alessandro's face, the trust in his eyes.. that was what gave me the right. It was a terrible, necessary right.
I couldn't keep still. I moved through the day in restless loops, unable to anchor myself. I reached for a book, but the words wouldn't hold together. I prepared tea, but the cup remained untouched on the counter.
My body searched for control where my mind could find none. I straightened cushions that were already aligned. I passed a dust cloth across a table that sparkled without need of care. The actions were hollow, yet I couldn't stop them.
Each passing minute was an eternity. Was the girl terrified? Was she crying? Was she pleading for her father in the same way I once had?
A silent plea formed in my mind, directed at no one. "Please don't be afraid. We won't hurt you. I'm so sorry. This is just to get him back. Please, just let this work."
I had traded one family's nightmare for another, and all I could do now was wait in the crushing silence, hoping that the man I loved would walk through the door and make me feel that the terrible price had been worth it.
"Yessie..." Melinda's voice reached me through the fog that had taken hold of my mind. It felt as though she spoke from far underwater.
Anna and Helena were here too, sadness plastered all over their faces.
"Please, come inside, it is freezing." Anna's arms folded around me with a desperate warmth.
Still I couldn't move.
"Say something," Melinda whispered, holding my freezing hands gently. "Anything. It hurts to see you like this."
My throat locked and the words refused me.
Giada entered quietly, and I hadn't even heard her footsteps until she was in front of me, her hands turning me so I faced her. Her eyes, swollen and red, reflected the same fear that lived in mine, and I saw how tightly she held herself together.
