She Loved in Silence, Left in Silence Chapter 03

She Loved in Silence, Left in Silence Chapter 03

After they left, I grabbed a watering can and started watering the flowers on the balcony.

In the kitchen, my mom called over the sound of her chopping board, “That Michela girl—she a classmate of yours?”

“Mm.”

High school classmate. Not college. Because—well—I hadn’t gotten into an Ivy.

“How come you never mentioned her? Is she pretty?”

“Pretty,” I said. “Stupidly pretty.”

The chopping stopped.

“Just like I always say. The good men in the family always end up snatched up by daughters of the bigger families. Imagine the kids those two would make!”

I went still for a second. That was probably exactly what Enzo had been thinking.

Last month, there’d been a family banquet.

Enzo, ever cautious, had deliberately seated himself half a table away from me.

The moment Michela walked into the ballroom, she swapped seats with whoever was next to him. She leaned in immediately, all warmth and charm. “I heard you took over the family’s aviation operations?”

“You’ve been flying nonstop lately—let me admire our handsome pilot up close.”

“You don’t even know how long it’s been since I’ve seen a guy as good-looking as you. The whole side of my family’s run by my old man, it’s so boring I could die.”

They had endless things to talk about. Palermo, Rome, the deals between the families—they could go on for hours.

Someone leaned across the table and ribbed Enzo: “Hey, I hear a lot of you guys end up in arranged marriages. That true?”

He answered seriously. “Some of it does get handled internally.”

I shot him a look and texted under the table: handled my ass. crying-face dot jpeg.

He’d been with me for six years. What did internal family arrangements have to do with him?

When the banquet wound down, my best friend Sofia and I walked out ahead, with Enzo and Michela behind us. Whatever Michela was saying, it had her cracking up—she was practically doubled over laughing.

I glanced back without thinking. My foot missed the step. I went tumbling down the staircase.

“Vera, oh my God!” Sofia rushed over.

My ankle started swelling within seconds. Pain shot up my leg in white-hot waves.

“Enzo —” The name slipped out before I could stop it.

He started toward me—and stopped a few steps short.

I looked up at him, begging without words. And even then, he chose distance. Too many family members in the room. He couldn’t let a single one of them know I existed.

Sofia was nearly hysterical. She told her husband to carry me to the car and rush me to the hospital.

I gripped Sofia’s hand. My whole body was shaking. “Sofia, I’m so scared…”

She held me tight. “Don’t be scared. The bone’s probably fine.”

I clutched my stomach and started crying. “I—I’m pregnant.”

I’d just confirmed it with an ultrasound a few days earlier. Hadn’t even told Enzo yet.

I never imagined it would happen like this.

With my foot in a cast, the cold ultrasound wand slid back and forth across my belly. Please, I prayed silently. Please let it be okay.

In the end, I heard the doctor’s verdict anyway. “I’m so sorry. There’s no heartbeat.”

Lying in that hospital bed, I couldn’t sleep at all. I just stared at the ceiling, tears running silently down my face. In the middle of the night, I saw Michela post a story on Instagram: It’s been forever since a hot guy drove me home—happy~

The next day, while Sofia handled my discharge papers, Enzo finally showed up.

I lay there, numb, refusing to even look at him. “Get out.”

He stayed silent and reached down to lift me into the wheelchair.

I kicked at him. “Where the hell were you when I needed you most? What are you doing here now?”

He frowned. “Everyone in the family was there yesterday. I couldn’t act too close—they would’ve figured it out. And besides, Sofia was with you the whole time. It would’ve been weird for me to show up.”

I looked at him. Tears streaked down my cheeks. “Enzo. Am I really that shameful? You’d rather leave me alone than admit I exist?”

He took a deep breath. “I just got caught off guard. I wasn’t ready. You know how the family is—my parents have always wanted me to marry someone of equal standing —”

I twisted my mouth into something that almost looked like a smile. “Don’t bother getting ready, then. Let’s break up.”

I shoved him off and dropped myself into the wheelchair on my own.

He stood there. Then he laughed, soft and cold. “Whatever. The women chasing me are all better than you. The real question is—who’re you going to find, after me?”

And then he turned and walked out of my world.