Valentina's POV
The room stayed still with the machines beeping steadily, and my mother lay motionless with her chest rising and falling in a rhythm that did not feel steady enough.
I sat in the chair beside her bed without moving, my knees aching, my eyes swollen and my throat dried.
I did not know how long I had been there, an hour or two, because time had stopped meaning anything the moment I walked through that door.
The door opened and I expected a nurse or a doctor, someone with a clipboard and a calm voice, but the voice that came was none of those things.
"Valentina,” the voice was low, rough and broken in a way I had only heard once before, the night everything fell apart at the gala.
Leonardo stood in the doorway with his hair disheveled, his shirt wrinkled and his tie ha
