CHAPTER THIRTEEN : Evangeline’s Last Visit35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPMlXrpjDr
(Matteo’s POV)
He didn’t sleep.
He just sat there.
In the middle of the floor.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1xd1UVyhI
Back against the cold wall.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGKNNvu2Ra
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.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywrImLSCT2
Then again.
Still no reply.
At 3:42 a.m., the buzzer rang.
One long, deliberate press.
He didn’t move at first.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOCFPzLibg
Didn’t need to—he already knew who it was.
Only one woman knocked like she owned him.
When he opened the door,35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOfSPUMCPr
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?”35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjQ64GImIU
“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.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZpTaRczOT
His voice dropped.
“You already took everything from me once.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdfzLkJdm4
You won’t take her.”
She stepped closer, her perfume thick with memory.
“You think love saves men like us?”35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDq0asLJlF
Her smile twisted.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6lmBt1pz0
“It doesn’t. It exposes us.”
She pulled a folder from her bag.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUyqT78Z6f
Threw it onto his table.
Inside: photos. Screenshots. Patient files.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KgwVhrrNE
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.”35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqY57RalU7
Evangeline tilted her head.
Then she whispered:
“And if she doesn’t…35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBaG1oyBVN
I’ll make sure she’s too scared to stay.”
Silence.
Then Matteo stepped forward.
And for the first time…35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1sDcMCV8L
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—35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6TWEyVsYo
I’ll bury every trace of you in the same fire I used to burn the man you turned me into.”
Evangeline smiled…35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCShxITJTML
but there was something wild in her eyes now.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzzZn36lRl
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.
ns216.73.216.238da2
