CHAPTER THIRTEEN : Evangeline’s Last Visit13Please respect copyright.PENANAW1kEvNgR8f
(Matteo’s POV)
He didn’t sleep.
He just sat there.
In the middle of the floor.13Please respect copyright.PENANATvVvkYjnuQ
Back against the cold wall.13Please respect copyright.PENANAVw4f5BeUDD
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.13Please respect copyright.PENANAkuHW8PX2si
Then again.
Still no reply.
At 3:42 a.m., the buzzer rang.
One long, deliberate press.
He didn’t move at first.13Please respect copyright.PENANAfkffB0bOsE
Didn’t need to—he already knew who it was.
Only one woman knocked like she owned him.
When he opened the door,13Please respect copyright.PENANAK2OYVhu6O6
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?”13Please respect copyright.PENANAhQPIiDoYq1
“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.13Please respect copyright.PENANA0jMZVpnY0m
His voice dropped.
“You already took everything from me once.13Please respect copyright.PENANAX6eqGDThUT
You won’t take her.”
She stepped closer, her perfume thick with memory.
“You think love saves men like us?”13Please respect copyright.PENANAIECKhfYjgo
Her smile twisted.13Please respect copyright.PENANAWwGtFd9Hqs
“It doesn’t. It exposes us.”
She pulled a folder from her bag.13Please respect copyright.PENANAfOA1xpLMKi
Threw it onto his table.
Inside: photos. Screenshots. Patient files.13Please respect copyright.PENANAncBwMnycSJ
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.”13Please respect copyright.PENANAVdCpqd8fXF
Evangeline tilted her head.
Then she whispered:
“And if she doesn’t…13Please respect copyright.PENANAKAlJXtpkPr
I’ll make sure she’s too scared to stay.”
Silence.
Then Matteo stepped forward.
And for the first time…13Please respect copyright.PENANALt6Aj8yeoH
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—13Please respect copyright.PENANA3jRtrAkZgV
I’ll bury every trace of you in the same fire I used to burn the man you turned me into.”
Evangeline smiled…13Please respect copyright.PENANATTZzA3yrWa
but there was something wild in her eyes now.13Please respect copyright.PENANA0ubWy8r0It
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.
ns216.73.216.12da2