Chapter 163
I sat on the edge of the bed, still breathing slightly faster, trying to comprehend what had just happened... and what was yet to come. The rain outside showed signs of wanting to stop, but it remained persistent, as if keeping pace with the weight of it all.
I began searching for my clothes, pulling each item on with a tightness in my chest. The adrenaline of the last hour was still pumping, but now it was mixed with tension. Vincenzo stood with his cell phone pressed to his ear, staring out the window with heavy brows.
"Was that the prison warden?" I asked, pulling down my blouse and trying to find my shoe under the bed.
He nodded without saying a word.
I took a deep breath. His silence was killing me. Vincenzo was the kind of man who said a lot even when he said nothing. He put his cell phone on speaker.
"What does she want?" he asked the warden.
On the other end, the man's firm, formal voice answered:
"She wants to speak to you directly. She says it's important."
Vincenzo turned slightly, as if he sensed the presence of pain coming even before her voice appeared. The director handed him the phone, and then Veronica's voice rang out, muffled but clear.
"Have they found Rafael yet?"
Vincenzo replied coldly:
"Not yet. But he'll be safe in my mansion soon."
The silence on the other end lasted for seconds too long. I could sense Veronica was about to say more, perhaps beg or threaten, but he cut her off.
"Don't call me again. Never again."
His tone was firm, resolute. Filled with a peace that seemed newly found.
"The hatred I felt for you is gone. But in exchange, you will stay away. From me, from Rafael, and from Rachel. Forever."
I swallowed hard when he said my name. I felt included in a territory that had previously been his alone… theirs.
“We’ve made many mistakes, Veronica,” he continued, looking out the window again. “And now it’s time to pay for them. I’m paying for mine. Now it’s your turn.”
The rain dripped on the glass as he spoke. And then he turned his face to me, as if, at that moment, it was just him and me in the world.
“I don’t know if it’s this place, this shitty motel with the smell of cheap sake and small windows…” he gave a soft laugh through his nose. “But here, even with so much pain, I managed to see beauty. I managed to see what’s still worthwhile.”
My cheeks burned. I looked down, feeling my heart pound in my chest.
Veronica replied acidly:
“You never knew how to negotiate, Vincenzo.”
And he said simply:
“This isn’t a negotiation. It’s goodbye.”
The phone went dead. He had ended the call.
I approached slowly, feeling like something inside me had also been disconnected along with that call. I looked at him, but before I could say anything, he looked me in the eye and spoke calmly:
"We're going to get our son."
I felt a strange pang in my chest. A tightness. A mix of emotions that came all at once. I looked at him, trying to understand what those words meant.
"It's fair of you to say that. Even... even with who she is," I murmured. "But still, he's your son."
He took a deep breath and shook his head firmly, his eyes fixed on mine as if to hammer it home.
"I said our son, Rachel. I was talking about you."
When he said "our son," it was like a bolt of lightning had struck me, without warning. My heart raced, my throat tightened, and for a moment, everything around me seemed to vanish. Only that sentence existed, echoing inside me like thunder. Our son. Me. Him. The boy. That was the kind of love you don't ask for, you don't wait for... it just happens. It hurt and soothed at the same time. I felt chosen, recognized, part of something bigger than any promise. I wanted to cry, smile, scream, all at the same time. But I could only look at him... and feel.
I blinked rapidly, trying to contain the lump that was forming in my throat. Vincenzo took a step closer and continued:
"The one risking everything to rescue him is you. The one who entered this madness without a second thought... it was you. The one who didn't give up when everything seemed like a trap, it was you."
My eyes began to burn, and I didn't even try to hide it.
"You're fighting for him like a mother fights. And that's what matters to me. Blood doesn't matter, Rachel. You're already part of him, even without knowing it. Because you're part of me."
I closed my eyes for a second, trying to organize what I was feeling, but there was no possible order to it. Only emotion. Only love.
"I don't know what to say…" I whispered.
"Then don't say anything," he replied, taking my hand gently. "Just help me bring him back."
I nodded. I already knew that. From the moment I first heard the name Rafael, something inside me connected with that boy I didn't even know. Vincenzo offered me something no one else had.
offered: a space in a place where before there had been only darkness. A home.
"Let's get him out of there," I said, more to myself than to him. "Let's take him home."
He let out a soft sigh, as if that simple gesture of hope had been a relief.
The rain was now falling softly, like a background track to the silence that enveloped us. We dressed in silence. And when we went downstairs and met Nancy again, she was on her third spoonful of her second plate of udon and smiled with her mouth full, as if there were no children in danger in Japan.
That made us laugh, and it was in that moment that I realized: even in the most absurd situations, life always finds a way to leave room to breathe. And now, it was time to move on. Rafael's time was still ticking... and we wouldn't fail.
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