Chapter 89 -
Today she was allowed to be broken.
Today she could curl into a ball under expensive blankets and let herself feel every bit of the pain she had been trying to avoid. She could replay the kiss in her mind, torturing herself with the memory of how good it had felt before it all fell apart. She could wonder what would have happened if Leo had been brave enough to let himself feel something real instead of pushing her away.
She could let herself grieve for the possibility of what might have been if things had been different. If she had not been his prisoner. If he had not been so broken by grief and guilt that he could not see past his own fear. If the world had been kinder to both of them.
The sun continued its slow journey across the floor, marking the passage of time that Nia was trying desperately to ignore. The light crept closer to the bed, reaching for her hiding spot with persistent fingers of gold.
But Nia just pulled the blankets tighter and closed her eyes against it all.
Tomorrow she would be strong. Tomorrow she would face Leo and the rest of the house and whatever consequences came from her late night confession.
But today, in the safety of her room with the door locked and the world held at bay, Nia Wallace let herself break.
She curled into herself, her body forming a tight ball of misery beneath the covers. Her arms wrapped around her knees, holding herself together when everything inside felt like it was falling apart. Her face pressed into the pillow that still smelled faintly of the perfume she had worn last night, back when she had been foolish enough to think that being honest about her feelings was a good idea.
The tears came quietly this time. No dramatic sobs, no gasping breaths. Just silent streams that slid down her cheeks and soaked into the expensive fabric of the pillow. Tears for the kiss that should not have happened. Tears for the rejection that followed. Tears for the impossible situation she had found herself in, trapped between hating Leo for what he had done to her and caring about him despite all the reasons she should not.
Outside, the mansion continued its daily rhythm. But inside this room, time seemed to stop.
And Nia stayed exactly where she was, hidden beneath the blankets, letting the darkness hold her while the rest of the world moved on without her.
The door stayed closed. The breakfast grew cold on the nightstand. And Nia remained curled into a ball, small and broken and absolutely determined not to face the consequences of her choices.
Not today.
Maybe not tomorrow either.
But eventually.
Eventually she would have to uncurl herself from this protective ball. She would have to push back the blankets and face the light. She would have to get dressed and leave this room and look Leonardo DeSanto in the eyes again.
But for now, for just a little while longer, she allowed herself this moment of weakness.
This moment of being completely, utterly, undeniably broken.
And as the door clicked shut one final time, sealing her in with her grief and her shame and her stubbornly persistent feelings for a man who could not love her back, Nia pulled the blankets over her head and let the darkness swallow her whole.
The knock came from somewhere near the floor.
It was so soft that at first Nia thought she had imagined it. A gentle tap-tap-tap, barely audible over the sound of her own breathing and the muffled noises of the mansion below. She stayed perfectly still beneath her blanket fortress, hoping that whoever it was would assume she was sleeping and go away.
The knock came again. Tap-tap-tap. Persistent. Patient.
“Miss Nia?” A small voice called through the door. “Are you in there?”
Nia’s eyes flew open. Gabriel.
She pushed herself up slightly, the blankets falling away from her face as she stared at the door. Through the gap at the bottom, she could see a shadow moving. Small feet shuffling against the hallway floor.
“Miss Nia?” Gabriel called again, louder this time. “I know you are in there because Matteo told me you are sick. But I brought you something to make you feel better.”
Nia’s throat tightened. Of all the people in this house, Gabriel was the last one she wanted to face right now. Not because she did not love him, but because she did. Because his innocence and his kindness and his complete inability to understand the complicated mess adults made of their lives would break whatever fragile control she still had over her emotions.
“Gaby,” she called back, her voice rough from crying. “You should not be here. Where is your nanny?”
“I lost her,” Gabriel said, and Nia could hear the pride in his voice. “I am very good at hiding. She will never find me.”
“Gabriel,” Nia started, but the doorknob was already turning.
Of course it was. Because privacy did not exist in this house, and apparently five-year-old boys had no concept of locked doors being a signal that someone wanted to be left alone.
The door swung open to reveal Gabriel standing in the hallway, his dark hair sticking up in different directions, his shirt untucked from his pants, clutching a piece of paper in one hand. His face lit up when he saw her, a smile so bright and genuine that it made Nia’s chest ache.
“I found you!” he announced, like they had been playing hide and seek instead of Nia actively trying to avoid the entire world.
“You did,” Nia agreed. She sat up fully, wiping at her face with the back of her hand in a futile attempt to hide the evidence of her tears. “But you should not be here, Gaby. I am sick, remember? You might catch what I have.”
“That is okay,” Gabriel said. He walked into the room like he owned it, closing the door behind him with a gentle click that made Nia’s heart sink. “Mama says I have a very strong immune system. That means I do not get sick very much.”
He crossed the room with the complete confidence of a child who had never been unwelcome anywhere in his short life. When he reached the bed, he looked up at Nia with those big dark eyes that reminded her so much of Leo it hurt.
“Can I come up?” he asked, already putting one knee on the mattress.
“I do not think that is a good idea,” Nia said, but Gabriel was already scrambling onto the bed, his small body wiggling under the blankets until he was sitting right beside her.
“There,” he said with satisfaction. He held up the paper he had been clutching. “I drew you a picture. To make you feel better.”