Private worries
DURK'S POV
I rubbed my face, tired already from this fight. “Izzy, no one’s replacing him. But he won’t be the same leader he was before. That’s just reality.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but her anger didn’t fade. “You’re pathetic,” she spat at me. “You’re all so quick to give up on him.”
“We’re not giving up,” Matteo said sharply. “We’re accepting the facts. There’s a difference.”
She flinched like I’d hit her. Then she turned and kicked the side of the couch hard enough to rattle it. “No. I won’t accept it.”
“Then what do you want us to do?” Matteo asked, frustrated. “Tell you lies? Pretend he’s walking through that door tomorrow, whole and healthy? Is that what you want?”
“Yes!” she yelled. “Yes, that’s exactly what I want!”
Janet sobbed quietly into her hands. Matteo stared at Izzy like he couldn’t recognize her anymore.
I sighed and sat back down. “Izzy, I know this hurts. But denial won’t change anything. We need you with us, not fighting us.”
She glared at me through her tears. “You don’t need me. You just want me quiet.”
“That’s not true,” I said firmly. “We need you to be strong, Izzy. Not screaming and tearing everyone down.”
Her chest heaved with uneven breaths. “You don’t get it. He’s all I have. If he’s not the same, then nothing matters.”
“You have us,” Janet whispered.
“I don’t want you!” Izzy shouted at her. “I want him. The way he was.”
Nobody spoke after that. The room went dead silent except for Izzy’s ragged breathing. She paced back and forth, wiping at her face angrily, refusing to let the tears fall in front of us.
Matteo finally broke the silence. “What do we do now?” he asked, his voice low, directed at me.
I shook my head. “We wait until they bring him home. Then we figure out the rest.”
Izzy snapped her head toward me. “Don’t talk like he’s some burden you need to figure out.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said.
“That’s exactly what you meant,” she said coldly. “You think he’s broken. You all do.”
Matteo groaned. “Izzy, stop twisting everything. No one’s calling him broken.”
“Then what are you calling him?” she shot back. “Say it. Say the word. You can’t, can you? Because you know what it means.”
“I’m calling him alive,” I said firmly. “And that’s good enough for me.”
“It’s not good enough for me,” she whispered.
The words hung in the air, heavier than anything else she had said.
Izzy laughed bitterly, no humor in it. “Together? Don’t make me laugh. You’ll all move on. You’ll all find a way to live with this. But I won’t, i can’t.”
She turned and stormed toward the door again. Matteo reached out to stop her. “Izzy, wait..”
“Don’t touch me!” she snapped, shoving his hand away. “If you want to give up on him, fine. But I won’t.”
She slammed the door behind her so hard the glass in the frame rattled.
I sat at the table with a glass of water in front of me, untouched. My thoughts wouldn’t stop circling. Vincenzo was alive. That should have been good news, but the fact that he was paralyzed had dropped like a stone in the middle of everything. No one knew what to say now.
I heard footsteps behind me. It was Izzy. She walked in slowly, her arms crossed like she was holding herself together.
“Durk,” she said, her voice low.
“Yeah?” I looked up at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked.
I sighed. “Izzy, I told you as soon as I knew for sure. The doctors only confirmed it when I was there. I wouldn’t have kept it from you.”
She shook her head. “Still feels like I’m the last to know.”
“You weren’t,” I said softly. “We all found out almost at the same time. You just… you process things differently.”
Izzy pressed her lips together. “He’s never going to walk again, is he?”
I hesitated. “That’s what they said. Maybe there’s treatments, therapies… but for now, no. He can’t.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “He was always so strong. Always standing tall, like nothing could touch him and now..” She stopped, biting her lip hard.
I reached across the table. “Izzy, listen. He’s still here and alive. That’s something.”
She shook her head again. “He’s not going to take this well. You know him. He won’t accept sitting in a chair. He’ll fight everyone, even us.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I’ve been thinking about that too. He’ll push back. Maybe even shut people out.”
Izzy leaned forward. “So what are we supposed to do? Just watch him fall apart?”
“No,” I said firmly. “We stand with him. Even when he pushes us away.”
She looked at me, her face tense. “And when he pushes me away?”
I paused. “You push back harder. Don’t let him shut you out.”
“You’re not alone,” I said. “We’ll all be here.”
The door opened again, and Mateo walked in. He looked between us, clearly sensing the heavy mood.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Talking,” Izzy muttered, wiping her eyes.
Mateo sat down beside her. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “If Dad can’t walk, what happens to the business? To everything he runs?”
Izzy glared at him. “Seriously? That’s your first thought?”
“Izzy, relax,” Mateo said. “I’m not saying it to be cold, but it’s reality. Someone has to take over. And if he can’t…”
“Stop,” Izzy snapped. “Don’t talk like that. He’s not dead.”
“I didn’t say he was,” Mateo replied. “But you know him. He runs everything. He won’t just hand it over.”
I raised my hand. “Alright, enough. Fighting isn’t going to help.”
Izzy turned on me. “So what? We just sit here and accept it?”
“No,” I said. “But you two need to understand something. Your dad’s going to need both of you, whether he admits it or not. This isn’t just about business. It’s about him staying alive in here.” I tapped my chest.
Mateo sighed. “You think he’ll listen to us? He barely listens when he’s healthy.”
“Exactly why you can’t give up,” I said.
Izzy lowered her head, staring at the table. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”
“You are,” I told her. “You’ve got more strength than you realize.”
The silence stretched again until Sofia walked in, holding a tray with cups of tea.
“I thought maybe this would help,” she said, setting it down. “Everyone’s so tense.”
Izzy forced a smile. “Thanks, Sofia.”
Sofia poured tea into the cups. “We’re all scared, but maybe we should focus on small things first. Like, what does he need right away? Hospital support, maybe changes at home. If we make a plan, it won’t feel so impossible.”
Mateo nodded. “She’s right. We can’t think too far ahead yet. One step at a time.”
Izzy wrapped her hands around the warm cup. “One step at a time,” she repeated softly.
I leaned back in my chair. “That’s all we can do. One step.”
For a while, no one spoke. The clink of cups and the faint sound of the clock filled the space. It wasn’t peace, but it was something.
Finally, Izzy looked up at me again. “Durk… when can we see him?”
“Soon,” I said. “The doctors want him stable first. But I’ll let you know the moment they say yes.”
She nodded, gripping the cup tighter. “I need to see him. Even if he doesn’t want me to.”
“You will,” I promised.
Mateo leaned forward. “And w
hen we do… we go together. All of us. He needs to see we’re not leaving him.”
“Agreed,” I said.
Izzy’s lips trembled, but she nodded together.”