Matteo
“I wondered when you would crack,” Ehan uttered, his sharp eyes trained on me as he swirled the scotch in his glass. “Those men are bastards. Plus Valerie and I had a bet which she lost now.”
I clenched my jaw, a familiar tension building in my chest.
The Greens, as Ethan and I named them, were rival mafia gang who had always played their hands too close. They were too smug. They thought they could get away with anything.
They did. For a while.
What had once seemed like a friendly rivalry between us had turned sour, twisted into something dangerous and dark.
Now, they had no issues crossing boundaries. Coming for me when I was done with a business trip and having a private time.
“They pushed too far, Ethan. I shouldn’t have killed that particular one so soon.” My voice was low, anger simmering beneath the surface.
Ethan leaned against the chair, his sharp features etched with concern. He knee better than anyone, the weight I carried on my shoulders when I did something I didn’t want to do.
Killing a man was one thing I never wanted to do.
It reminded me too much of my father.
“When they came after you in DC….” Ethan started, but I raised a hand, silencing him.
I didn’t want to think about that day.
What the man had said. What had happened that particular day.
I could only think of finding my way back to the one that mattered the most. Her.
Valentina.
I couldn’t even tell her the truth about what happened when she found me.
“I know what they did,” I muttered, leaning backwards. “But I don’t really care about them. Something else came up.”
Ethan’s gaze darkened. “What do you mean?”
I exhaled heavily, running a hand through my hair. “Doubts. I’m starting to have doubts about the whole Isabella disappearance. Everything I thought happened….”
For a moment, there was only silence between us. So potent we could hear a pin drop.
Ethan watched me carefully, his brows knitting together as he tried to think of the best way to approach me.
“From the few interactions I watched, Isabella loved you,” He started. “You really think someone made her leave?”
Isabella did not love me.
That was a lie most people thought when they saw us together.
Isabella did not love me. And I did not love her.
We tolerated each other, which was why it was so easy to assume she had simply left and wasn’t kidnapped like her sister seemed to think.
She wouldn’t just leave when we had an obligation to each other.
“Isabella was one of the smartest people I know. She would find a way to disappear and make everyone think she was kidnapped.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “So do you think she was forced.”
“Maybe not physically,” I replied, staring down at my hands. “But someone or something pushed her to leave.”
Ethan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. A nervous tick. “Matteo, it’s been months. If Isabella actually left and didn’t want to come back, she won’t. You’ve got Valentina now…”
“I had to take Valentina!!” I snapped, louder than I intended. The words came out more vulnerable, more raw than I’d anticipated. “I didn’t choose this. I didn’t want to take her dreams from her.” My chest tightened, the familiar wave of guilt and frustration crashing over me.
That wasn’t the truth.
Deep down, I knew Valentina had been mine long before Dad betrothed her sister to me.
“I didn’t choose her,” I repeated the lie, this time with a softer tone. “But I made a mistake…” One I couldn’t correct now that my fingers have touched her most sensitive parts.
Now that every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was those uneven eyes as she came.
“So what’s the next move?”
I stood up from my chair, my mind made up before Ethan came that morning. “I need to visit Luca.”
“Your half-brother? Outside scheduled times?”
I nodded, my fingers wrapped around my dark coat. “He approached Valentina and told her something. I bloodly well know it was about Isabella.”
“And if he denies?”
“Then I’ll deal with the consequences that followed my decision. Whatever they may be.”
Ethan didn’t argue. He didn’t say anything as I left the office.
****
The estate was as imposing as it had been when I walked away from it years back.
A prison more than a home, especially after dad brought Rachel, my stepmother, and my halfsiblings, not even a month after she died.
He claimed he did it for me, but I saw right through the old bastard.
I walker through the grand entrance, the cold marble floors echoing under my footsteps.
This particular Nevarro Estate had been my home for twenty years of my life. I knew every nook and cranny like the back of my arm.
And I hated the memories that seemed to clung to me as I walked through its halls.
As I made my way toward Luca’s wing of the house, I was stopped by a voice that made my stomach churn.
“Matteo.”
The woman I had steered Valentina away from at my party stood at the bottom of the grand staircase, her sharp eyes watching me like a hawk.
She was dressed in her usual designer attire, her dark hair pulled back in an elegant twist, and that ever-present air of superiority radiated off her like the flowery fragrance she loved to wear.
“You visited today. What are you doing here?” She asked, her voice smooth but laced with a darker undertone.
Meaning; I didn’t invite you here.
“I’m here to see Luca,” I replied with a shrug, keeping my tone even. “I have some questions for him.”
Rachel’s lips curved into a small smile. “Questions? About what, exactly? Why does the golden child need my son?”
“Nothing special. Just wanted to know what he told my wife, and why exactly he talked to her.” I said bluntly.
Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second before she regained her composure. “Isn’t that a question you should ask your wife, Matteo? There’s no need to disturb my son.”
“I can’t do that.” I shot back.
Rachel’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she stepped closer, her heels clicking against the marble floor. “Valentina….” She said the name like it left a bitter taste in her mouth. “Interesting that you brought her up.”
“What are you getting at?”
Rachel’s smile returbed, but it was colder this time. “That name doesn’t ring a bell. We weren’t invited for the wedding. There was no wedding. I could have sworn your father told me the name of your betrothed started with an I…”
I stiffened, my mind reeling from the sublety of her blackmail. “What are you talking about, Rachel?”
She circled me like a predator, her gaze never leaving the one she considered prey. “Oh, Matteo, don’t tell me you thought we wouldn’t notice. Perhaps I should take this little information to someone important.”
“Dad must have gotten confused.”
Rachel stopped in front of me, her smile widening. “That’s just dumb now. For someone like you. I think I have a picture around of our dear Isabella.”
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding in my chest. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Doesn’t it?” She purred, her voice dripping with amusement. “Or perhaps, Matteo, you’ve been so consumed in thinking you can run everything without consulting the other members of the Nevarro family…”
My hands balled into fists at my sides, a mixture of anger and vengeance surging through me. “You think you’re a member of the Nevarro family now? The whore my father had an affair with.”
She tilted her head, her eyes gleaming with twisted delight. “You shouldn’t tempt this whore again by barging into a home you ledt five years ago. Luca and Sophia are the only reasons i haven’t told everyone about the game you played.”
Before I could respond, she turned on her heels and walked away, leaving me standing there knowing I couldn’t go after her.
What game were they playing?