“I don’t have a choice.”
The words hung between us, charged with unspoken tension.
Matteo was a master at hiding his emotions, but even I could see the cracks in his calm facade, the tiny shifts that betrayed more than he wanted me to know.
“Isabella is gone, Valentina. She left. She’s not coming back.”
The more he tried to control the conversation, the more certain I became that there was something deeper simmering beneath his words.
What had happened between those two?
No matter how much he tried to deny it. Claim he moved on by getting married to me, I could tell he wasn’t being completely honest.
Not with himself.
He loved her.
Why did the one truth I knew made my chest tighten?
“I don’t believe you,” I said quietly, my voice firm as I watched his face for a glimpse of his reaction.
Matteo’s eyes flashed, the barest flicker of irritation crossing his features before he masked it again. If I wasn’t looking, I would have missed it.
He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest as he considered me. “Believe what you want, Valentina. But Isabella’s gone, she ran away, and there’s nothing either of us can do about it.”
I refused to back down. “Luca said….”
“Luca?” Matteo interrupted immediately, his tone sharp and his expression cold. His posture stiffened immediately at the mention of his half-brother’s name, and I saw the walls going up again. “What did Luca say to you? How did you meet Luca?”
I shouldn’t have said that.
I hadn’t planned to bring Luca into this conversation, but even with Matteo looking at me like he wanted my destruction there and then, I knew I wouldn’t give him any information.
“He was friends with her, and he said she would never run away.”
Matteo’s expression darkened even more. He clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing as they met mine. “I never knew about this ‘friendship,'” He said coldly, emphasis made on the word friendship. “But Luca knows how to stir trouble when there isn’t any.”
Frustration bubbled down the pit of my stomach. “Then why not tell me the truth, Matteo? Why do you insist on not helping me find Isabella? She was supposed to be your wife, for God’s sake. Don’t I deserve a chance to find my sister?”
Matteo’s gaze softened ever so slightly, his hand hovered over mine.
For a moment, I thought he might actually give me a real answer. But just as quickly, he shook his head, his lips pressing into a thin line. “There are some things that should remain buried.”
My heart sank at his words. This wasn’t the first time he had pushed me away, acting as if I were nothing more than an outsider in his world.
He had refused to show up when I signed the papers that officially made me his wife.
He had refused any wedding ceremony.
He had given me a list of rules and a time to get ready for him and had never shown.
He had given me my first orgasm and disappeared after.
And it hurt more than I cared to admit. But I wasn’t going to let it show. Not tonight.
“Fine,” I said, pushing my chair back and rising to my feet. “If you don’t want to be honest with me, then I guess there’s nothing more to say.”
I started to walk away, but Matteo’s voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Valentina.”
It wasn’t a command. There was something in his tone, so raw and unguarded that made me turn around.
He was standing now, his expression no longer cold and calculating. There was a certain vulnerability in his eyes that I had never seen before.
“Please,” He said, his voice low. “Don’t walk away.”
Don’t leave me.
I shouldn’t. Matteo was not mine to love. But I couldn’t stop my legs as I walked back to the table, my heart pounding frantically in my chest as I faced him.
Matteo took a deep breath, his gaze locking onto mine as if he were trying to will me to understand. “I’ve made mistakes,” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. “I never wanted things to be like this between us. I thought I could control everything, that I could keep you safe by keeping you at a distance. But I was wrong.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Hard. This was a side of Matteo I had never seen before, and it left me feeling unsteady, like the ground beneath my feet was shifting.
“What are you saying?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly.
Matteo stepped closer, closing the distance between us until he was standing right in front of me. His hand reached out, brushing lightly against my cheek once more. This time, I didn’t flinch.
“I want to try to make this marriage work. For real.”
I stared up at him, my mind racing. This was what I had wanted, wasn’t it? For Matteo to let me in, to stop treating me like a pawn in whatever game he was playing? But now that he was offering it, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I could trust him.
And there was still Isabella. She would marry Matteo once I got her back. Just like it had been planned.
“I don’t know if I can trust you,” I admitted, my voice barely audible. The words tasted bitter in my tongue.
Matteo’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t pull away. His gaze was steady, and for the first time unguarded. “I know,” he said quietly. “And I don’t blame you. But I’m asking for a chance to prove that I can be better. That we can be better.”
The sincerity in his voice was undeniable, and despite everything that had happened, I found myself wanting to believe him. But I wasn’t ready to give him everything. Not yet.
“We can give this marriage a chance…” I started slowly, thinking about what I needed. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget about Isabella. I still want to find her.”
Matteo’s eyes darkened, and for a moment, I thought he might argue. Instead, he simply nodded. “We’ll find her,” he promised, his voice steady. “Together.”
It wasn’t the full answer I wanted, but it was something. A small step forward in a sea of uncertainty. And for now, that would have to be enough.
As we left the restaurant and drove back to the estate, I couldn’t shake the feeling that tonight had been a turning point. But whether it was for better or worse, I still couldn’t say.
All I knew was that things between Matteo and me were changing. And once the truth about Isabella finally came to light, there would be no going back.
Everything that had happened tonight made me forget the one thing I wanted to ask Matteo.
Who were those masked men that patrolled the estate?
Why were they there?