CHAPTER THIRTEEN : Evangeline’s Last Visit23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdwvaGY38Y
(Matteo’s POV)
He didn’t sleep.
He just sat there.
In the middle of the floor.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbgYzdXQw3
Back against the cold wall.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ690OySFWeJ
Her scarf clutched in his fist like a lifeline.
Every hour that passed felt like another nail in the coffin of what they had.
He read her last message twice.
Then a third time.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRabN7ypIl
Then again.
Still no reply.
At 3:42 a.m., the buzzer rang.
One long, deliberate press.
He didn’t move at first.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioV08uVQn6
Didn’t need to—he already knew who it was.
Only one woman knocked like she owned him.
When he opened the door,23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskhBuQXMyI
Evangeline was already halfway inside.
“Miss me?” she smiled.
He didn’t answer.
She looked around.
“No candlelight? No wine? No naked girl crying in the sheets tonight?”
“Get out,” Matteo said quietly.
But she laughed.
“You think you’re clean now, Matteo?”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcjOFqdtYf
“You think just because one girl loved you back, that makes you human again?”
“She’s not like you.”
“You’re right,” she said. “She’s better. Which is why you’ll lose her.”
Matteo’s eyes darkened.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GslG7ZuHE
His voice dropped.
“You already took everything from me once.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXthYxfCwH6
You won’t take her.”
She stepped closer, her perfume thick with memory.
“You think love saves men like us?”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVRYgSEAuX
Her smile twisted.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuaBDKzuJk
“It doesn’t. It exposes us.”
She pulled a folder from her bag.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0slV2C32z
Threw it onto his table.
Inside: photos. Screenshots. Patient files.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbwpg2dGAB
Every illegal thing Matteo ever tried to erase.
“Do you really think the world will stay quiet when they find out what you’ve done, doctor?”
He didn’t flinch.
But his heart dropped.
“She’ll leave you. They all do.”23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8Wn6hcaLd
Evangeline tilted her head.
Then she whispered:
“And if she doesn’t…23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOeV2a6KTxR
I’ll make sure she’s too scared to stay.”
Silence.
Then Matteo stepped forward.
And for the first time…23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKRmaEiNP6
he didn’t look broken.
He looked like a storm.
“Try. I dare you.”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Threaten her again, and I won’t just ruin you—23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKh4i0N8Gtv
I’ll bury every trace of you in the same fire I used to burn the man you turned me into.”
Evangeline smiled…23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfd2uiHS8Q
but there was something wild in her eyes now.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxO5npSmfpE
A flicker of fear.
“She changed you.”
“No,” Matteo said, voice low and clear.
“She saved me.”
Evangeline left.
This time without a smirk.
And Matteo?
He locked the door.
Then collapsed to the floor again—
This time not with grief.
But with resolve.
ns216.73.217.11da2
