The days following the confrontation with Peter and the intense intimacy in Dante’s car had settled into a deceptive routine. Letty now navigated a relentless, double life: school, work at the Trattoria, cheer practice, and her tutoring sessions with Isabella. She maintained her grades and her compliance, but the pace was unsustainable.
When Wednesday arrived, Letty felt the first cracks in her facade. Her throat was scratchy, a deep, painful irritation that made swallowing difficult. She felt profoundly tired, and her joints ached with a dull intensity she initially dismissed as residual soreness from practice.
But by the time she finished her shift at the restaurant and returned to her silent apartment, the symptoms had worsened dramatically. She was burning up yet shaking with cold. H
