Chapter 10: The Life I Chose Without Him

My first morning in Laran began before sunrise.

For years, I'd woken up thinking about Dante. What would he eat for breakfast? When would he come home? Would he remember the plans we'd made?

That morning, there was none of that.

I opened the curtains of my small dormitory room and looked at the unfamiliar city outside.

Everything felt strange.

And somehow, that strangeness made me feel free.

Julia arrived shortly after seven and took me to the research center.

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

"A little."

"You shouldn't be. Professor Moore has been waiting for you for months."

I smiled faintly.

"Then I won't disappoint him."

The research center was completely different from the hospital in Manshore. Access was restricted, phones were not permitted inside certain laboratories, and every researcher had to follow strict confidentiality protocols.

There was barely any room for distractions.

That was exactly what I needed.

By noon, I had already become absorbed in the research.

For the first time in years, my mind wasn't occupied by Dante.

I wasn't waiting for his messages.

I wasn't wondering whether he'd come home.

I wasn't comparing myself to Isobel.

I was simply Nina again.

A doctor.

A researcher.

A woman who had dreams of her own.

Meanwhile, back in Manhorne, Dante was living in a completely different reality.

He had spent the entire night staring at the calendar.

By morning, he finally called my number again.

This time, the call connected.

But it wasn't me who answered.

A recorded message informed him that the number had been disconnected.

Dante froze.

He immediately called my parents.

My father answered.

"Mr. de Rossi?"

"Where is Nina?" Dante demanded. "I need to speak with her."

There was a long silence on the other end.

Then my father calmly replied, "She has gone to Etolia."

"When is she coming back?"

"She isn't."

Dante's grip tightened around the phone.

"What do you mean?"

"Nina has decided to dedicate herself to medical research. She has already accepted a position there."

Dante's voice became strained.

"But we're still engaged."

My father gave a bitter laugh.

"Were you?"

Dante fell silent.

"You should ask yourself whether you were ever treating her like a fiancee," my father continued. "Because from where we were standing, Nina had been preparing for your wedding alone."

The call ended.

Dante remained motionless.

For the first time, he understood that my family wasn't going to help him get me back.

That afternoon, he went to see my parents in person.

My mother refused to let him inside.

"Mrs. Ford, please. I only want to talk to Nina."

"She doesn't want to talk to you."

"How do you know?"

My mother's eyes reddened.

"Because I am her mother. And because I watched her cry herself to sleep for weeks after you told her about Isobel."

Dante's face went pale.

"She cried?"

"You didn't notice?"

He couldn't answer.

My mother stared at him with disappointment.

"You were so busy protecting Isobel's feelings that you never noticed what you were doing to Nina."

Dante lowered his head.

Before leaving, he asked quietly, "Does she hate me?"

My mother shook her head.

"That's the problem. She doesn't hate you anymore."

Those words followed him all the way home.

Several weeks passed.

In Laran, my research progressed rapidly.

Professor Moore was impressed by my work and assigned me to a difficult clinical research project.

The days were long, but I didn't complain.

I began eating regularly again.

I slept without checking my phone.

I even started laughing with my new colleagues.

One evening, Julia and I were walking back from the laboratory when she asked, "Do you ever miss him?"

I knew exactly who she meant.

I thought about it for a moment.

"Sometimes I miss the person I thought he was."

"And him?"

I shook my head.

"Not anymore."

I had finally learned the difference.

Back in Manhorne, Dante was beginning to understand that difference too.

He stopped going to Isobel's hospital room every day.

He stopped answering every one of her calls.

And eventually, he began investigating the medical arrangement that had destroyed his relationship with me.

What he discovered made his blood run cold.

The artificial insemination procedure had never been as simple as he had claimed.

There were financial agreements between the de Rossi and de Luca families.

There were inheritance clauses.

There were secret negotiations that had been kept from me.

Most disturbing of all, Dante discovered that Isobel's condition wasn't as hopeless as everyone had told him.

Her medical records contained discrepancies.

Several test results had been changed after the original examinations.

Dante stared at the documents in disbelief.

"Who authorized these changes?"

His assistant hesitated.

"The request came from the de Luca family's legal office."

Dante's expression darkened.

For years, he had believed he was protecting Isobel because she had saved his life.

Now he wondered whether someone had been manipulating him from the beginning.

He picked up his phone and stared at my old contact information.

For the first time, he didn't want to ask me to come back.

He wanted to know the truth.

And somewhere in Laran, completely unaware of what was happening behind me, I continued working toward the future I had chosen.

I had no idea that Dante's investigation was about to uncover a secret that would change everything.