A heavy silence fills the room as the truth settles over Natalie's family like a dark, suffocating cloud. Giovanni Castellano looks at his daughter, horror clouding his once-steely gaze. The rage that had fueled their relentless pursuit of Sophie is replaced by an agonizing realization.
"We made her lose…" Natalie's voice cracks as she tries to finish, unable to meet her father's eyes. "She… she was pregnant?"
A wave of nausea hits Alex as he remembers the screams, the moments of merciless violence he'd inflicted upon her in his twisted quest for vengeance. He'd beaten her, starved her, hoping to break her spirit, to make her pay. Now, knowing she had suffered not only for something she hadn't done but also at the cost of a child she'd never meet, he's left feeling hollow and repulsed by his own actions.
"We took everything from her…" Alex whispers, his voice barely audible. "Father, we… we didn't just punish her. We destroyed her."
"Get her out of that place. Now," Giovanni orders, his voice thick with the weight of his command. He snaps at one of the guards, who immediately leaves to make arrangements for Sophie's release. But inside, he knows that bringing her out of that cell won't erase the horrors she's endured. It won't undo the months of torture, the starvation, or the child she had lost.
But Alex hesitates. "What if… what if she can't forgive us? How do we even begin to make amends for something like this?"
Giovanni turns, his eyes hollow. "We may never be able to. But we will do whatever it takes to give her the justice and peace she deserves."