The Donna’s Choice Chapter 08
hen I arrived, Dante was still lying on the hospital bed, eyes shut tight.
His face was pale.
In five years together, I’d never seen him like this.
I was about to leave when the man behind me suddenly blinked awake. His voice came out hoarse and raw.
“Nora…”
I stopped. I turned and met his eyes. One calm, one wrecked.
“Do you hate me that much?”
Dante’s eyes burned.
“Every time I had a fever or my stomach acted up, you were there. Taking care of me.”
I looked back at him, expression flat.
He went on. “After I became Don, I learned to hide everything. But it’s killing me, because even now–even with you leaving and me falling apart–I still don’t know how to show it.”
I watched his eyes slowly redden at the edges. I felt nothing.
There were nights. So many nights. When I was terrified of disturbing him, so I swallowed my tears alone. I cried just like that.
Did it matter?
He was up all night talking to another woman, but never once asked how I was feeling.
And suddenly, I understood.
Beyond the unforgivable, there was something else. Hate.
Hate his indifference. Hate how, when I was at my lowest, all he ever brought up was my duty as Donna.
The more I thought about it, the colder my stare became.
Dante forced himself upright.
“I know it’s too late for words. But Nora, I’m begging you. Give me one chance to make it right. To win you back.”
Then he looked at me carefully. “The baby needs a father, doesn’t he?”
I was quiet for two seconds. Then I let out a sharp laugh, dripping with contempt.
Right. How could I forget the baby?
I laughed again, this time bitter. “You only realize how much I mattered after I’m gone? Dante, do you actually miss me or do you just miss having someone take care of you?”
“If we got back together, I’d go back to being that Donna who had no one to protect her when things went wrong.”
“And you’d still be the same man, blind to my existence.”
I let out another cold laugh, full of disgust.
“You and everything about you make me sick.”
he room wentity.
My words drained whatever color was left from Dante’s face.
“That’s not true.”
He hung his head. “I know where I went wrong. I swear I’ll never do it again. My men–they’ll respect you. Nota, I promise.”
My hand rested on my belly. My voice was flat.
“Your promises mean nothing to me, Dante. Stop bothering me.”
“Meeting you was the biggest regret of my life.”
I turned and walked out.
But I paused at the door, just for a second, glancing back.
Then I slammed it shut.
Outside, I ran into Daniel and his men.
They called me Donna. I told them to be quiet.
I wasn’t Donna anymore. I was just me.
They pushed through the door. I looked back.
Dante was still frozen in place.
Our eyes met. He was silent for a moment. Then a bitter smile crossed his face.
He would go back to that empty house. And he would learn what it felt like. The loneliness. The darkness. The neglect. The wanting.
Just like I had.
