Vito's POV
I was just about to follow Isabella inside when my phone rang. Maria's name flashed on the screen.
"Vito?" Her voice was shaky, barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I... I couldn't calm down after you left."
I stepped away from the ballroom entrance, my hand gripping the phone tighter. "What's wrong? Are you having another episode?"
"I had the nightmare again last night," she said, and I could hear tears threatening in her voice. "The one about the shooting. About losing you in those tunnels. And then today, when you left for the wedding, I just... I kept thinking about how quickly everything can change. How easily we could be separated again."
The raw pain in her voice hit me like a physical blow. Twenty years, and she still carried the trauma of that day.
