CHAPTER 241
ROMEO POV
"I want to leave." The words didn't sound panicked. That was what unsettled me.
They were quiet. Flat. Said with the kind of certainty that comes after panic has burned itself out and left something colder behind.
For a moment, no one moved. Nonna's hands tightened on the arms of her chair. I felt it without looking, felt the way her body braced, like she was already preparing to shield Katya from whatever came next.
Katya didn't look at either of us. Her gaze was fixed somewhere past my shoulder, unfocused, as if she were already halfway gone.
Leaving. Not her room. Not away for a bit.
Leave. I didn't answer immediately.
Silence has weight when you let it sit long enough. It presses. Forces people to fill it with truths they weren't ready to give. I'd used it that way for years.
But Katya didn't rush to explain herself. She just breathed, slowly now, unevenly, like each breath had to be chosen on purpose.
