ABSOLUTE INSANITY: A forbidden bond-Chapter 175: Broken
Chapter 175
ROMEO POV
_All words in italics are spoken in Italian_
"No—no—no—" Katya whispered frantically, scrambling backward again, palms slipping on the marble as she tried to put distance between herself and everyone.
"I didn’t— I didn’t mean— I thought— I thought—" She folded in on herself completely now, forehead dropping to her knees, arms wrapped around her head like she was bracing for a blow that never came. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"I’m sorry," she choked. "I’m sorry—I’m sorry—I didn’t—please—"
I looked down at nonna, her hand trembled where Katya had struck it, but her eyes were locked on the girl curled against the wall.
Not angry but devastated. I reached for the handles of Nonna’s wheelchair again, my fingers tightening until the leather groaned.
Every protective instinct I had—the ones I’d honed since I was a boy—screamed at me to get her out of the splash zone.
"We’re leaving," I said, already pulling the chair back. "Antonio, call the doctor. Now."
"Stop it!" The command didn’t come from Marina or Antonio. It came from the woman in the chair.
Nonna’s hands slammed down on the wheels, locking them with a strength that defied her age.
The sudden jolt traveled up my arms, stopping me in my tracks. "Nonna, she’s out of her mind," I hissed, leaning down so only she could hear me.
"She just struck you. Look at your hand. I won’t let her—"
"You won’t let her what, Romeo?" Nonna turned her head, and the look in her eyes was more terrifying than the shard in Katya’s hand.
"I don’t need to talk to you about the safety protocols—"
"Be quiet," she snapped, cutting me off with a sharp flick of her wrist. "Not another word of your cold, calculated logic. I don’t want to hear about protocols or security. I don’t want to hear about the ’threat’ she poses."
"She almost killed Gina!" Marina shrieked from behind us, trying to reclaim her place in the chaos.
"She’s a murderer in the making!" Nonna didn’t even turn to look at her. She kept her eyes locked on mine, pinning me.
"Look at her, Romeo. Really look at her."
I looked. Katya was a small, shivering pile of grey and red against the Donna’s door.
She was still whispering, her voice a repetitive, broken loop of apologies that no one was accepting.
"You did this," Nonna whispered, and the words hit harder than any bullet ever could.
I did what?!
"Its all your fault!" Nonna didn’t even let me understand what was my fault. Her voice rose, vibrating with a raw, agonizing fury.
"I warned you, I begged you to be a human with a conscience for once but no! You let ...You let...You let that... that woman—" she gestured vaguely toward Marina— "tear her wounds open again."
I opened my mouth to defend my strategy, but Nonna wasn’t finished.
"You wanted to see if she would break, didn’t you? You wanted to see how much a soul could take before it turned into a monster like yours." She reached up, pointing a trembling finger at the red mark on her own hand. "This mark isn’t her fault. It’s yours. Every drop of blood on this floor, every scream from that inhuman maid, every tear that girl is crying... it is all your fault."
The hallway seemed to tilt. I felt the weight of the Valeros folder in the vault downstairs, and for the first time, it felt like lead.
"I remembered begging you, telling you he this girl was innocent, how she just a victim in all of this. But no! You stripped her of her name, her clothes, her dignity, and her sanctuary."
I stood there, frozen, hands hovering uselessly over the handles of her chair, unable to move forward or back.
For the first time in a very long time, I had no calculated response. No counter. No angle.
Her accusation dragged me backward—hard—into a memory I had buried under strategy and arrogance.
The infirmary. Katya unconscious. I remembered the way the machines had hummed softly around her bed. I remembered standing there, arms crossed, already planning my next move.
And Nonna staying between me and the bed like a shield.
"She is not what you think, Romeo," she’d said then. Her voice had been tired. Pleading. "That girl was never a princess in her father’s house."
I’d scoffed.
Katya Boris. Only child. Heir. Protected. Untouchable. I had built an entire narrative around it because it was convenient.
Nonna had shaken her head slowly, tears pooling but never falling. "I know it might be hard to believe but it’s true. She’s only a victim. Men like her father don’t care about their own."
I hadn’t believed her. I hadn’t wanted to.
"He broke her both mentally and physically. The kind of abuse that leaves no witnesses, only scars that don’t show unless you know where to look."
I remembered those scars on her back but I still snapped back then to nonna, dismissively.
"You’re projecting. She’s manipulating you." I’d told her.
The look she’d given me today was full of hurt, disappointed, furious and it was the same one burning into me now.
"Take that devil out of our home" she’d begged but I had chosen power.
I had chosen leverage. I had chosen a woman I despised over a girl I thought unbreakable.
Now Katya was curled against my wall, whispering apologies to no one, shaking like she was waiting for a blow that might still come.
And I finally saw it.
Not madness. Damage. Layered. Old. Triggered.
Nonna was still speaking, her voice shaking now—not with anger, but grief. "She survived him," she said, nodding toward Katya. "She survived you. And tonight—she couldn’t anymore."
My eyes stayed on Katya. "Oh shut it, old woman." The words left Marina’s mouth sharp and venomous, slicing straight through the air.
She stepped forward, heels clicking against floor, her face twisted with something ugly and triumphant.
Her hand lifted fast,aimed straight for Katya. That was it.
Something in me snapped clean through. I moved before thought could catch up.
My hand shot out and wrapped around Marina’s throat, stopping her mid-step, mid-breath.
I slammed her back against the wall hard enough to rattle the glass frames lining the hallway.
Her eyes went wide instantly, shock wiping the arrogance off her face in one brutal sweep. "Babe?!" This girl didn’t know when to shut the fuck up
"Romeo—!" Antonio barked from behind me.
I didn’t hear him. All I saw was Katya flinching violently at the noise, shrinking even further into herself, her arms flying up to shield her head like she expected the blow meant for her.
That sight—made my grip on Marina tightened, her lips parting soundlessly, eyes glossy with sudden fear.
For the first time since I’d met her, Marina looked small.
Behind me, Nonna’s voice cut through,"Romeo."
I froze.
Not because Marina mattered. Because Nonna did.
I released the fool abruptly and she collapsed forward, coughing, clutching her neck as Antonio caught her before she hit the floor and dragged her back several steps.
I didn’t look at her again as I moved towards Katya while throwing orders to Antonio "Get both the maid and Marina to the basement."
Marina’s coughing turned into hysterical, broken cry as Antonio hauled her backward, her heels scraping uselessly against the marble.
"The basement?" she wheezed, clutching her throat, eyes blazing at me in disbelief. "Are you insane?! ROMEO—have you lost your mind?!"
Her voice cracked into shrill outrage. "That place is for animals. For traitors. You can’t— you wouldn’t—"
"I will," I said flatly, not even looking at her.
Antonio tightened his grip, one arm locked around her shoulders, the other gripping her wrist as she thrashed.
"Enough," he growled lowly into her ear. "Don’t make this worse." She fought him anyway, nails raking at his sleeve, silk tearing. "You can’t do this to me! I’m your fiancée!" She twisted her head, trying to catch my eye. "Romeo! Say something!"
"You’re choosing her? That psycho? After what she’s done?!" Marina’s voice rose again, sharp and panicked as Antonio dragged her toward the elevator, her protests echoing down the hallway. "You’ll regret this!" she screamed, the sound fraying with fear now. "You’ll all regret this!"
The elevator doors slid shut on her voice with a thud.
††
Y’all thanks for the golden tickets
