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“Juliette had not seen them. Piero knew nothing of them.”
“Did you tell him you grabbed the wheel so you didn’t kill a woman and her child?”
“What would be the point?” Gianni cries, the tears trickling slowly down his cheeks. “I killed a woman and her child anyway, so what difference does it make?” He drops his head, and tears land on his hands, which are still clasped together. I pull myself from the bed and inch over to him. I place my hands on the sides of his head and pull his face up to mine.
“Look at me,” I tell him. He does as he is told. He appears defeated, and I can’t stand to see him like this. “I don’t think anyone would say that what you did was wrong. You acted on instinct. You did what you thought was the right thing, and you have to hold onto that.”
“You know now what I am, what I’ve done.” Gianni sniffles.
“And it doesn’t change a thing,” I tell him. I lean forward, smoothing his hair from his face. “I love you, Gianni. I love you more than anything. When Carl had that gun pressed against my temple, all I could think about was you.”
“Don’t.” Gianni puts his finger over my lip, sealing my words. He was there. He had to watch helplessly as Carl pushed the gun against my head. “I tried to run. I tried to get to you, but they wouldn’t let me,” he whispers. “I wanted to tell you that I love you, and I’d never let anything happen to you.” Gianni wipes a tear away from my cheek with his thumb. “So, I will promise you now, I’ll spend the rest of my days loving you and protecting you. I will never let anyone hurt you, Chloe, and I’ll die before I let anything happen to you. You have my word.” I rest my head against his chest as I fall into his pattern of breathing.
I can’t deny what I feel. After everything Gianni has told me, I know he did what he thought was right. I now know what he has lived with these last few years—the knowledge of what his actions caused and the impossible choice he made. But the one thing I know for certain is that he speaks the truth and that must be worth something.
The End
