Too Late, My Regretful Don Chapter 02
When I didn’t respond.
Her eyes turned red, and she dropped to her knees.
“Back then, I accidentally pushed you. That’s why you lost the baby at three months.”
“I’ll go kill myself right now and give everything back to you!”
With that, she made a move to throw herself down the stairs.
Renato stopped her. When he looked at me, his tone turned heavy.
“Rosa’s sensitive. She’s pregnant. Do you really have to mess with her like that?”
“What happened back then was an accident. Rosa already said she was sorry. It’s been five years. Why are you still making such a big deal out of something so small?”
I murmured to myself, then shook my head with a bitter laugh.
Making such a big deal?
When he was chasing me, he’d spoiled me like crazy. He wanted to give me the best things in the world. He couldn’t stand to see me suffer even the smallest inconvenience.
Afraid I’d get low blood sugar, he swapped his cigarettes for candy.
Just to get me to take fever medicine, he’d ditch billion-dollar deals and drive three hundred kilometers an hour to get home.
He even took over a dozen stab wounds from an enemy family’s hitman to save me. The first thing he said when he woke up from surgery was, “Giulia… are you hurt?”
Everyone thought he’d given me his whole heart.
But no one expected that just a few years later, he’d fall just as hard for Rosa.
I curled my lips and met Renato’s eyes.
“Because of her, I lost my job, my reputation was ruined, and you locked me in that reformatory for five years of torture… Renato, don’t I have the right to hold that against her?”
For a moment, surprise flickered across his face.
But before I could be sure, my cancer flared up. A sharp cramp stabbed through my ribs.
My vision started going dark.
As I faded out, I thought I saw Renato catch me. His voice was anxious, panicked as he shouted,
“Giulia!”
When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed.
The room was empty. No familiar face.
I laughed at myself.
I really must be losing my mind. Why would Renato ever be worried about me?
This was my ninth round of chemotherapy.
I was coughing up blood, vomiting until I was dehydrated and choking. The nurse looked at me with pity.
Who would’ve guessed that the genius cancer researcher who once dominated the medical world had fallen this low?
As she changed my IV, she said, “The cancer is everywhere at this point. You’ve probably got… a couple of days, maybe. But the research institute just came out with a new trial drug. It could buy you another month.”
“The hospital saved you a spot in the free trial. If you can get a family member to sign the consent form, we can start treatment.”
My eyes dimmed. “Can I just sign it myself? My mom hates my guts. There’s no way she’ll sign it.”
Back then, I was roasted and bullied all over the internet. They said I operated drunk and accidentally cut a patient’s artery.
My mother hated me for ruining the DeLuca family’s reputation. She whipped me so many times I lost count, then disowned me.
Then I disappeared for five years, and she never once looked for me.
The nurse tried to be kind. “There’s no mother in the world who doesn’t love her daughter. After all these years, she must miss you too. She’s probably hoping you’ll come home.”
“And your illness…”
She trailed off, sighed. “You should at least say goodbye to your family.”
I thought about it for a long time, then finally nodded.
I took a cab home.
I stood frozen at the door, staring inside.
Under the warm lights, my mother was happily serving Rosa food. Renato was playing with the kid. Rosa was smiling, her eyes all warm.
Laughter filled the air. A happy family scene.
My heart ached.
Every single day and night of those five years, I’d lived in guilt.
Countless times, I dreamed of my mother’s utterly disappointed eyes. I dreamed of her grabbing my collar, crying, and asking me why I destroyed the DeLuca family’s generations of medical honor.
I dreamed of her red eyes, telling me she missed me.
But it turned out, she had Rosa as a daughter now. She hadn’t needed me for a long time.
I coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed by the door. Blood and tears kept pouring out.
I fumbled for painkillers and swallowed them, but I accidentally knocked over a potted plant. Sharp thorns cut my arm, a sharp sting.
Bang!
