Chapter 9 When the Walls Crack

Chapter Nine: When the Walls Crack

That night, Alessia couldn't sleep.

The apartment was quiet-too quiet. Luca had fallen asleep with his dinosaur book open on his chest and the blue raptor tucked in under his arm. Grace had gone home. The lights were dimmed. The city outside whispered through the windows.

And Ethan...

Ethan was in her thoughts again. Uninvited. Unwelcome. And far too real.

She sat at the kitchen counter, staring at the untouched tea in her mug. She didn't even hear the knock-just looked up when the door opened quietly.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Ethan asked, voice low.

She nodded but said nothing.

He stepped in, barefoot, hands in his pockets. "Luca had a good time."

"I know. He couldn't stop talking about the ice cream."

Ethan smiled, then sat across from her.

A long pause.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"For what?"

"For letting me... have today. For not slamming the door in my face when you should have."

She looked at him then. "Don't thank me yet. You're still on trial."

Ethan nodded. "I know. And I deserve that."

The silence that followed was heavier than before, thick with things left unsaid.

"I watched you today," she murmured. "With him. You were... gentle."

"I didn't know how else to be," he said. "He's small and bright and better than anything I deserve."

"Damn right," she muttered, but there was no bite to it.

Another pause.

"I loved you, you know," Alessia whispered. "Completely. Madly. The kind of love that makes you stupid."

Ethan's voice broke. "I never stopped loving you."

She flinched. "Don't say that."

"It's the truth."

"No," she snapped, eyes flashing. "You don't get to come back from the grave you dug and rewrite the story. You left, Ethan. You chose silence. You let me bleed alone."

"I did." His voice cracked. "And I hate myself for it. Every single day."

Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back. "Luca doesn't need a love story. He needs stability. You understand that, right?"

"I do."

"Good. Then don't confuse my patience for a second chance."

"I won't."

But the air between them was thick. Too charged. Too intimate.

And then he said the one thing she wasn't ready for.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

She didn't answer, but her silence gave him permission.

"I see him in my dreams now. Luca. Every night since I found out. He laughs like you. He's fearless. He runs toward danger like he knows someone will catch him."

He looked at her with something raw in his eyes.

"And I wake up crying, because I missed it all."

The words shattered something in her.

She stood suddenly, trying to regain control.

"You should go. It's late."

Ethan rose slowly, shoulders slumping.

He didn't argue. Just nodded.

At the door, he paused. "I'll be back tomorrow. If he wants me to."

Then he left.

And Alessia stood in the kitchen alone, shaking with emotion. Because for the first time in years, she believed him.

And that terrified her more than anything.