Chapter 43

Luca struggled to breathe at the top of the cliff.

The wind was too strong. He barely heard the car aproched from behind until it was too late. Turning around, he spotted Stella behind the wheels with Daisy in the front passenger seat.

"No," Luca shook his head, his blood running cold. "No, stop."

Stella lowered her window and smiled, "What are you doing? Get out of the way!"

"Stella...." Luca's eyes darted towards Daisy who glared at him with hatred in her eyes. His voice shook as he placed his hands on the hood of the car as if he could push them away from the edge. "Stella, stop."

"Get out of my way, Luca!" Stella's face twisted in anger. Her smile vanished as she snarled, "I told you not to entertain these silly girls!"

"Stella, no. No," Luca could only think of Daisy. He needed to get Daisy out of the car.

He began to panic as the wheels of the car rolled forward.

"Stella! Stop!" Luca pleaded. "Stella, listen to me. Stop."

As Luca began to lose his mind watching the car roll forward and Daisy vanish under the waves, Daisy began to lose her mind sitting beside his bedside hearing him call out Stella's name over and over again.

Carla's eyes flickered towards Daisy as the doctors and nurses all hovered over Luca to make sure he was not going to harm himself. His heart rate was too high and his brain activities were not looking too good. His head tossed and turned as his lips formed just one name over and over.

Stella...Stella...

Daisy could not shed any more tears. She sat defeated in her seat and listened to her heart break over and over as Luca called out for the girl he loved. The light in her eyes began to dim. The color on her face began to fade. And the girl she once was began to disappear.

"Dee?" Carla called from where she stood beside the other doctors. "Dee?"

"Mrs. Silvano?" One of the nurses touched Daisy's arm.

Daisy looked up with a deep frown on her face.

"Take her to my office," Carla said to the nurse. "Get her something to eat."

Daisy wanted to shake her head and protest. But she had no strength. She let the nurse pull her to her feet and walk her out of the room.

________________

Days and nights all mixed, creating an endless suffering.

Daisy began to lose her mind and herself sitting by Luca's bedside. She could not pull herself away from him to care about anything else. No matter how slowly the love was killing her.

Theo was the only expectation. The little boy saw countless nights where his mother sang to him with tears in her eyes. He was too young and too innocent to understand anything. But his sweetness filled Daisy's heart whenever he was near. She took comfort in his scent and held him tightly to her chest. She couldn't lose her baby.

In the endless days that Daisy was living in, Gia had gotten married. She could not face her best friend without the fear of having to explain why she was breaking down over Luca. She could not face Gia after all the horrible things she had said to her. Daisy had always felt alone. But nothing could have prepared her for the long nights in the hospitals.

"Mrs. Silvano?" Dana called to her in her gentle voice.

"Yes?" Daisy looked up.

"Would you like for me to bring you some dinner?"

"No," Daisy shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You should eat," the woman said. "You've lost a significant amount of weight since Mr. Silvano has been in the hospital."

"I can't eat," Daisy said. Her head swayed slightly to one side as she began to feel oozy.

"Are you sure?" Dana asked. "I can just leave something here for you."

"No, I'm fine," Daisy said.

"Okay," the kind woman gathered up her tray. "There's a delivery for Mr. Silvano, ma'am. It arrived yesterday."

Daisy nodded.

"What should we do with it?"

"Leave it in his office."

"It's very big," Dana frowned.

"Where is it right now?"

"In the storage room."

"I'll have a look at it," Daisy said.

"Now?"

"Yes," with a heavy sigh, Daisy rose to her feet. She instantly grabbed the armrest as a wave of dizziness took over. Groaning, Daisy shut her eyes and sank back into the chair. She began to rub her temples as a strange pressure pushed down on her chest and she began to feel dizzy.

"You need to eat, Mrs. Silvano," Dana frowned. "Please, let me make you something."

"Later," Daisy waved her hand. "Show me the package."

Dana's frown deepened. She turned on her heels and led Daisy out of the room and down the stairwell. Daisy followed silently with her hand still rubbing her temple. She sniffled occasionally and swallowed the dryness in her throat.

"What's going on?" Carla asked as they passed her in the halls.

"Dana needs me to look at some delivery for Luca," Daisy paused.

"Are you okay?" Carla asked. "You look sick."

"Just a headache," Daisy said.

"Take some medicine."

"I will," Daisy nodded. She wanted to follow Dana down the halls but the questions in her mind kept her foot rooted to the ground. Carla saw the hesitation on Daisy's face and felt her heart sink.

"He's okay," she said, assuring the girl nothing had happened to Luca while she was away. "Don't think too much into what you heard him sa-"

"How's Gia?" Daisy asked quickly before Carla could finish her sentence.

Carla stopped and let out a small sigh. Her eyes grew tired and old. She stepped forward and placed a hand on Daisy's shoulder.

"She's going to Florence with Daniel tomorrow," Carla frowned. "Talk to her. Give her a call. I promise you she's not mad."

"I can't," Daisy shook her head, feeling her emotional barrel groan from the amount of feelings she had stuffed inside. Any day now, it would burst open and spill everywhere.

"Nothing's going to get fixed if you two don't talk," Carla said. "You need her right now and she needs you."

"I just...." Daisy's chest tightened and her eyes watered. "I just need Luca to get better first. Then I'll handle everything else."

Carla's eyes softened. She wrapped her arms around the girl and kissed her face, "My sweet girl. He'll be okay."

"I know everyone keeps telling me that, but I don't feel it," Daisy said. "Not until he's looking at me and speaking to me."

"He'll be up soon," Carla said. "He's so close."

Daisy nodded once more, biting down on her lip so hard yet feeling no pain.

"Get some rest," Carla rubbed Daisy's arm. "We can go to the hospital together tomorrow."

"Okay," Daisy nodded, stepping aside to let the woman pass.

Wiping her nose and eyes, Daisy looked up to where Dana waited for her patiently at the end of the hall. She quickly made her way over to the set of stairs that led down to the small storage room in the lower backyard.

"Mateo and Aaron brought them in," Dana explained. "I think they were supposed to go to Mr. Silvano's office but they probably got the wrong address."

"Thank you," Daisy stepped into the room with her arms wrapped around herself. She switched on the light and stilled at the sight of the three large boxes.

"What are they?" She asked no one in particular as she started at the forty by sixty frames.

"I'm not sure," Dana said.

Daisy walked farther into the room and began to tear at the packing tape. When she started to struggle, Dana quickly brought her a pair of scissors.

"Thank you," Daisy said, opening the scissors and slicing through the tape.

Carefully, Daisy cut through all the edges of the box and bubble wrap paper to reveal her face. She stilled as she came face to face with herself behind the glass on the frame.

"Is that you?" Dana asked, looking at the black and white photography.

"Yeah..." Daisy nodded, feeling her wet eyes water. "That's me."

"You look so beautiful," Dana complimented. "I hope this wasn't a surprise Mr. Silvano had planned for you."

"I..." Daisy felt her heart skip a beat as she stared at the large frame. For the first time in days, she smiled and felt warmth in her body. "I didn't know he had this."

"What are the other two?" Dana looked at the remaining boxes. Daisy followed her and together they tore open the other two photographs.

"I can't believe him," Daisy shook her head. "He had these the whole time....it's been years."

"They must be very special to him," Dana said. "Where do you think he wants to put them?"

"I don't know," Daisy chuckled. "I hope not in the bedroom. It would be strange to look at myself at this scale."

"They're really beautiful."

"Thank you, Dana." Daisy smiled. "I needed this tod-"

As Daisy spoke, from the corner of her eyes she spotted Tatum's signature at the edge of one of the photographs. She knew he always liked to sign his work. But it wasn't his name that caught her attention. It was the other name that had been haunting her for days, if not weeks.

Stella.

Daisy felt her blood run cold. She stepped closer to the frames and kneeled to get a closer look. Her hands shook as she raised her hand and traced the name under the glass.

"Dana..." she said, her breathing changing. "Can you please go check on Theo?"

"Of course," Dana said. "Are you okay?"

"I need a second to be alone right now," Daisy's head spun out of control. She waited until Dana left the room before pulling out her cell phone from her back pocket and dialing Tatum's number.

"Well, hello!" Tatum answered after a few rings. "I never thought I would see your number on my phone again."

"Hi...It's me," Daisy fumbled with her words.

"Who else would this be?" Tatum laughed. "How are you, beautiful girl? I miss you. When will you be back in New York?"

"Tatum, do you remember the photos you took of me?" Daisy couldn't think straight. "The ones with the veil over my face."

"Ah, yes," Tatum said. "If you're referring to my highest paid photographs ever then yes. I do remember."

"What.....what did you name the collection?"

"I didn't," Tatum said. "The owner of the photographs did."

"What do you mean?" Daisy's heart stilled.

"He was this filthy rich Italian businessman," Tatum sighed. "Came in and gave me a blank check for the photos. I wrote down one million dollars just for shits and giggles but he actually paid and his people picked up the photos the next day."

"And the name?"

"Well, I didn't have a name for them," Tatum said. "But the guy said it reminded him of Stella because of the small stars caught in the veil."

"Stella..." Daisy's heart shook.

"Yeah," Tatum laughed. "Apparently it means stars."

Daisy had no words left. She let her hand fall as Tatum continued to talk on the line. She could hear his voice but none of the words made any sense. Her eyes began to rain once more as she broke down into heavy sobs that shook her whole body.

Surrounded by her photographs, Daisy sat on her knees with her hands clutched to her chest. It hurt so bad to breathe. She felt herself shatter all over again. Her hollow insides filled with an ache as her brain began to grow numb. She sobbed but her eyes couldn't keep up with the tears. Her lips parted in a silent scream that didn't quite make it out but continued to build the pressure in her throat.

The photographs seemed to be mocking her as she let herself crumble in front of them. The light reflecting off of the glass shimmered over the word Stella in every frame. Daisy felt disgusted to even look at herself. Her stomach churned as she gagged, making her eyes water. She quickly climbed to her feet and ran back into the house.

But instead of the bathroom, Daisy went straight for Luca's home office. She threw the door open and began to search through his drawers and cabinets before she found his sketchbook. She needed to see the sketch he had made of her to give her something to hold on to. Her mind was spiraling completely out of control like a hurricane. The emotional pain channeled into a throbbing headache as Daisy flipped through the pages, realizing it was one of his old sketchbooks she had found. If it weren't for the sketches of Stella in between the pages filled with landscapes and objects, Daisy would have tossed the book aside. But when she began to notice something familiar in the pictures, her broken heart froze up like ice.

There were countless pictures of Stella all over the book. But none of them looked quiet like the girl Daisy had seen in the other photographs.

No. The girl in the sketches was not Stella.

She was not Daisy either.

She was some twisted combination of the both of them.

Daisy fell to the floor with the book in her hands as she began to examine the sketches with horror.

Stella with hazel eyes, Stella with freckles under her tan, Stella with dirty blonde hair instead of her natural strawberry blonde locks....

Luca had been sketching Stella with Daisy's features.   

:/ She's losing her mind...