The guard lifted Nonnina with surprising gentleness and hurried out of the room. Vee followed at once, hot on their heels.
The hallway blurred around her. One of the guards barked orders into his phone.
"Move the car now!"
"Open the gates!"
"Call ahead!"
Vee barely heard any of it. She ran after them, one hand pressed to her now tight stomach, breath slicing painfully through her chest. Her feet carried her down the staircase too quickly, one hand dragging along the banister to keep herself from falling.
And as she ran, one heartbreaking truth settled over her. If anything happened to Nonnina, yes, everyone would feel it to their bone marrow. The whole house would mourn her. The maids who feared and adored her. The guards she scolded like misbehaving boys. The family that relied on her voice, her sharp tongue, her recipes, her prayers, her authority.
But one person would stand out. One person would be destroyed differently. Luciano Genovese.
He did not know how to live without her. He could command men, frighten enemies. But Nonnina was not part of his empire.
She was home. She was the woman who loved him before he became anything frightening. The woman who held him together in ways no one else could see. The grandmother he had chosen with his whole heart.
This would break him into unsalvageable pieces. Vee’s throat tightened until breathing felt impossible.
She was not looking forward to that call. They burst through the front doors into the courtyard. A car was already waiting, engine running, doors open. The guard carrying Nonnina climbed in carefully with her, another guard sliding in beside them.
"Hospital!" someone shouted. "Now!"
The car shot forward, tyres crunching over gravel as it sped toward the open gates. Vee ran to her own car, hands shaking so badly she nearly dropped her keys. Her vision blurred with tears as she yanked the door open and fell into the driver’s seat.
She followed behind the guard as they sped out of the courtyard with Nonnina’s body, Vee speed dialled Luca.
Everything else happened in a blur. The drive. The hospital doors. The guards shouting for help. The bright white lights swallowing them whole. Nurses rushing forward with a stretcher. Vee stumbling behind them, trying to keep up, trying to answer questions she could barely hear.
Name?
Age?
What happened?
How long had she been like this?
Vee didn’t know. God help her, she didn’t know. Her ears rang. Her hands shook. Her hair dishevelled, her heart punching against her ribs.
A doctor came back too soon. That was when she knew. He pronounced her dead on arrival.
No.
He approached quickly, dropped beside her, and picked her up from the ground. His arms came around her, firm and shaking at the same time.
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