CHAPTER THIRTEEN : Evangeline’s Last Visit16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzde4JFs3U
(Matteo’s POV)
He didn’t sleep.
He just sat there.
In the middle of the floor.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOIpJeMjTj
Back against the cold wall.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76C2vTZqT0
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApWYAepnhm
Then again.
Still no reply.
At 3:42 a.m., the buzzer rang.
One long, deliberate press.
He didn’t move at first.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJyJloTJGB
Didn’t need to—he already knew who it was.
Only one woman knocked like she owned him.
When he opened the door,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7SdNMkgN2
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?”16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Xc8x0ELaz
“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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVdlh69wJy
His voice dropped.
“You already took everything from me once.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSLXyvrrYe
You won’t take her.”
She stepped closer, her perfume thick with memory.
“You think love saves men like us?”16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmaVRgnxFW
Her smile twisted.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gm49Ypm62
“It doesn’t. It exposes us.”
She pulled a folder from her bag.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0Vu9P284k
Threw it onto his table.
Inside: photos. Screenshots. Patient files.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02sfQc2dFq
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.”16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPju3LGNm9I
Evangeline tilted her head.
Then she whispered:
“And if she doesn’t…16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevnCvgcSxu
I’ll make sure she’s too scared to stay.”
Silence.
Then Matteo stepped forward.
And for the first time…16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOe5mtnkGe3
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—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Zle6DWVon
I’ll bury every trace of you in the same fire I used to burn the man you turned me into.”
Evangeline smiled…16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcqYewAKuj
but there was something wild in her eyes now.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pR44WISTZ
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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