*ADELINE*
Everything hit me like a freight train. Vincenzo, the man who made my heart race and my pulse quicken, was crumpled on the cold, unforgiving dock, blood pooling beneath him like a sinister flood. I barely registered the chaos around me—the blaring sirens that sliced through the air, the shouts that seemed to echo in my skull like a cruel symphony. My parents were rooted beside me, fear etched on their faces, but all I could see was him.
My pulse thundered as I clutched my mother's arm, her nails digging into my skin in silent terror. "No, no, no…" I murmured, disbelief twisting in my gut. I didn't care about the men in tactical gear or the law enforcement shout-outs; in that moment, all that existed was Vincenzo. My heart felt as though it had stopped beating altogether, suspen
