Chapter 3Too Late, Don Amato

"Oh—where did I put the gold pocket watch?" Before I could even finish, he stood up. "The one my father passed down to me, the one I showed Nico before. Gabe's gotten curious about it, so I'm letting him keep it for a few days."

He didn't wait for an answer. He went straight to the study and took the gold watch out of the safe.

He grabbed his keys, and before I could say another word, he was already out the door.

The door shut behind him with a bang.

His shape flickered past the window, and then he was gone.

I stood there, staring at the closed door for a long time.

Then I said the sentence he'd never let me finish, alone, to myself.

"Actually—my son and I don't need you anymore."

Two days left before we were gone for good.

Near midnight, once I'd finally finished packing, I lay down, worn straight through.

My phone lit up. A message from Dante.

[Gabe loves the watch. Won't even take it off to sleep. Bianca said to tell you thank you.]

It was already midnight, and my husband was texting me to pass along another woman's gratitude.

The anger simply wouldn't come.

The ending was already written, no matter what I did.

I opened the thread and typed back.

[No need to thank me. I wasn't the one who gave it to him.]

[Also—Nico really loves that watch. Make sure you bring it back.]

I sent it and closed my eyes. I didn't stay awake to see how it landed on his end.

At eight the next morning, Dante came home early—rare for him.

He stepped inside, started shrugging off his coat, and stopped dead at the sight of the suitcases lined up in the living room.

"That's a lot of luggage for a trip."

He strode into the bedroom without bothering to take off his coat, his composure cracked.

I was dressing Nico and didn't turn around. "We're going somewhere far."

He looked straight at our son instead, and something in him eased once Nico nodded back at him.

He set his coat aside and pulled three tickets to the amusement park from inside his jacket.

"Haven't you always been upset that I never took him to the amusement park?" He fanned the tickets out, pleased with himself. "I bought tickets for today. The three of us, together."

For a second, I genuinely doubted I'd heard him right.

The amusement park. I'd asked him about it once, and he never agreed.

Why was he suddenly buying tickets today?

Then I thought of the message from last night, still sitting unanswered, and it clicked.

He hadn't brought the watch back. This was his way of making it up to Nico instead.

I didn't answer. I kept buttoning Nico's shirt.

Nico could barely contain himself, staring at me intently. "Mom, I want to go!"

I was about to answer when Dante added something behind me.

"There's just—one condition, if we go today. Bianca found out we're retaking the family portrait, and she's worried Gabe will hear about it and get upset, so... let's push the portrait back again."

Guilt was written all over his face as he said it.

Nico went still. I watched the light drain slowly out of his eyes.

"Oh..."

He dropped his head and said nothing else. His eyes had gone red.

Dante didn't notice. He kept going.

"It's just one small thing Bianca asked for. I thought about it—shouldn't matter much. We'll skip it this time. There's always a next time." He turned to Nico. "Right, buddy?"

He had no idea that by tomorrow, we would be gone for good.

He thought he was buying time. He was just running out of it.

But neither Nico nor I said a word about it. We just nodded.

"Okay."

"Sure."

Dante's whole face relaxed, relief written across it plain as day. "I'll go tell Bianca now. We'll meet at the park at three."

He turned to leave. Near the door, he glanced back.

"My Donna. My son. Nobody is better to me than you two."

Neither of us answered that either.

The second the door closed behind him, Nico slid off the bed and pulled an already-packed backpack out of the closet.

"Mom. I don't want to see Don Amato again. Can we leave early?"