I reached out to the letter,s. but my fingers were shaking so hard that I couldn’t get it. Luke noticed and gently pushed the glass of water towards me, while Matteo sat in the chair to my right.

Any parent would have done that.

“Not every adult would have done that for two children who weren’t his,” Matteo replied.

I wanted to protest, but Luca stopped me.

Let us finish, please.

I kept quiet.

“We know you’ve given up a lot of things,” he continued. We know you’ve put off buying a new car. We know you refused to go on vacation with your friends. We know that sometimes you eat less to reach us.
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Ezoic

It wasn’t like that…

Yes, Paola. It was exactly like that.

I bowed my head.

I didn’t know they had noticed.

I thought I had protected them from all those worries.

“And we know something,” Matteo said.

I raised my eyes.

• What exactly?

“That you had the chance to walk away from us.