AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But you overlooked one major detail.”
His eyes narrowed as I reached for Riccardo’s gun on the table.
“That I would rather die than live in a world where I was loved by you.”
“Cecilia!” Panic gripped his tone as I lifted the gun and held it to my temple with a shaky hand.
“Don’t you get it yet Salvatore?” I choked as I hovered my finger over the trigger, his frantic eyes darting from my finger to my face and back. My face was wet from my silent tears. “Everything you did; everything you are, will kill the very person you say you did it all for. I would rather cease to exist than be loved by you.”
Suddenly, his eyes glazed over with a steel mist and his jaw clenched.
“Then kill yourself, Cecilia. I will be sure to follow you and torment you in the next life too. I will never let you have peace. I will never let you go even in death. You will never be rid of me!”
Letting the depth of despair and rage take control, I felt my hand turn the gun on Salvatore’s head and my fingers squeezed the trigger. The sound of the gunshot rang in my ears as I screamed. Suddenly, there were bodies in the room as I fell to my knees and sobbed. The walls around me were caving in and my body was shrinking. Blood was everywhere. Bright like the roses in my garden. It was rushing towards me like a tide, coming for me. Drowning me. I could hear my name being called in the distance and my body was moving with the current. I wasn’t in control. I could fight to survive or I could let it take me.
“It’s okay Cecilia. You’re okay,” the deep voice soothed from the sky.
“Vinny?” I whispered, blinking my eyes but all I could see were the rolling ruby waves overhead before they engulfed me completely.
∞∞∞
Olivia
Gio walked out of Cecilia’s bedroom looking forlorn and exhausted. I stopped my pacing and stepped towards him, touching his arm.
“How is she?”
“Still staring at a blank wall and refusing to talk. I found her empty pill bottles in her desk drawer. She must have been off them for days. The doctors are on their way, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want them to take her without her consent, but I am worried she is suicidal again,” he huffed, his eyes full of pain and worry.
“I am not sure what went down before she shot Sal but when I raced in, she was in a bad way. She was calling me Vinny as I carried her out,” Max shook his head and puffed out his cheeks.
“What do you expect? She killed Salvatore after finding out that he killed papi to be with her. That is enough to break anyone. And she hasn’t been on her meds! How didn’t we see it?” Elle grunted as she leaned against the wall in the corridor.
“There has been a lot going on, Elle. And we haven’t been around her for days. How were we supposed to know?” Gio’s tone was defensive, and I started biting my nails. That wasn’t entirely true. There had been signs that she was struggling but Gio was right. With everything else going on, we had failed to see it as more than her hate for Sal.
“Can I try?” I asked quietly as I looked between the siblings. Elle shrugged and folded her arms across her chest while Gio glanced down at me, unsure.
“I don’t think it will be of any use, Liv. She needs professional help right now,” he groaned.
“Then there is no harm in trying,” I stroked his arm before standing on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
The curtains were drawn, and the only light was coming from a bedside lamp on Cecilia’s table. The frail outline of her body was curled up in a foetal position under the satin bed cover. As I approached the side of the bed she was facing out from, my heart ached when I saw the face of a broken woman. Pale and expressionless. Her brown eyes were staring straight ahead at the cream bedroom wall, unblinking.
I sat down in the plush armchair next to her side and looked down at my hands in my lap. I didn’t speak. I knew just having company after such a traumatic event was sometimes all you needed.
After what felt like eternity, my head snapped up when I heard her quiet voice.
“I would have done it.”
My eyebrows furrowed as I stared at her. She continued to fix her gaze on the wall ahead.
“Done what Cecilia?” I asked softly.
“Shot myself. If I believed he truly loved me in those final moments, I would have done it.”
I swallowed my shock and instant concern at her words. She was going to kill herself in front of Salvatore.
“But he didn’t love me. Because you would die for those you love not let them take their own life. Vinny died trying to save me. Sal told me to kill myself.”
