Yesterday, this house had been loud. Today, it was quiet. Val was already waiting. She sat on the sofa, still in a soft robe, one hand resting over her stomach.
They all knew. Val was going to need all the support she could get. Vee walked forward slowly.
"Hey, sis..."
"It’s Ricardo, isn’t it?"
Vee raised a brow, her throat tightening. "How did..."
"It doesn’t take a genius to put it all together."
No one said anything. Val stared down at her stomach, her fingers moving slowly over the curve.
"He’s been dead all these while?" she asked.
Vee swallowed.
Val looked up at her, eyes shining but not yet spilling. "He didn’t leave me?"
For months, Ricardo’s absence had been explained away as cowardice. Cold feet. Shame. Fear. A selfishness everyone had been angry enough to accept.
"No," Vee said softly. "He didn’t leave you."
Val breathed in slowly. "Why?"
"We don’t know."
Val nodded once. Then she turned to look at Marco. He had been standing near the armchair, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides. He was unsure where to place himself.
He decided maybe now was the time to give her space to process it. Maybe she wouldn’t need him.
Maybe she wouldn’t even want to see him in that moment but Val reached out her hand to him.
Her fingers searched the air, and Marco crossed the room immediately as he took her hand. She tangled their fingers together and held on.
Luca stood beside Vee. His face had gone carefully blank, though his eyes kept moving over Val, measuring every breath, every tremble, every crack she was trying to hide. "You okay?" Luca asked.
Val looked up at him. For one brief moment, Luca saw accusation in her eyes. It was there and gone quickly, but he saw it.
Maybe because every road somehow led back to him.
"I’ll be fine," Val said.
Her voice was steady enough to hurt. Marco’s thumb moved over her knuckles.
Val looked between them, then back at Vee. "Tony said there were bodies? More than one?"
"Yes," Vee said carefully. "Cassidy was with him."
Val’s brow rose, confused, as if her mind had accepted one impossible thing and refused to make room for another.
"Cassidy?" she repeated. "What... Cassidy is dead too?"
Vee nodded. "Yes."
Val’s eyes moved to some empty point on the wall. Ricardo dead. Cassidy dead.
Vee swallowed and forced herself to keep going. "Detective Voss might invite you in to ask questions. Do not speak with him unless your lawyer is present."


Marco stiffened beside her.
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