CHAPTER EIGHT: The Price of Wanting You29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tQPkt1BUc
(Matteo’s POV)
He didn’t touch another client that week.
Not a single one.
He rescheduled them all. Blocked off hours. Told his assistant he was resting.
But Matteo wasn’t resting.
He was watching her sleep.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3fVSepjWp
Cooking for her.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnN53skPYkk
Washing her wine glass in his sink and folding her cardigan when she left it on the couch.
He told himself it was temporary.
That this quiet intimacy was just borrowed time.
But every hour she stayed…29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfqBPdTkiuh
he wanted her for a lifetime.
Then the knock came.
Firm. Impatient.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlijQfXRU3t
Familiar.
Matteo opened the door—shirt half-buttoned, still tasting her goodbye kiss from that morning.
And there she was.
Evangeline.
Long black hair. Killer heels. Blood-red lips.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbj0NVx0VG
The woman who once called his bed her throne.
“Matteo,” she purred, leaning against the frame like she owned his air.
He didn’t flinch. “Why are you here?”
“You forgot who taught you how to touch women, darling?” she smiled darkly. “I built this version of you. I own it.”
“I’m not yours anymore.”
“You never stopped being mine.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknkRgiFL93
She stepped in uninvited.
Matteo didn’t stop her, but his hands curled into fists.
“What do you want?”
Evangeline ran a sharp finger down the glass table, looking around.
“Who is she?”
He froze.
“I smelled her,” she said, grin widening. “She’s been here. In your sheets. In your mouth.”
Silence.
“You fell, didn’t you?” she laughed, low and cruel. “You stupid, soft idiot. You fell for one of them.”
“She’s not like the others.”
“Oh, Matteo…”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Nt2ExH5D0
Her voice dropped.
“You know what happens when you choose someone.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dNbtfnNJU
They take her. They break her.”
He moved before she could blink.
Shoved her against the wall—not with lust, but rage.
“Don’t touch her. Don’t even say her name.”
Evangeline only smirked.
“She’s yours now. Fine.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXbw7zOlX2
Then her voice turned cold.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VDcZUTKFd
“But don’t think the people you’ve crossed will stay quiet.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJhaQBwu5p
You want to play house, Matteo?29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeZSqAJmAL
Then be ready to bury it when they come.”
She left. Just like that.
But her words stayed.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXnv0ZN1SD
Like acid on his skin.
That night, when she texted him “goodnight” with a little heart emoji…29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAu4orktjEk
He stared at it for a long time.
Because loving her was no longer a secret.
Now, it was a risk.
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