CHAPTER NINETEEN : Last Fire, Last Fight29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidTrgPT24t
(Matteo’s POV)
The motel smelled like cheap soap and peace.
Until—29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1i5Vn8WNE
someone knocked.
Not once.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj091OZHnAi
Not twice.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WGb6pQ5RZ
But three times.
Hard.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3G6eG1oILz
Precise.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4bkYrQRAw
Like a warning.
Matteo looked up from where he was folding baby clothes.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttryf0kNYD
She was still brushing her hair by the mirror.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3kz2bqrqe
Their quiet little world shattered with that one sound.
He motioned for her to be still.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCeGPeA4RPD
Picked up the knife hidden under the mattress.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPczLMqBJB
Walked barefoot to the door.
Peered through the peephole.
No one.
But he knew better.
There was only one person who knocked like that.
Santiago.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiJoLTOf8h
The man who once gave Matteo a second life.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7izjURI8Ja
And now?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszdepicqvd
He was here to collect.
He opened the door slowly.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6PQUTitpF
No sound.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52Hh5zWT3E
No words.
Just a folded piece of paper on the floor.
He picked it up.
Unfolded it.
Read the words scrawled in blood-red ink:
“You left something behind. If you want it back—come alone.”
She found him sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes blank.
“Who was it?”
He didn’t answer.
“Matteo…”
“Someone from before,” he said. “From when I didn’t believe in happy endings.”
“What does he want?”
“Control. Leverage. Me.”
She sat beside him, pressed her hand on his thigh.
“You're not going.”
“I have to.”
“No, you don't—”
“If I don't… he’ll find a way to hurt you. Or her.”
He placed a hand on her belly.
“I made promises. I intend to keep them.”
She stood.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrIPFPwmwH
Angry.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvF0mtdX7xb
Shaking.
“What if you don’t come back?”
“Then burn what’s left of me,” he said, eyes hard. “But keep the baby safe.”
Midnight.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxADg1GZWrT
He drove alone.
Back to the place where he almost became a monster again.
Santiago was waiting at the old warehouse.
Same smirk.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuK03jvsyT
Same loaded gun.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEmQd9CAH6
Same offer disguised as a threat.
“Come back, Matteo. Lead again. Be who you were.”
“That man died the day I heard my child’s heartbeat.”
“Then die with him.”
Gunfire.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpX7cXqfUq
Chaos.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOysopcRJbV
A scream.
Matteo didn’t walk away clean.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtAjCrizLN
But he walked away alive.
Bullet grazed his side.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRPTs80V1G
Fists bloodied.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCigBM8weSF
But he was still breathing.
And Santiago?
Left in the ashes.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DTMDuBM2Q
Like the clinic.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3t2CAxdlH
Like the sins.
Gone.
He returned at dawn.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoCqZ3wLKc
She was by the door, waiting.
No words.
She just ran to him.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatmY9uJQRO
Touched his face.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPfaFf6Cd7
Held him like she’d never let him go again.
“It’s over?” she whispered.
“It’s over.”
“You’re hurt.”
“He’s worse.”
“You scared me, Matteo.”
“I scare myself when it comes to you.”
They kissed.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDykjIxMJky
Soft.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7CHrP3fJn
Salty with tears.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaEGL6OapM
But real.
And this time—
There was nothing left chasing them.
Only the future.
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