Chapter 13
801words
Every morning, I went to work at the CERN Biomedical Laboratory. In the afternoons, I walked along Lake Geneva or read in nearby cafes. At night, I returned home and continued my personal research projects.
I was working on a new cancer gene therapy.
It was a project I had begun years ago at Harvard, one that had been interrupted by marriage. Now, at last, I had the time and energy to pick it up again.
The colleagues at the research center were all kind. Unaware of my past, they treated me like any other researcher. No one looked at me strangely or whispered behind my back. The feeling was wonderful.
One afternoon, I was analyzing data in the lab when I suddenly received a call from Emma.
"Ms. Rossi, there’s an American gentleman here to see you. He says he’s your… husband."
My hand froze. The test tube nearly slipped from my fingers.
"Tell him I’m not here," I said in a low voice. "And don’t let anyone into the house again."
"Yes, ma’am," Emma replied.
After hanging up, my heart was racing. Dante had found this place.
How had he found me? I had cut off all contact.
I packed up my lab equipment and left work early.
From a distance, I saw a familiar figure standing at the villa gate.
Dante.
He was wearing a wrinkled suit, and his beard was unshaven. Appearing haggard, he looked nothing like the always immaculate, Armani-clad, arrogant "Prince" I remembered. His eyes were bloodshot.
When he saw me, his eyes lit up.
"Sofia!"
He strode toward me.
I took a step back and said coldly, "Dante, what are you doing here? We’re already divorced. You shouldn’t be looking for me."
Dante stopped. He looked at me, his gaze complicated. "Sofia, I’m sorry. I know I’ve done many things wrong. But please, give me a chance to make it right."
Hearing that, I suddenly laughed. I laughed until tears streamed down my face.
"Make it right? How do you plan to make it right? Give me my mom back? Or the years I lost? What about my reputation and my dignity?"
Dante’s face went deathly pale. "I really didn’t know Eleanor would…"
"Would what?" I cut him off. "Would die because of your threats?
"Dante, when you bribed the doctor to delay treatment, did you ever think about the consequences? When you threatened me for Olivia’s sake, did you ever think about my mother’s life?"
Dante opened his mouth, but no words came out.
After a long time, he finally spoke with difficulty, "I thought… I thought she could hold on a little longer. I just wanted to scare you. Make you clear things up. I didn’t really want to hurt her."
I let out a cold laugh.
"So what? You think that makes your crime any lighter?
"Dante, what were you doing when my mom died? You were attending a summit with Olivia, celebrating her selection. I called you to tell you she had passed away. Olivia hung up the phone, and you didn’t even call me back."
Dante staggered, as if struck hard. "I didn’t know… I really didn’t know about that call…"
"There’s a lot you don’t know." I looked at him calmly. There was no emotion in my eyes. "You don’t know that to marry you, I gave up a full scholarship at Johns Hopkins University.
"You don’t know how much humiliation I endured to fit into your family.
"You don’t know how desperate I was when everyone was condemning me. You don’t know how badly I wanted to die when those people surrounded me and humiliated me on the ground.
"You know nothing, Dante. Because you never cared about me."
Dante’s eyes reddened. "No, Sofia. I cared. I always cared. It’s just… Olivia misled me. She was too much like you when you were young. I thought I loved her. But now I finally understand. I’ve always loved you.
"Sofia, come back. Let’s start over. I’ll treat you well. A hundred times better than before."
I shook my head. For the first time, a ripple passed through my eyes, but it wasn’t longing. It was pity.
"Dante, do you know something? I once believed that if you turned back, I would forgive you. I thought that if you said you were sorry, we could return to the past.
"But now I understand that some things, once lost, can never be recovered. You didn’t just lose me. You lost my trust, my love, and my forgiveness. Those things—you will never get them back."
After saying that, I turned and walked into the villa.
Behind me came Dante’s heart-rending cries.
"Sofia! Sofia! Please! Don’t do this!"
Nevertheless, I did not turn back.
