CHAPTER THIRTEEN : Evangeline’s Last Visit24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF3bQWF9vC
(Matteo’s POV)
He didn’t sleep.
He just sat there.
In the middle of the floor.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStvuVqw71d
Back against the cold wall.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTluT8K46W
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0FVS8iFMQ
Then again.
Still no reply.
At 3:42 a.m., the buzzer rang.
One long, deliberate press.
He didn’t move at first.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBpwNXUORi
Didn’t need to—he already knew who it was.
Only one woman knocked like she owned him.
When he opened the door,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYjY6Wle6l
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?”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffaxG3yZRD
“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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92kVJFI2Tn
His voice dropped.
“You already took everything from me once.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtUlzHFcU4
You won’t take her.”
She stepped closer, her perfume thick with memory.
“You think love saves men like us?”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHp6WoPoTtP
Her smile twisted.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjigHXGjkh
“It doesn’t. It exposes us.”
She pulled a folder from her bag.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22B3PtiEFY
Threw it onto his table.
Inside: photos. Screenshots. Patient files.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8eg8soNFR
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.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnbLyxrWPS
Evangeline tilted her head.
Then she whispered:
“And if she doesn’t…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30ZO5urLKu
I’ll make sure she’s too scared to stay.”
Silence.
Then Matteo stepped forward.
And for the first time…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrYipXCrTL
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—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YdTmplACa
I’ll bury every trace of you in the same fire I used to burn the man you turned me into.”
Evangeline smiled…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiulTQG9R5
but there was something wild in her eyes now.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRmgFIz27U
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
