Donato didn't answer. He couldn't get anything to move not his mouth, not his hands. Behind him one of the SUVs was still ticking as it cooled, and none of it mattered, because six feet away a dead man was crouching down to look at him.

"Enzo." It didn't sound like a name so much as something that fell out of him.

For a second Enzo didn't say anything either. His jaw tightened, and he looked at Donato the way you lok at someone you're not sure will still want you standing there. "Yeah." His voice wasn't steady. "It's me what happned to my fearless brother."

Donato's hand came up on its own, landing clumsy against Enzo's jaw. Warm. He slid his palm to the side of his throat, like some part of him needed to check for a pulse before the rest of him would believe it. He grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him in hard enough that they nearly went down sideways.

Enzo's arms came around him fast, gripping too tight, and when he spoke his voice had cracked open. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I know, I- He stopped himself, like he didn't trust what would come out next.

Donato opened his mouth but nothing came out. He'd seen the fire. He'd stood at the edge of the property with albert arm around him, and watched the top floor cave in on itself. he go inside he searched for him, but he find only few bones. and he bleave that enzo is dead. then how?

" You are alive, he asked.

"yes i am very much i think." Enzo said with chukkle.

" You idiot i thought you ere dead. I mourned you.I-The rest dissolved into sobs.Enzo slowly wrapped his arms around him.

I went inside," Donato said. His voice came out strange, like it belonged to someone standing slightly behind him. "After. When it was out." Enzo's expression didn't change, but something behind his eyes did. "I found" Donato stopped. Started again. "There were bones in there, Enzo. I saw them."

"I'm sorry." I take this much time to come back. I know what it did." Enzo's voice wavered. "If i could i would be come sooner."

" Oh my god you were alive breathing all this time and i-i thought i lost you forever. Wh-Where were you all time enzo?"

Enzo pulled back enough to look at him, and his eyes were wet now too, which somehow made it worse. "I can't explain it standing here."

"I don't care where-

"It's not the place, Donato." His voice cracked around the words. "Please."

That stopped him more than anything else could have. Two SUVs came up the road, headlights off. Men climbed out and moved through the wreckage without much interest, checking bodies the way you'd check whether you'd left a burner on. One of them walked up to Enzo, not looking at Donato at all. "Area's clear.

Enzo nodded, jaw tight. "Move the bodies.

" Ok Boss" The man glanced at Donato, then back to Enzo, waiting. Enzo tipped his chin toward the car and the man left.

Donato stared at the side of Enzo face. "Boss," he repeated, flatter now.

Enzo didn't turn right away. When he did, something had gone careful in his expression, like he was bracing. "It's not what you think."

"I don't know what I think. You haven't told me anything."

"I will. Not here."

"The people who came after me today," Donato said. "You know who sent them."

"I have an idea." Enzo exhaled, and it came out shakier than he probably meant it to. "The people who save me they knew this was coming. That's why I came straight here. I wasn't even supposed to be moving around yet, but I wasn't going to sit somewhere safe while you-

He didn't finish it.Donato just looked at him. Something wet built up in his eyes before he could stop it, and this time he didn't try to. He was alive. He was standing right here, talking, worried about him, same as always.

Donato pulled him into another hug, tighter than the first one, and this time Enzo didn't hesitate before hugging him back. "I missed you baby so much."

"I missed you too darling." enzo said.

"You always come," Donato said against his shoulder. "You always come to save me."

"Every time." Enzo's arms tightened around him. "If Donato is in danger, Enzo shows up. Doesn't matter where I am." He paused, and Donato could hear the smile creeping back into his voice even without seeing it. "After all, you're my darling."

Donato huffed out something between a laugh and a sob and shoved him lightly in the stomach for it. Enzo hissed. Donato pulled back immediately, both hands going to his shoulders. "What. What happened."

"Nothing. It's just a minor injury."

"Show me." Donato was already reaching for the hem of his shirt.

"Darling we're on a road." Enzo caught his wrist mostly playing at resistance. "What will people think."

"Shut up. Let me see it."

"Fine, fine--but first you have to do something for me." Donato stopped wary. "What."

"We need to get out of here, and then I need a shower and actual clothes, because I look like I crawled out of a ditch, which, to be fair-" He gestured vaguely at himself. "But I want to see Elana. It's her birthday today."

Donato's eyes went wide. "Elana. She's --Enzo, she's going to- He stopped himself, because he didn't actually know what she was going to do. Fall apart, probably. Or not believe it until she'd touched him the same way Donato just had.

"You have any idea," Donato said instead, "how much she cried. For you. Because of you."

"I know." Something dimmed in Enzo's face for the first time since he'd started joking again. "I know, and I'm going to make it up to her. I promise you that."

"Everyone was broken, Enzo. Your mom-- Donato's voice caught on it. "Aunt Lili was devastated. I don't even know how to explain what those months were like for her."

Enzo didn't answer right away. He didn't have anything to say to that, because he already knew exactly how his mother would have taken it, and thinking about it in any detail made something close up in his throat.

"I'll tell you everything," he said finally. "All of it in order, I promise. But right now I really just want to see her. And Elana." He stopped, rubbing a hand over his jaw. "Actually-- no. We should do this properly."

"Do what properly?"

"A birthday party. For Elana. Surprise her."

Donato stared at him. "You want to throw a surprise party. Right now."

"I had one planned before all this happened, and it obviously didn't go the way I wanted." Enzo's mouth twisted, somewhere between a joke and something more genuine underneath it. "This is the least I can do. Let me at least give her that."

"You don't need to do any of this," Donato said. "You walking through the door is going to be enough for her. More than enough."

"I know." Enzo's expression went soft in that specific way it always did when he talked about her, half dreamy, half like he still couldn't quite believe his own luck. "She's too sweet for her own good, honestly."

Donato shook his head, but he was already pulling out his phone. "Fine. Tell me what you need."

"Get the garden at the estate decorated. Everyone needs to be out of the house before ten-- everyone except Elana."

"And what exactly am I supposed to tell them?"

"Tell them you're planning something. That's all they need."

Donato exhaled through his nose, already resigned. "You're unbelievable."

"I know." Enzo grinned, the first full one since he'd shown up. "Please. I had this whole thing planned for her and it fell apart because of everything that happened. Let me have this much, at least."

Donato looked at him for a second longer, then shook his head again, softer this time. "Okay. Okay, I'll handle it."

One of the men pulled a car around, and they got in without either of them saying much else, though Donato kept glancing sideways at him every few seconds, like he still expected him to be gone if he looked away too long.

_____

The salon Enzo picked wasn't one Donato recognized, tucked into a side street with blacked-out windows and no sign, which told him enough about what kind of place it actually was. Enzo walked in like he owned it, which, Donato thought, for all he knew, maybe he did now.

He sat in the chair while a woman worked on his beard, and Donato pulled up a stool nearby without really deciding to, unwilling to let more than a few feet of distance sit between them yet.

That was when he saw it properly, under the salon lighting instead of the gray afternoon on the road. The scratches across Enzo's forearm he'd already noticed. What he hadn't clocked until now was the skin just above his collarbone, a patch of it slightly wrong in texture, shinier, pulled tight in a way scratches didn't do.

Burn marks.

Donato's stomach did something unpleasant. He didn't say anything. He filed it away with everything else he wasn't asking yet, because Enzo had his eyes closed and there was something almost peaceful on his face for the first time since he'd shown up on that road, and Donato didn't have it in him to disturb that just to satisfy his own dread.

He thought about Kiara instead, since his mind kept going there anyway.

He thought about telling Enzo. Enzo didn't know yet-- nobody had told him, or maybe somebody had and it hadn't survived whatever had happened to his memory these past three months, but either way, he was sitting there getting his beard trimmed with his mind entirely on Elana's birthday, lit up in a way Donato hadn't seen on him, and Donato couldn't make himself say her name and watch that go out of his face.

Later. He'd tell him later, when there was more air to breathe in the room. Please, he thought, not really to anyone, or maybe to whatever had decided to give him Enzo back. Do it again. Send her back too just like enzo. It didn't feel like a prayer so much as a habit he didn't know he still had.

The whole thing took the better part of an hour. By the time the barber finished, someone had already brought in a change of clothes for Enzo--dark shirt, better fitted than the one he'd shown up in, no bullet holes in it, which felt like a strange thing to be grateful for. Donato changed too, in the small room at the back, scrubbing the dried blood off his hands twice before he was satisfied it wasn't visible anymore.

When they got back in the car, Enzo looked almost like himself. Almost. There was still something underneath it Donato couldn't name, some tightness around the eyes that hadn't been there three months ago, but it was easier to ignore now that he was clean and dressed and cracking jokes about his own hair in the mirror.

Donato spent the drive to the mansion on the phone, keeping his voice low and even so nobody on the other end would ask questions he wasn't ready to answer.

"I need everyone outside by ten," he said, for the third time to a different person. "In the garden. No, don't tell Elana anything--yes, I know it's her birthday, that's the point." A pause. "Just trust me. I have a surprise for her."

Nobody pushed back. Nobody found it strange, either, which said something about how the last three months had gone--anyone in that house would take any excuse at all to believe something good was coming their way for once. They assumed Donato had finally put together something to pull Elana out of the fog she'd been living in since Enzo died, and that was enough for them.

By the time the car turned up the long drive toward the estate, the sky had gone the color it always did right before evening properly set in, and Enzo was quiet beside him, watching the gates come into view like he wasn't entirely sure they'd still be there.

____

The car pulled into the parking area a little before nine thirty. The garden was already decorated, though a few people were still finishing up, moving chairs and stringing the last of the lights.
Donato got out. Enzo didn't.

He'd been joking the whole ride, keeping things light, and Donato had let him, because it was easier than saying out loud that he could see through it. But now Enzo was just sitting there in the car, a few feet from the house where his mother and his love were waiting, and whatever had been holding him together in the car seemed to slip.

Three months. It probably hadn't felt like three months to him-- he'd been unconscious for most of it, from what he'd said. But his mother hadn't been unconscious. Elana hadn't been unconscious. They'd had every single day of it.

Donato knocked on the window. Enzo looked up, and for a second his face didn't have anything performed on it at all.
Donato crouched down so they were at eye level. "You're not coming?"

"I will." Enzo cleared his throat. "Just-- go make sure everyone's out there first. Call me when they are. I'll come in after."

"Oh, so you want to make a hero entry."

Enzo let out a short breath that was almost a laugh. "Of course I do, darling."

Donato just shook his head, but something in his chest eased a little at that. This was the part of him that had been missing for three months. The stupid jokes. The timing. Whatever it was that made Enzo Enzo.

"Fine," he said. "Give me ten minutes."

Donato walked back inside. Everyone was already gathered, and they had smiles on their faces, or at least they were trying to. If Donato could put together a party for Elana after everything, the least the rest of them could do was smile for her sake. That was more or less what they'd said to each other while they waited. He saw Lili and aravi standing together, both smiling, and it was enough to pull something small out of him too.

"You guys ready?" They nodded.

"Okay. Let's go, there's a surprise for all of you." He turned to Sofi and said . " Sofi When I tell you, then bring Elana out. Not before that."

"Okay, brother." Sofia nodded.

They followed him out to the garden. The main lights were off, just the string lights left on, low and soft. Donato turns towards the family. "I need you all to close your eyes." A few of them frowned. Aravi was the one who said it out loud. "It's Elana's birthday party. Why do we need to close our eyes?"

"Yes It is her birthday," Donato said, "but there's something for you all too. Just close your eyes. You'll understand in a second."
They went along with it, a little confused, eyes shut, standing there in the dark garden waiting for whatever Donato had planned.

A minute passed. Then Enzo stepped out. He didn't go to Donato. He went straight to his mother, stopping in front of her for a second, looking at her face -- tired, still holding onto whatever peace she had left. He just looked at her for a second then. he closed the distance and wrapped his arms around her.

The moment he touched her, Lili went completely still. She didn't open her eyes. Her whole body had locked up, like some part of her already knew, and she was too afraid to test it. Her arms came around him slowly, and then she was gripping him hard, holding on with everything she had, still refusing to look.

She started crying before she said a single word.The sound broke through the quiet, and everyone's eyes came open at once. What they saw didn't make sense at first-Enzo, standing there, holding his mother, when every one of them had spent three months believing he was in the ground.

Nobody said anything. A few hands went to mouths. Aravi took a step back without seeming to notice she'd done it. Lili kept crying, holding onto him without letting go, without asking anything, like she was afraid that any question might make him disappear.

Whatever composure Enzo had managed to hold onto in the car, in the garden, walking up to her--all of it went. He'd stayed steady enough in front of Donato. He couldn't do it in front of his mother.

"I'm sorry." His voice came apart on the second word. "I'm sorry, Mamma. I'm sorry I left you alone. I'm so sorry." He kept saying it, into her shoulder, like the words were the only ones he had left.

Lili kept her eyes shut, crying against his shoulder, and Enzo finally pulled back just enough to look at her. "Mamma." He put a hand on the side of her face. "Open your eyes. Look at me."She shook her head, still crying, still not looking.

He understood it without her having to say it. She was afraid that the moment she opened her eyes, he'd be gone, and whatever she was holding onto right now would turn out to be nothing at all. It would be easier, in a way, to just keep crying with her eyes shut and never have to find out.

"I'm here," he said, quieter now. "I'm not going anywhere. Not this time. I promise you, Mamma. Please."

That got through to her. Her eyes opened slowly, still streaming, and for a second she just stared at him like she didn't trust what she was looking at. Then her hand came up, shaking, and touched his face his jaw, his cheek, like she needed to feel it to actually believe it.

The second she did, whatever was left of her composure went with it. She broke down completely, both hands on his face now, crying in a way that didn't have any restraint left in it. Around them, nobody was dry-eyed. Donato had his jaw tight, looking away and back again like he couldn't decide where to put his eyes. Lucia had a hand pressed over her mouth. Aravi, had gone still with tears just sitting there, not falling yet.

"You're okay?" Lili's voice barely held together. "My baby, how-- we thought--She didn't finish it. She didn't need to. She just kept crying, her hands still on his face like she was afraid to let go even for a second.

"I'm okay, Mamma." Enzo covered one of her hands with his own. "I'm okay. Look-I'm right here."

She nodded, over and over, like she was trying to convince herself along with agreeing with him. Then she pulled his head down slightly and kissed his forehead, the way she probably had when he was a child, and when she pulled back there was something almost like a smile fighting through everything else on her face. "My baby came back to me," she whispered, mostly to herself.

Enzo didn't say anything to that. He just held onto her for another moment, letting her have it, before she finally loosened her grip enough to let him step back. After that, the rest of them came forward, one at a time, like nobody quite wanted to be the one who broke whatever fragile thing had just happened between Enzo and his mother.

Aravi got to him next and just pulled him into a hug without a word, gripping the back of his shirt hard enough that her knuckles had gone pale. Sofia was next, laughing and crying at the same time, hitting his arm before hugging him, telling him he was an idiot for scaring them all like that.

One by one, the rest of the family did the same--some of them quiet, some of them talking too fast, none of them quite managing to say the thing they actually meant.

Enzo took all of it. He didn't rush any of them, didn't try to move the moment along, even though somewhere in the back of his mind he knew there was still Elana, still waiting inside, still with no idea what was happening in the garden right now.
___

Sofia went inside to bring Elana out. Outside, Enzo stood with his back to the doorway, waiting. His hand wouldn't stop shaking. He pressed it flat against his own thigh, then gave up and just let it shake.

Five minutes passed before Sofia came back out with Elana.

Elana's eyes went to the decorations first, taking in the lights, the garden, all of it, and her mouth pulled into something that wasn't quite a smile. "Mamma, I told you, you didn't need to do any of this." She said it quietly. more to herself than anyone the kind of thing you say when you're trying not to cry in front of people.

Then she looked at the family standing there all of them smiling at her and something about that many smiles aimed at her at once made her sigh. Aravi went to her and took her hand. "I know what you need." She turned Elana gently toward the garden. "And what you need is right there."

Elana frowned, following the direction of her mother's gaze, and saw a man standing a few feet away with his back to her. She didn't understand. Everyone who mattered was already here. She tried to place him and couldn't.

Slowly, the man turned around.

Elana's knees went first. If Aravi hadn't been holding her arm, she would have gone straight down. For a second she didn't process anything at all--not the garden, not the people around her just his face and her mind simply refused to accept what her eyes were telling her.

She looked around at everyone else searching their faces for some sign that this was a joke a trick anything. They were all smiling. She found Lili last tears sitting in her eyes mouth curved upward and Lili gave a small nod. like she was answering a question Elana hadn't asked out loud.

Elana's throat moved as she swallowed. Enzo opened his arms, wide, the way he always used to when he was being ridiculous on purpose. "My little Eli. Aren't you going to hug your Enzo?"

That was what broke her. She was moving before she'd decided to move crossing the distance and slamming into him hard enough that he had to take a step back to hold his ground her arms locked around him like she thought he might vanish if she let go for even a second. She was crying before she got a single word out.

Enzo held her just as tightly his own eyes wet now though he fought to keep his voice steady for her sake. "Baby." He eased her back just enough to see her face. "Look at me." She did and her hands came up to his face the same way his mother's had touching his jaw his cheek like she needed proof under her fingers.

"You're real." Her voice cracked apart. "I'm not-I'm not imagining this, am I? But how, you- fire-She wasn't making full sentences anymore. She didn't seem to know what she was trying to say either.

"I'm okay." He held her face in both hands now, forcing her to keep looking at him. "I'm okay, I'm alive, love. You're not imagining anything. It's me. I'm here. I'm standing right in front of you."

She stared at him a moment longer, like she was still waiting for something to prove him wrong, and when nothing did, she threw herself back against him. "I missed you." The words came out broken, one after another, barely spaced. "I missed you so much. Please--please don't ever leave me again. Please, I'm begging you."

"Easy." He pressed his hand against the back of her head, holding her against him. "Easy, baby, I'm here." It took a while before she settled, her breathing slowing down against his chest the two of them just standing there while everyone else gave them the distance to have it.

After Elana had settled the question that had been sitting on everyone's face finally came out of Mr. Romano's mouth. "Enzo." He waited until Enzo actually looked at him before he went on. "How did this happen. I mean--what we were told what Donato and Albert told us was that you died in that warehouse. They didn't find you. There were bones. We all believed you were gone. So how are you standing here."

"I would have died, Uncle." Enzo's voice had lost most of the lightness from a few minutes ago. "If she hadn't saved m, I really would have."

"Who?" Donato asked.

"Wait." Enzo pulled out his phone and typed something quickly, then put it away. Less than a minute later, a woman stepped into view from the driveway. Someone near the back gasped. A few others went still. Donato recognized her almost immediately, and so did Albert, whose whole face changed.

Gia. Albert's ex.

"What are you doing here." Albert's voice came out low almost a growl.

"Relax." Enzo held a hand up toward him without looking away from the group. "You don't need to look at her like that. She's not a threat. I called her here."

That didn't seem to satisfy anyone judging by the frowns but nobody said anything else yet. Gia stood a little apart from the group arms crossed loosely clearly uncomfortable being looked at by this many people at once.

Enzo took a breath and started. "That day I was actually about to die. Lucas made sure of it. He had me tied up in that warehouse and planted a bomb in there. I wasn't in any state to help myself--he'd already had his men work me over pretty badly before that. My head was hit hard enough that I couldn't even keep my eyes open properly."

He paused, like he was seeing it again as he said it.

"When the bomb went off I'd basically accepted it. I wasn't fighting anymore. And then out of nowhere she showed up." He nodded slightly toward Gia. "Some of Lucas's men were still in there and they went after her the second she came in. We had maybe five minutes before the whole place caught fire properly. She fought them off--hurt a few of them badly enough that they backed off--and got me out in time."

"The bones you found" he said, looking at Donato now "were probably one of Lucas's men who didn't make it out. Not mine."We were running out through the back" he continued "but then one of the ,man caught up and hit me across the head with a pipe. That's the last thing I remember. I don't know what happened after that. I was out."

Nobody said anything. Albert looked like he was working through something complicated on his face--his ex-girlfriend the same one who'd made his life difficult for months was the reason enzo was alive.

Gia finally spoke quiet at first like she wasn't used to having this many people listen to her at once. "Once he went unconscious I kept fighting the one who hit him. Somehow I got both of us out alive. I knew if Lucas ever found out I'd saved Enzo he'd have me killed. So I didn't take him anywhere near a hospital, or anywhere anyone might see us. I took him straight to my place." She glanced at Enzo briefly before continuing.

"I don't know what happened at the warehouse after we left. I got him home and called a doctor friend of mine, someone I trusted not to ask questions. he checked him over and said he'd taken a bad hit to the head, along with some burns and cuts on his body. he said the burns and cuts would heal fine. The head injury was the dangerous part. he said it could take time for him to wake up. Or he might lose some of his memory when he did. Or--" Gia stopped like the next part was harder to say out loud. "Or he might not wake up at all."

She looked down for a second before going on. "I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell someone I wanted to tell you all he was alive. But I couldn't leave my house. I was terrified that if Lucas found out what I'd done he'd kill me and Enzo and probably my mother too. So we just stayed there.

An entire week went and I had no idea what was happening outside whether Lucas's people were looking for us any of it. Enzo didn't wake up during any of that time. My mother helped take care of him. my friend change his bandages every couple of days." She exhaled. "But there was no improvement. Not for a long time."

One my friend, someone who worked with me inside Lucas's network called me after week. He told me Lucas was dead. Same day as Enzo. He didn't know I'd saved Enzo either--none of them did. That's how I found out you'd all bleave Enzo was dead too. Gia paused there, glancing at Enzo before she went on.

"I thought about coming to you all right then. But the friend who was checking on him told me there wasn't any point yet. His condition was getting worse before it got better. He'd started healing, but sometimes his whole body would just start shaking, out of nowhere. My friend said it was his nerves rejecting the medication or something close to that I'm not a doctor I'm just repeating what he told me. he didn't know if he'd survive it at all."

She looked down at her hands for a second. "So I decided not to tell anyone. You'd already grieved him. If I told you he was alive and then something happened to him anyway it would only be worse the second time. I thought it was better to wait and see if he'd even respond to treatment before putting any of you through that."

"I only had my friend to rely on for information after that. I waited three months. My mother took care of him at home. My friend kept adjusting his medication, and eventually something worked his body started improving but he still wasn't waking up. It was only this past week that he started responding at all. My friend told me he might wake up soon. he still couldn't say whether he'd have his memory when he did."

"He woke up yesterday." She almost smiled at that part. "Lucky for all of us he remembered everything. He wanted to leave straight away get back to you but he was still dizzy on his feet. My mother made him stay in bed."

"Then today I got a call from my friend. he told me every gang connected to Lucas's old network was planning to move against Donato and planing to kill him today." Gia let out a short breath not quite a laugh. "I didn't know if I should tell Enzo in the state he was in. But I did. And the second I told him he didn't wait for anything. He just got up and left to come save his brother."

The garden had gone quiet. Everyone was still trying to hold two things in their head at once -- Enzo had been alive this whole time and he'd spent most of it on the edge of dying and this woman of all people was the one who'd kept him breathing.

Albert stepped forward first. "You said you were working with Lucas's people." His voice had an edge to it now. "What does that mean."

Gia didn't answer right away. When she did, she kept her eyes down. "I was working for him from the start Albert. That's the truth. I got involved with you because he told me to. When I came back into your life five years later that was his doing too. I was working for him the entire time we were together and after."

Albert made a sound that wasn't a real laugh. "Wow. You are unbelievable. You lied to me for years great. "But I still don't understand." He shook his head. "If you were working for Lucas why would you save Enzo. That doesn't make sense."

"To pay off a debt," she said simply.

Everyone frowned at that. Gia glanced toward Donato, and something almost like a smile crossed her face, though it didn't reach all the way. "Mr. Donato found out a few months ago. When I came back around you again." She looked at him directly now.

"I don't know exactly how but he figured out I was working for Lucas. The last time I saw you at that café, that was the same day. Mr. Donato caught me afterward and told me to leave you alone and never come near you again. He said if I didn't he'd kill me. He even offered me money just to disappear." She let out a small humorless laugh.

"I didn't take the money. I want to be clear about that--I never actually wanted to be part of any of this. I was doing it because Lucas had my mother. She was sick and he was the one paying for her treatment all of it. That's what he was holding over me. But after Mr. Donato threatened me I decided I was done. I went to Lucas and told him I wasn't going to keep following Albert wasn't going to keep working for him at all. So he did the only thing he could do to control me. He cut off my mother's treatment."

Her voice thinned out a little there. "Her health went downhill fast after that. She had a heart attack. The doctors said she needed surgery immediately and I had nobody to go to. I went back to Lucas first out of desperation and he refused. There was nowhere else to turn, so I went to Mr. Donato." She looked at Donato now and he didn't look away.

"I asked him for help. And he gave it. He got my mother into the best hospital available and made sure her surgery happened paid for everything himself. When she was discharged a month later she wanted to meet whoever had saved her life. So he met with her. He even gave us a decent place to live after that." She paused. "In return all he asked from me was one thing. Don't bother his brother again."

The garden stayed silent for a moment after she finished. Donato didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to correct. Every word of it was true--he'd found out what Gia was doing behind Albert's back and he'd confronted her threatened her the way he'd threatened plenty of people before when it came to protecting his own.

What he hadn't expected was for her to come back to him later with nothing left and nowhere else to go and for himself to be the one who helped her out of it instead of turning her away. He hadn't told anyone that part. It hadn't seemed like something that needed telling.

Lili stepped forward first and pulled Gia into a hug. "Thank you." She said it twice, her voice thick. "Thank you so much for saving my son's life."

Gia shook her head against her shoulder. "It should be me thanking all of you. Thanking Mr. Donato." She pulled back enough to look at Lili properly. "He's the one who saved my life. My mother's life. He pulled me out of that hell and gave me a decent one to live instead. My mother and I are only where we are today because of him." She glanced toward Donato, something grateful in it. "So how could I not save the one person who matters most to him."

For a moment nobody said anything, the weight of everything just sitting there in the garden.

Then Enzo clapped his hands together, breaking it on purpose.
"Okay, so now you all know how I survived." He said it with far more drama than necessary. "Can we cut the cake now? Did everyone forget it's my baby's birthday and she still hasn't had her cake?"

Elana swatted his chest, but she was fighting a smile doing it.

"He's right, let's cut the cake." Sofia was already moving toward the table.

They gathered around it. Elana cut the first slice with Enzo's hand over hers, and she fed her mother first, then her father, then finally Enzo, who made an exaggerated show of enjoying it that got a laugh out of a few people who badly needed one.

Then, out of nowhere, Enzo dropped to one knee and took her hand. A few people exchanged glances. Is he doing this again, someone murmured.

"So, Miss Elana Romano." He looked up at her. "That wedding offer still valid? The one where we agreed we'd get married right after your birthday are you easy to become Mrs Elana Morro?

That got a laugh out of half the garden. Elana looked down at him. "No."

"Why not." He said it with maximum offense.

"Because you made me cry for three months."

"That was the last time baby, I promise." He squeezed her hand. "Just say yes. I want to marry you as soon as possible. I already died once -- I don't want to die again before I've actually married you."

She hit him lightly on the head for that, but she was laughing now, through what was left of her tears. "Fine. Shut up. I'll marry you the same day we already agreed on."

A cheer went up around them. Enzo stood and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you, baby. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

People started closing in to congratulate them, the mood in the garden lighter than it had been in months. Donato was one of the first to reach him, pulling Enzo into a hug of his own.

"Congratulations. Soon to be a husband."

"Yeah, darling, just like you." Enzo grinned, still holding onto him. "I just hope my wife loves me the way Kiara loves you, unconditionally-

He stopped mid-sentence. "Wait." His eyes narrowed slightly, scanning the garden like he'd only just noticed something missing. "Where's Kiara? I haven't seen her this whole time. Where is she?"

Donato went still. He swallowed, and for a second his mind went completely blank, no idea how to even begin telling him that Kiara was gone, that he'd spent months believing she'd gone, that he blame her for the grief he carried for Enzo, that he hadn't handled any of it well.

Enzo noticed the change in his face immediately. "Where is Kiara, Donato?"

Donato still hadn't answered.

That was starting to scare him now. Something cold moved through Enzo's chest. Did Something happened to her that day. But i saved her. She was safe isn't she?

"Donato." Enzo's voice sharpened. "I asked you something. Where is Kiara?"

The garden had gone quiet around them, everyone's attention pulled toward the two of them now, sensing something had shifted.

"She-" Donato couldn't get the rest out.

"She what? Damn it, just tell me where she is." Enzo's voice rose.

"I-i don't know." The words came out broken. "She was in an accident. And after that--I never found her body."

Enzo went completely still. "An accident. You never found her--" He stopped, shook his head like he could shake the sentence into making sense. "What are you talking about?"

Donato took a breath that didn't do much to steady him, his eyes glassy now, and he started, slowly, to tell Enzo what had happened after he was gone.how they found that kiara is the stalker. the accusations, how the family had reacted, the psychiatric hospital, what rose did with her. the way she'd run, the accident after.

He'd said it slower than he meant to, stopping a few times, and by the end he wasn't really looking at Enzo anymore, just somewhere past his shoulder. Enzo didn't say anything at first. His jaw worked, and his hands had curled into fists at his sides without him seeming to notice.

Then he started pacing. Short, tight steps, back and forth over the same stretch of grass, one hand dragging through his hair like he was trying to physically get a grip on something. His eyes had gone red. Nobody moved toward him. Elana took half a step and then didn't finish it.

"Enzo- Donato started.

Enzo crossed the distance between them and grabbed him by the collar before he could get anything else out. "How could you do this to her." His voice wasn't loud. That was somehow worse. "Do you have any idea what she went through for you?"

Donato didn't try to pull away. He looked down instead. "I know," he said, quiet. "Ayush told me everything."

Enzo let out something that wasn't a laugh, more like disbelief trying to find a shape. "I can't--I actually can't process this." "You thought she'd lost her mind. That she was mentally ill, while she was going through her own hell. You accused her of being involved in my death, when she was ready to die for me. For you.

And none of you thought to just ask her." His grip tightened slightly on the collar before he let go, stepping back like he needed the distance. "When Rose told you that kiara was the one stalking you, did it once occur to you to hear her side before deciding what she was?"

"I was angry," Donato said. His voice had gone thin. "I thought-- because of her, because of all of it, I'd lost you. I didn't want to hear anything that time I knew I did wrong."

"Wow." Enzo shook his head slowly. "You're worse than Lucas."He turned partway away, then back. "I know she was the one stalking you. I found that out too. But I asked her why. And she told me everything." His voice cracked slightly, and he pushed through it. "And honestly, there was nothing wrong in what she did. If I were in her place--if it was for Elana-- I'd have done exactly the same thing."

He looked at Donato directly now. "She wasn't the reason you think I died. Lucas could have killed her any time he wanted it wouldn't have made a difference to him because killing her didn't weaken the Romano name. Killing me did. That's why he came for me instead. I told him to let her go take me in her place and he agreed immediately -- because he knew that losing me would break this mafia clan in a way losing her never could.

It was never about her. He wanted the clan to be weak enough to take over Italy without a fight. Yes, he wanted revenge for her sister. That part was true. But that's not why any of this happened. He was always going to come for one of us." He stopped, breathing hard.

"She saved you. That's all she did. And you gave her back a psychiatric ward and a death?"

Donato flinched at that, " NO no She's not dead." His voice cracked on it. "She's not dead, Enzo. I know she's alive. I'll find her I swear I will. I'll ask her forgiveness. I'll bring her back I swear to you." His eyes had filled. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, please."

Enzo looked at him for a long moment, jaw still tight, still clearly furious, but something in his face shifted slightly. "I'm angry with you," he said finally. "I don't think that's going away anytime soon. But I'm not leaving you to do this alone." He exhaled. "If you think she's alive, we find her. Together."

Donato pulled him into a hug before Enzo had fully finished the sentence, gripping him hard. "Thank you." His voice broke apart on it. "I need you for this, Enzo. I don't have it in me to do this without you. I know what I did was wrong. I think about it every single day and regret not listening her once."

Enzo held onto him, one hand coming up to pat his back, still stiff with everything he hadn't let go of yet. "We'll find her," he said. "We will."

Okay so here are the chapter. I didn't want to make this chapter too emotional so I tried to keep it as light as I could. I hope it turned out the way I intended.

And and and tell me how many of you thought that Gia would be the one who saved save Enzo? 👀🫡