The remains of my son scattered further across the floor—like even what was left of him wasn’t allowed to stay whole.
“No… no… no!”
The words tore out of me as he violently kicked what was left of the urn. The broken pieces scattered across the marble, flying in different directions before smashing against the wall. Shards of ceramic rained down like falling glass.
I couldn’t move.
My body locked in place, breath trapped somewhere deep in my chest. It felt like my lungs had forgotten how to work.
Something inside me snapped—my chest tightened violently. A sound tried to come out of me, but it wasn’t a scream or a cry. It was something worse. Something broken beyond repair.
Vincenzo stepped directly in front of me.
His hand grabbed my face, fingers digging into my cheeks so hard I could feel pressure against my teeth, against bone.
“That’s enough,” he said low and cold. “Stop this performance.”
I stared at him, blinking slowly. His face was empty. No anger that made sense. No remorse. No grief. Just… nothing.
“I almost believed you,” he said flatly. “For a second, I almost felt sorry for that dead little act of yours.”
His thumb dragged along my jaw, rough and deliberate. It burned.
“But then the hospital sent everything. Videos of Gabriel smiling. Sitting up. Laughing. The doctor confirmed you twisted the story. Said you manipulated him. That you let him act sick just to get attention.”
A lie.
Her lie. Lena’s lie.
My eyes drifted past him without thinking—to the stairs.
And there she was.
Lena stood halfway up, one hand resting lightly on the railing. The dim light caught her face just enough for me to see it—the faint curve of her lips, that small satisfied smile she thought no one noticed.
She did it.
She bought the story. She paid for it. She built the lie piece by piece.
And Vincenzo believed every word like it was truth carved in stone.
They started walking upstairs like nothing had happened.
Lena leaned into his shoulder as they went, moving slowly, almost delicately, like she was made of something fragile.
“Come to bed, amor,” she murmured softly. “I can’t stay down there another second with her.”
Noel glanced back once. Just once. His expression twisted in disgust before he lifted his chin and followed behind them.
And then the house went quiet.
I was still on the floor.