Chapter 2 - The Call Everyone Heard
Three hours passed.
Matteo never sat down.
Enzo eventually approached him.
“You should drink something.”
“No.”
“Matteo.”
“I said no.”
Enzo watched him pace.
“You didn’t know.”
Matteo stopped.
“Yes, I did.”
“No. You didn’t know she was having a medical emergency.”
“She told me.”
Enzo said nothing.
Matteo looked at him.
“She said her chest hurt.”
His voice became quieter.
“She said she couldn’t breathe.”
Enzo lowered his eyes.
“And I laughed.”
Before Enzo could answer, Claudia appeared.
Matteo stared at her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I heard what happened.”
“Go home.”
“Matteo—”
“Go.”
Claudia folded her arms.
“You’re blaming yourself for something you couldn’t predict.”
“I told you to leave.”
“She has always used emotional scenes to pull you away from business.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“Careful.”
Claudia continued anyway.
“We both know what Nora is like.”
“No.”
His voice became dangerously calm.
“We know what you told me she was like.”
Claudia froze.
Matteo stepped closer.
“For months, every time Nora called, you had something to say.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From my wife?”
“From manipulation.”
Enzo looked between them.
Claudia lowered her voice.
“You were already unhappy.”
“Was I?”
“Yes.”
“Or did you keep telling me I was until I believed you?”
The treatment doors opened.
“Mr. Vellini?”
Matteo immediately turned.
Dr. Samuel Reeves approached.
“She’s stable.”
Matteo exhaled.
“Can I see her?”
“For a few minutes.”
He followed the doctor.
Nora lay surrounded by monitors.
She looked impossibly small beneath the white blankets.
Matteo stopped at the doorway.
This was the woman who had once thrown paint at him because he criticized one of her canvases.
The woman who had danced barefoot in their kitchen.
The woman who had believed him when he promised she would never feel alone again.
Now machines monitored the heartbeat he had dismissed.
He approached slowly.
“Nora.”
Her eyes remained closed.
Matteo sat beside her.
“I’m here.”
Nothing.
His fingers closed carefully around hers.
“I’m sorry.”
Her eyelids moved.
Then opened.
Matteo leaned forward.
“Nora?”
She looked at him.
For one second, relief flooded his face.
Then she whispered:
“Why?”
Matteo stopped.
“Why did you laugh?”
He had survived interrogations without blinking.
That question destroyed every defense he had.
“I thought…”
“What?”
He couldn't finish.
Nora watched him.
“You thought I was lying?”
“No.”
“You thought I was begging for attention?”
His silence answered.
She slowly pulled her hand away.
Matteo stared at the empty space between them.
“Nora—”
“Please leave.”
“No.”
Her eyes hardened.
“I almost died asking my husband for help.”
“I know.”
“And you made people laugh at me.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“I don't want you here.”
“Nora.”
“Get out.”
The monitor began accelerating.
A nurse stepped inside.
“Mr. Vellini, she needs rest.”
Matteo stood.
He looked at Nora one last time.
“I'll fix this.”
She turned her face away.
“You can't fix everything with power.”
The words followed him into the hallway.
---
Enzo was waiting.
Matteo walked directly past Claudia.
“Find out who was at that table.”
Enzo frowned.
“You already know.”
“Everyone.”
“Why?”
Matteo stopped.
“Because my wife's private medical emergency became entertainment.”
Claudia stepped forward.
“You laughed too.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Yes.”
The admission silenced everyone.
“And that's the part I'm going to spend the rest of my life answering for.”
Then he looked at Enzo.
“But nobody gets to repeat it.”
Enzo nodded.
Matteo turned back toward Nora’s room.
Something had changed.
Not in Nora.
In him.
May you like
And changing himself would prove much harder than punishing anyone else.
---
