Chapter 7 - THE CHOICEPaolo called at midnight.
Adriano put the phone on speaker.
"I expected more anger."
Adriano's voice remained flat.
"You murdered my father."
"Your father made choices."
"So did you."
"And tomorrow you'll make another."
A photograph arrived.
Marco's wife, Sofia, leaving her office.
Another showed Lucia's house.
Another showed Bella's hospital window.
"You can't protect everyone," Paolo said.
Adriano looked at Bella.
Once, that sentence would have controlled him.
Now he understood.
That was Paolo's entire strategy.
Create fear.
Offer control as the cure.
Turn love into possession.
"No," Adriano said.
Paolo laughed.
"No?"
"I can't protect everyone."
Bella watched him.
"But I don't have to."
Paolo went silent.
"Police are protecting Sofia. Federal agents are protecting my mother. Hospital security is protecting my wife. Marco can protect himself. And every account you used is being dismantled while we're talking."
Adriano leaned toward the phone.
"You spent nine years teaching me that trusting other people was weakness."
His voice became almost quiet.
"That was your mistake."
Paolo hung up.
Bella stared at Adriano.
"What?"
She smiled faintly.
"Nothing."
"That's clearly something."
"I've just never heard you admit you can't do everything."
"Don't become accustomed to it."
She laughed.
It was the first real laugh between them in weeks.
The sound seemed to surprise both of them.
Then a contraction hit.
Adriano was beside her instantly.
This one passed.
The doctors warned that Bella needed continued observation.
Stress could trigger labor again.
Adriano wanted to move an army into the hospital.
Instead, he asked what she wanted.
"Two guards outside," she said. "Not twelve."
"Four."
"Two."
"Three."
Bella stared at him.
He sighed.
"Two."
It should not have felt romantic.
Somehow it did.
The next morning Lucia arrived with breakfast and an announcement.
"I'm selling the ancestral estate."
Adriano nearly dropped his coffee.
"What?"
"I don't need fourteen bedrooms."
"Mama—"
Lucia lifted one finger.
He stopped.
Bella bit her lip.
Lucia continued.
"I've chosen a townhouse in Bronxville. Three bedrooms. Small garden. No stairs to the bedroom. Close to my doctor."
"You already found one?"
"Yesterday."
Adriano looked betrayed.
"Without me?"
"Yes."
Bella laughed so hard a monitor shifted.
Even Adriano smiled.
"Can I at least inspect the security?"
Lucia considered.
"You may suggest improvements."
"Suggest?"
"That's the word."
Adriano looked at Bella.
"This family has become impossible."
Bella touched her stomach.
"Wait until your daughter arrives."
His expression softened.
Later, Bianca came to say goodbye.
She had agreed to testify about her father's records and Paolo's network.
"I'll be leaving New York afterward," she said.
Adriano nodded.
Bella asked, "Where?"
"Chicago, maybe. Somewhere nobody introduces me as Carlo Riccai's daughter or Adriano Valente's former anything."
There was humor in her voice.
Bella studied her.
"I misjudged part of you."
Bianca shook her head.
"You correctly judged enough."
She looked toward Adriano.
"I did enjoy being the person you trusted when you disagreed with your wife."
Adriano's face tightened.
Bianca continued.
"It made me feel important. And I should have stopped it."
Bella appreciated the admission more than an excuse.
"Thank you."
Bianca nodded.
At the door, she paused.
"For what it's worth, Adriano never wanted me back."
Bella raised an eyebrow.
"This still isn't about jealousy."
Bianca laughed.
"I finally understand that."
She left.
Two days passed.
No sign of Paolo.
Then investigators found his car near the Canadian border.
Empty.
His passport had not been used.
Adriano believed it was another diversion.
Bella agreed.
On the third evening, doctors allowed her to leave the hospital under strict instructions.
She did not return to the Valente mansion.
Instead she went to a furnished apartment in Manhattan.
Adriano learned only when the car stopped outside.
He looked at the building.
"This isn't home."
Bella met his eyes.
"It is for now."
He swallowed.
"Are you leaving me?"
"I'm not ready to come back."
"That's not what I asked."
She took a moment.
"No. I'm not ending our marriage tonight."
Hope moved through his face.
Bella immediately continued.
"But I'm also not pretending one apology repaired five years of patterns."
He nodded.
"What happens now?"
"We see whether you can change when you're not terrified of losing me."
Adriano looked at the apartment.
"Do I live here?"
"No."
That clearly hurt.
Bella touched his hand.
"You go home."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
He looked almost offended by the concept.
Bella smiled.
"Good night, Adriano."
He kissed her forehead.
Then knelt and kissed her stomach.
"Good night, piccola."
Their daughter kicked him.
Bella laughed.
He stood.
At the elevator, he looked back once.
Then left.
Bella closed the door.
For the first time since marrying Adriano, she had chosen distance without disappearing.
And he had respected it.
At 2:03 a.m., however, Bella woke to the smell of smoke.
The fire alarm had not gone off.
She stepped into the hallway.
Smoke curled beneath the front door.
Her phone had no signal.
She rushed toward the bedroom window.
Thirty floors below, the street glittered.
Then someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Bella froze.
A voice came through the door.
"Mrs. Valente."
May you like
Paolo.
"I think it's time your husband learned what losing someone actually feels like."
