CHAPTER FOURTEEN : The Threat Breaks In24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBPRUiKbVn
(Her POV)
She hadn't answered his last message.
Not because she didn’t want to.
But because she didn’t know how.
How do you love someone whose truth scares you?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iOdQmWg8u
How do you stop missing the hands that lied to you—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jegjJfQuD
but never hurt you?
She slept restlessly that night.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqxMWx3meW
Kept the lights on.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NEGvS3VhQ
Kept her keys under her pillow.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpz5FLJZvy
Kept the journal under her bed.
Matteo's voice echoed in her head.
"That if you knew everything... you'd never kiss me again."
She would’ve kissed him anyway.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgK8IXBvrQw
Hard.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkNCtU7oU0
Long.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WDKKwd6pb
Until he believed he was worth loving.
But she needed time.
Just a little more time.
She was brushing her teeth when it happened.
A sound.
A sharp, metallic snap.
The door.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjtS1UFWiQ
Unlocked.
But she hadn’t moved.
She froze.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLdgmpvtwd
Toothbrush still in hand.
Then footsteps.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcIZTysbKd
Slow. Confident. Male.
“Matteo?” she called, heart hammering.
No answer.
Then a voice—feminine, smooth, cold:
“He won’t come for you this time.”
She dropped the toothbrush.
Ran to the drawer—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvn52BsQxcA
Too late.
A man grabbed her from behind.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAYfWxCOw1
Pressed something cold against her temple.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzvlz0SSOX
Another tore her phone from her hand.
A woman stood in the corner.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4z5suKWV6D
Long hair. All black. Red lipstick like blood.
Evangeline.
“You should’ve left him when you had the chance,” she said.
Her knees buckled.
But they didn’t give her the chance to fall.
They didn’t tie her up.
They didn’t need to.
Fear was enough.
They made her sit.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaTnuJ5Eji
Turned off the lights.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLKpTXWk6a
Just the hallway bulb flickering above.
Evangeline circled her like a slow-moving curse.
“He burned everything,” she said. “His past. Our files. Our work.”
“But he forgot the one thing he should’ve burned...”
You.
She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming.
Because she knew if she screamed, she wouldn’t stop.
“I don’t want him,” Evangeline said simply.
“But I won’t let him be happy either.”
She heard a sound then—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ThZtBwHYP
Distant. Familiar. Matteo’s voice.
Yelling.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVnrxDcIn1
Desperate.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdugpbJsOpl
Coming closer.
“LET HER GO!”
A gun cocked beside her head.
Evangeline didn’t even flinch.
But her captor did—looked toward the window.
Too late.
Glass shattered.
Matteo burst through.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcPfsYPI3b
Blood on his knuckles.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazVbSbDc1N
A look in his eyes she’d never seen before.
A man no longer asking to be saved.
A man choosing to save.
He took down the first guy without a word.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JZE426JRe
Just fists. Just fury.
The second tried to run.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWW6UU93Z6o
Didn’t make it past the stairs.
Evangeline?
She stayed.
Smiling.
Clapping slow.
“Bravo, Matteo.”
He pointed the gun—her gun—right at her.
“You’re done.”
She only tilted her head.
“So are you.”
Police sirens in the distance.
She looked at him—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWNBUduI8V
Shaking. Bleeding. Alive.
“Matteo...”
He didn’t move.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSrOr6i37s
Didn’t speak.
Until her hand touched his.
Only then did he breathe again.
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