Chapter 7
“What?”
Maddalena’s grandfather had been stable lately, and he even said he would attend her wedding with Emilio. So how could he suddenly fall so ill?
Panic rose in her chest. She ran to the door and yanked at the handle. It was still locked.
“Open the door! I need to get to the hospital! Open it now!”
She banged her fists on the door, shouting, but all she got was the guard’s voice from the other side. “Sorry, Ms. Al- bergo. We can’t let you out without Mr. Cavanna’s permission.”
There was no time to argue. Maddalena grabbed her phone and quickly called Silvano.
The line connected, but it was not his voice-it was Vittoria’s.
“Ms. Albergo,” she said, cool and sharp, “you do know it’s rude to wake people up in the middle of the night?”
Maddalena did not bother playing nicely. “Tell Silvano to let me out. My grandpa’s sick, and I need to go to the hospi- tal right now.”
She thought she heard a quiet snicker before Vittoria replied, “Sure. I’ll let him know later.”
Then the line went dead. Maddalena stared at her phone, heart racing. One minute passed. Then three. Then five. Still no call back.
When she tried to redial, the phone was already turned off.
She stood frozen for a second. Then, after a while, she wiped her teary eyes and took a deep breath.
“I’ll count to three,” she said through the door. Her voice was ice. “If no one opens this door, then Silvano can come back and collect my dead body.”
Once she said that, Maddalena picked up an eyebrow razor, avoided her arteries, and made a deep cut in her wrist. Blood streamed down immediately, soaking her hand.
The bodyguard realized something was wrong and burst in just to see her bleeding. Panicked, he carried her straight to the hospital.
The moment they arrived, Maddalena broke free from their hold and bolted toward the emergency room like someone possessed.
The bodyguards hesitated to stop her. Since she still had the eyebrow razor in her hand, none of them dared act reck- lessly.
0.0%
15:10
Buzz!
ms nead.
It was like something snapped inside her. Her mind went blank, filled with a shrill buzzing sound.
Stumbling forward like a broken doll, she reached the stretcher. Her hands trembled as she pulled back the white cloth. The familiar face beneath had always been full of smiles-but now, the old man’s eyes were shut tight.
He looked like he still had things left to say.
“Grandpa, I’m here,” she whispered, afraid even her voice would scare him.
Silence.
The hallway was still. No answer.
She gently touched his arm. “I’m sorry, I was late. Don’t scare me like this.”
“Grandpa, remember? We’re supposed to take wedding photos soon…
“You haven’t even attended my wedding yet… Please wake up.’
Actually, the reason Maddalena married Emilio was because her grandpa had been diagnosed with heart failure, and she finally realized that Silvano was not someone she could count on for life.
So her grandpa reached out to an old friend and arranged the marriage for her.
But Maddalena could not let go of her feelings for Silvano, so she kept putting things off. This was all her fault.
Maddalena clung to the doctor’s sleeve like a lost child. “Doctor, please, can you help me? My grandpa’s just asleep, really…”
The doctor looked at her with sympathy. “Ms. Albergo, I’m sorry for your loss.”
Those last few words completely crushed Maddalena’s final bit of hope.
She stared at the hospital bed and let out a heartbreaking scream.
The grief hit her so hard, it felt like she was being swallowed by darkness.
And in the next second, Maddalena passed out.
