The Slave of Pleasure
Chapter 109

Rachel

I approached slowly, not believing I had understood what Nancy was saying. But it took just a second of staring at my phone screen to realize that, yes, it was true. The headline, printed in large, cold letters, screamed: "Vincenzo Morette turns himself in to the authorities and exposes dark secrets of the Italian mafia."

My heart raced, hammering against my chest. My eyes scanned the words, but it was as if time was in slow motion, everything moving at an unbearable slowness, as if the world had suddenly changed around me. Vincenzo... Had he done it? Had he really turned himself in to the police?

Nancy was next to me, and when I realized it, she was smiling. Smiling as if it were all some big joke or some kind of secret plan that she had already expected. I turned to her, confused and with a trembling voice.

"Why are you smiling, Nancy? What's funny about that? He gave himself up... He exposed himself like that! That's dangerous, you know?"

Nancy took a deep breath, keeping her smile but softening her gaze. "Rachel, he did this for you. He's putting himself at risk, yes, but all of this is to protect you, to free you from Veronica's shadow, from her jealousy, from everything she's caused you." She held my hand and continued. "He's risking everything, but at the same time, he's trying to free himself from a life he never really chose."

I looked at Nancy's face, trying to understand how she could see all of this so simply. As if it were a predictable movement, as if the danger he was in wasn't enough to alarm someone like her. For me, however, the feeling was overwhelming. I turned to my cell phone again, my vision a little blurry. There was Vincenzo, in a photo, getting out of a police car escorted by two police officers. He looked more serious than ever, with that dark look I knew so well, but this time it seemed deeper, heavier. As if every step he took carried the weight of the world.

And then came the words... words that no one ever wants to read about someone they love: "Involved in mafia activities from an early age, De Luca is part of a lineage of power and dominance..." I stopped reading, my eyes burning, my head spinning. It was as if I had fallen into a parallel dimension. Had Vincenzo really turned himself in to the police? This was crazy, it was too surreal to take in.

I didn't know how I felt, or maybe I did. I felt fear, I felt despair trapped somewhere in my chest, and I missed a life that would never be the same again. Somehow, that Vincenzo, the man who laughs beside me, who looks at me as if I were the only thing that mattered in the world, was now a stranger in a newspaper image, exposed as a criminal.

"This can't be true," I murmured, lost in those words that scratched me like blades. He'd never opened up to me completely, but I never imagined he would carry secrets like that. Especially about something so dark, so dangerous. But Nancy leaned over, taking the phone from my hands and looking at me again with that soft, determined expression. "Rachel, he loves you. And he's doing this because he wants you to live in peace, not to be a prisoner of his choices or Veronica's whims. This is his chance to try to make amends for the past, even if it costs him his own freedom."

I shook my head, a part of me wanting to believe everything she said, but another part still in shock at the extent of what that meant.

"But what if he goes to prison for years, Nancy? What if Veronica turns against him? She's already shown that she has no limits. What if this puts more people at risk? We're not talking about a small mistake, he exposed the secrets of an entire mafia." The words came out uncontrollably, full of terror and uncertainty.

Nancy stared at me firmly. "You've seen his darkest side, Rachel. You knew he had this past, and you knew the kind of life he leads wasn't easy. But he decided to change. He decided to give himself up to protect you and, maybe, even himself." I took a deep breath, trying to absorb each word. Because, as much as a part of me knew this, knowing and accepting are two very different things. The news written there, clear and brutal, made me feel like I was watching my own life fall apart, like things were going to fall apart at any moment.

And then a bitter thought crossed my mind: what if I could never be with him again? Was I willing to give up everything we'd lived? Even now, after everything? I wanted to push those thoughts away, but they were stuck in my mind, in a whirlwind of conflicting feelings.

Nancy let out a loud sigh and held my shoulders, bringing me back to the present. "Stop it, Rachel. Don't let fear consume you. This is his moment, it's his choice. And if you love him, you You have to believe that he can do it." Her words reverberated inside me. I tried to breathe more slowly, to let calm return to my chest. I needed to be strong, for myself and for him. I knew that this man had been through a lot, that he had a difficult history, but I also knew how much he wanted to change, how much he longed for freedom.

And maybe, in some way, he was trying to show me that it was possible. Even if freedom meant a high price.

Nancy let go of me and looked at me again with that smile that only she had. "Now, come on, Rachel. Don't let fear stop you from believing. This is his moment. And, whether you like it or not, he did it for you. It's proof that he wants to change. So do your part too."

I felt a kind of calm come over me. A bittersweet calm, but one that somehow made me breathe a little easier.

Nancy has always been that strength in my life, an anchor in the midst of all the chaos. And in that moment, her determined gaze, her almost stubborn confidence, gave me the strength I needed to not give in to despair. I hugged her. "Thank you, Nancy."

She laughed and hugged me back, patting me lightly on the back. "Don't thank me. Just do what's right for you. And when this man comes back, if you really want him in your life, be ready to accept him for real." I stepped back and took a deep breath. Vincenzo wasn't perfect. He was a man marked by mistakes, by a dark past, by difficult choices. But he was the man that, in some inexplicable way, I loved.

Maybe I had to learn to accept all sides of him, to understand that loving someone wasn't just about the easy times. And if he was doing everything he could to rewrite his own story, then I could do my part too. Deep down, a small spark of hope still burned inside me.