Sienna stayed in the parking lot long after her tears had dried.
At some point, the sharp, shattering sobs faded into quiet breaths. Then silence. Just her hands gripping the steering wheel, her forehead resting against it, her thoughts looping in circles she couldn't escape.
He'd given up.
That was the part she couldn't process. Not the charges. Not the prison time. Not even the possibility of losing him for years.
Alessandro didn't give up.
Except he just had.
And that scared her more than anything Dante had done.
Because a man like Alessandro didn't break easily. Which meant whatever had happened inside those three weeks… it had been enough to shatter something fundamental.
Something deep.
Something that wasn't supposed to crack.
She sat up slowly, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Her reflection in the rearview mirror looked like someone she barely recognized—red eyes, pale skin, exhaustion etched into every line of her face.
"Pull it together," she whispered.
