She began stirring the cup slowly. The spoon tapped lightly against the ceramic while the kitchen stayed otherwise silent. "We built a paradise inside one another, Carol. And no matter how much the world is burning down around us, we have each other. I know that. Luca knows that. I have a man that I am ridiculously obsessed with."
"So no, no one should check in with me. No one should wonder whether I am going to suddenly fall apart and beg everyone to spare Valentina because she is my sister." She swallowed.
The hurt was still there. Nothing could remove that. This was still Val. The sister whose happiness had once mattered above hers.
"No one should doubt that Valentina will pay for every ungrateful and selfish decision she has made. She knew what Luca meant to me. She knew exactly what that man had become in my life. She knew what we had survived together. She knew what losing him would do to me. And she still decided that she knew better."
