But I couldn't feel the pain.
It turns out, what's more despairing than being hit by a car is desperately trying to survive, but no one wants you to live.
Not far away, an SUV stopped.
The door opened hesitantly.
A man got out, his voice trembling.
"I hit someone… she seemed to be pregnant…"
A deep, cold voice came from the other end of the phone.
"This is the gray area."
"No one will investigate."
"If she's still alive, let her die."
A brief silence.
The man's breathing became rapid.
"…I understand."
He got back into the car.
The engine roared.
The next second—
The tires crushed my body.
The sound of bones shattering was completely swallowed by the torrential rain.
When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer human.
I floated in mid-air, like a ghost abandoned by the world.
The rain was still falling.
The crushed body on the ground was a bloody mess, its abdomen caved in.
That was me.
The young mistress of the Valente family, a tool for the Falcone bloodline's marriage alliance, a woman Dante Valente himself had discarded.
I hadn't even had a chance to look at myself properly.
A cold wind swept by.
The next second, I was swept away.
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing beside Dante.