"So... you're the good guy, right?"
"Hey, Alessio. Don't die, okay?"
"Fine. I'll go along with it."
"Well, people change."
"Do you ever regret helping me?"
"Maybe not. But I'm not going to stand by and let people get trampled either."
Sonia's voice lingered in his thoughts, slicing through the flood of old memories. Every memory of her pulled at something deep inside him, something he'd never let himself admit before.
He didn't know exactly when it had started.
When his feelings for her had shifted into something he couldn't name. Something unfamiliar and uninvited that made his heart twist in ways no blade ever had.
He hadn't seen his parents often, but even in those rare moments, he had noticed it. The love between them. The warmth. The closeness. The way his father's gaze softened when he looked at her.
As a child, he had admired it. Even dreamed, once, that he might find that kind of love someday too.
But when his mother died, the world changed.
