CHAPTER FOURTEEN : The Threat Breaks In39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFY2lkgaMt
(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?39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSPWIcjZoX
How do you stop missing the hands that lied to you—39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeI9J4PCdEB
but never hurt you?
She slept restlessly that night.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQoNPf1cJA
Kept the lights on.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmzJbcfUsi
Kept her keys under her pillow.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡng4Jd9Oln6
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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYHD26gVvX
Hard.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKhc6C8gkV
Long.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoVAdhIB2M
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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJx8mtK7J9
Unlocked.
But she hadn’t moved.
She froze.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcAS9wCnN0C
Toothbrush still in hand.
Then footsteps.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwiU51L93L
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—39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RVeVCxuJh
Too late.
A man grabbed her from behind.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfyKie7Y1A
Pressed something cold against her temple.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TAEdknSDJ
Another tore her phone from her hand.
A woman stood in the corner.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡla0qQsHpLP
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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzvtngJM4S
Turned off the lights.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKw7y9XVOg
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—39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXM8sAXURdX
Distant. Familiar. Matteo’s voice.
Yelling.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOEwHT18aW
Desperate.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡew8pDzn1Op
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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHloIIKO6ci
Blood on his knuckles.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfXLHlazeo
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.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdKjE138Qy
Just fists. Just fury.
The second tried to run.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDgwrr7fG5
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—39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ail3QCZMD
Shaking. Bleeding. Alive.
“Matteo...”
He didn’t move.39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXInKiqIjRw
Didn’t speak.
Until her hand touched his.
Only then did he breathe again.
ns216.73.216.238da2
