CHAPTER THIRTEEN : Evangeline’s Last Visit14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFf320oIPoP
(Matteo’s POV)
He didn’t sleep.
He just sat there.
In the middle of the floor.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PstlXMlih
Back against the cold wall.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlUe59Gj4p
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldo8NxNhwn
Then again.
Still no reply.
At 3:42 a.m., the buzzer rang.
One long, deliberate press.
He didn’t move at first.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCskSitFVU
Didn’t need to—he already knew who it was.
Only one woman knocked like she owned him.
When he opened the door,14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFAgHthN99
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?”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRChrwrnab
“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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ936rN936qY
His voice dropped.
“You already took everything from me once.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlwlXQNgOu
You won’t take her.”
She stepped closer, her perfume thick with memory.
“You think love saves men like us?”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5eN8TmW0j
Her smile twisted.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAQntHfA4E
“It doesn’t. It exposes us.”
She pulled a folder from her bag.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhI8KIjDqfq
Threw it onto his table.
Inside: photos. Screenshots. Patient files.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9EsdtWCIb
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.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64OGjXKHuj
Evangeline tilted her head.
Then she whispered:
“And if she doesn’t…14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmyAyO1uiae
I’ll make sure she’s too scared to stay.”
Silence.
Then Matteo stepped forward.
And for the first time…14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjY26giPbj
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—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjjNVCAy4i
I’ll bury every trace of you in the same fire I used to burn the man you turned me into.”
Evangeline smiled…14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqb5cO6Fqds
but there was something wild in her eyes now.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd02xcKyBC0
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.
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