CHAPTER FOURTEEN : The Threat Breaks In14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡse8wfPZM8p
(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?14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRrB5nKdyT
How do you stop missing the hands that lied to you—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnNCiUOLWj
but never hurt you?
She slept restlessly that night.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JGp4eff7r
Kept the lights on.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwMxfmSb8R
Kept her keys under her pillow.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkXQfSC5Hw
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2aKeVrQXf
Hard.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbP4eatAUfl
Long.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mhMlmiNxw
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBeYQOO7Di
Unlocked.
But she hadn’t moved.
She froze.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtlHAaezfnI
Toothbrush still in hand.
Then footsteps.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFqrXYFRct
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—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6M5MgiAaW
Too late.
A man grabbed her from behind.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZeH2IxoqC
Pressed something cold against her temple.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1O28TrjCh
Another tore her phone from her hand.
A woman stood in the corner.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNrYeQJltM
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJHBrv8nuY
Turned off the lights.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLG2BWNkzP
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—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGTQcZbHvm
Distant. Familiar. Matteo’s voice.
Yelling.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYIxLtTWxY
Desperate.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7z5p9GsI5
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNCBcMmmOM
Blood on his knuckles.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5UzDR31CM
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGgB5jBuHe9
Just fists. Just fury.
The second tried to run.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjrb5gXvoB
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—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSENQz1fdub
Shaking. Bleeding. Alive.
“Matteo...”
He didn’t move.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXISXoMo9R4
Didn’t speak.
Until her hand touched his.
Only then did he breathe again.
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