Double Betrayal, Broken Donna Chapter 06
Rocco turned. Teresa was right behind him- pale, clutching his sleeve, tears streaming down her face
“It’s not like he said. Rocco, I love you – that part is real.”
“-”
He held her gaze long enough for the silence to turn cruel. Then he shook her off.
“Was there a single thing you ever said to me that wasn’t a lie?”
Her fingers found his sleeve again. Her voice was shaking.
“At first – yes, I came to you because of Camelia.”
“But that changed. I really fell in love with you. Rocco, I don’t need a title. I don’t need a ring. I just want to be
near you.”
“And I won’t hurt Camelia again. I swear.”
Rocco looked at her. The grief in his eyes was naked – there was no armor left.
“I don’t believe a word you say. Teresa – the worst thing I ever did was listen to you talk about Camelia.”
He turned his back on her. Teresa stumbled after him, screaming.
“I know her better than you ever will! She’ll never take you back, Rocco!”
“You could get on your knees and she still wouldn’t look at you!”
Her voice ripped through the corridor.
Every word hit its mark. He stopped dead and turned on her.
“What happens between me and my wife is none of your business. Go back to your rapist husband.”
“You two deserve each other.”
He was already moving – fast, desperate, every stride closing the distance.
Camelia’s room was only two corridors away. He was through the door in seconds.
The relief died before it could reach his face. The room was silent. The wrong kind of silent.
Cold crept up his spine, one vertebra at a time. His hands started shaking.
“Camelia?”
Pitch black. He moved through it slowly, trying to calm himself down with every step.
She was just asleep. She had to be. She was hurt – of course she was resting.
The house was dark. Every window. Every floor.
He checked every room. Nothing. No bloody clothes discarded, no keys on the console, no warmth left
anywhere.
The silence pressed in until he couldn’t breathe.
He fell onto their bed and folded in on himself. The pillow still smelled like her.
Tears soaked the pillowcase. The pain had no bottom.
“Camelia – I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Where are you? Please come home. Please. I’ll fix it. I’ll fix everything –
just come back.”
No one heard him. Even her scent was fading – dissolving into the cold air of the empty room.
The silence pinned him down. He broke – a raw, animal sound tearing out of him.
He was the one who lost her.