Five days passed. I buried myself in the Family's business, not even bothering to check on Dante. I didn't care how he was doing or if he was even alive.
Then my phone rang. It was the hospital.
"Mrs. Moretti, maybe you forgot about the item in the freezer. Today's the last day we're holding it. Just let us know if you're picking it up or not."
I had forgotten. "I'll be there today."
I hung up, sitting on a bench in the compound courtyard and staring out past the iron gate. That ache in my chest wouldn't go away. It sat there like something with weight, something permanent.
I touched my stomach.
"This is the right thing," I whispered.
When I got to the hospital, I walked fast. I was about to turn toward the morgue when I passed by a room and froze.
It was Dante's room.
The door was slightly open. I heard Elena crying.
"Mr. Moretti won't be able to race again," the doctor said. "He tore his anterior cruciate ligament."
Elena sobbed. "I'm sorry, honey… You love racing so much…"
The doctor left, and then I saw it. The smile on Dante's face. That look in his eyes, the kind of look he never gave me. The softness, the warmth… all for her.
He never looked at me like that. Not even once.