What the fuck just happened? His heart was pounding—too fast, too loud, like it was trying to break out of his chest.
She didn't mean it. She was young. Overwhelmed. Pregnant. Emotional. This was confusion.
This was stress. This was—
"Bullshit," he muttered under his breath.
And then Luca's voice echoed in his head, clear as day.
You're an idiot, Marco.
Luca wasn't wrong. Marco stood there for one more second. Two. Then—
"Ah… fuck it."
His body moved before his brain could catch up. He turned sharply and strode out of the living room, his pace quick, urgent, his pulse still racing as he pushed into the hallway. "Val!" he called out.
She was just reaching the main exit. Slowly, she turned around. Even in the low light spilling from the hallway fixtures, he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes, the way she was trying and failing to hold herself together.
