CHAPTER 97
KATYA POV
The room was quiet again. The kind of quiet that pressed on my chest, heavy, unrelenting.
Nonna had left hours ago, but her words still clung to the air, impossible to clear. I'd cried until there was nothing left — no tears, no anger, just an empty ache and the weight of a story that wasn't mine but still hurt to carry.
But understanding doesn't mean forgiving. It didn't bring Frank back. It didn't erase the nights I woke up shaking. It didn't make this place feel any less like a cage.
There was only the ache.
And the echo of her words.
You're not cursed, cara mia.
I wanted to believe her. God, I did. But belief didn't erase blood. It sure as hell didn't make the pain easier.
Because knowing why someone became a monster doesn't change the fact that they still are one.
If anything, it made everything worse. Because now, when I thought of him, I didn't just see the monster — I saw the boy who'd been broken long before I met him. And I hated that.
