Sins We Don't Confess
948 Words
The motel room smelled of old cigarettes and bleach. The wallpaper peeled in the corners, and the heater groaned every few minutes, barely pushing out warmth. But Lena didn’t complain. She’d learned that comfort was a luxury long gone.
Matteo paced by the window, one hand brushing back his hair, the other holding a pistol loosely at his side. The tension in his body was electric—silent thunder waiting to break.
“We can’t keep running like this,” Lena said from the bed, her voice low.
He didn’t turn. “Then we stop.”
She looked up. “What do you mean?”
“We stop running. We stop hiding. We start hitting back.”
His words hit like a match. Lena sat up straighter. “You mean go to war?”
“We’re already at war,” Matteo said, finally turning to face her. “Only now, we fight on our terms.”
Her chest tightened. “You said you wanted out.”
“I do. But there’s no peace if we don’t burn it all down first.”
---
The next day, they went underground—figuratively and literally.
Matteo brought her to a forgotten subway tunnel under the city, blocked off decades ago. Now it was a haven for mercenaries, rogues, and ghosts of the underworld. Matteo was greeted with cautious nods and sharp eyes.
Lena stayed close to him. These weren’t friends. They were weapons with legs.
In the back corner of the tunnel bar, a woman with tattoos covering her arms and a cigarette hanging from her lips looked up.
“Well, well,” she purred. “Didn’t think I’d see you again.”
“Hello, Aria,” Matteo said.
Aria stood, circling him like a lioness. “Word is you’ve gone soft. Running around with a Moretti princess.”
Lena tensed.
Matteo stepped between them. “I need your help.”
Aria raised a brow. “And what makes you think I’d lift a finger for you?”
“Because I saved your brother.”
Her smirk faded.
He dropped a flash drive on the table. “Bank accounts. Names. Everyone dirty in both families.”
Aria picked it up. Her eyes widened slightly. “This is real?”
“Yes. And I’ll trade you the rest—for backup.”
Aria glanced at Lena, then back at Matteo. “You really trust her?”
“I love her.”
Lena blinked.
He hadn’t said it like that before.
Aria’s gaze softened. “Alright. But if she betrays you, I’ll kill her myself.”
Lena smiled coldly. “Get in line.”
---
That night, in a hidden flat above the tunnel, Matteo and Lena stood on opposite sides of a makeshift war room.
Maps. Strings. Photos.
Lena stared at an old picture of her father. Younger. Handsome. Before the rot set in.
“He used to read me bedtime stories,” she whispered. “I believed every lie he ever told.”
Matteo stepped behind her. “He lied to both of us.”
She turned. “What did he do to you?”
“He ordered my mother’s death. She begged for her life. He said loyalty meant sacrifice. Then made me watch.”
Lena reached for his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
His eyes shone with something she’d never seen in him before—grief.
“I never told anyone,” he said. “Not even Alessandro.”
“You just did,” she said.
And then they kissed. This one wasn’t wild or desperate. It was slow. Sacred. The kind of kiss that said, You’re the only thing keeping me human.
---
The plan unfolded quickly.
Aria provided weapons, disguises, routes out of the city.
Matteo and Lena would infiltrate a Ricci compound that also served as a money laundering hub. Shut it down. Send a message.
But when they arrived, someone was waiting.
Luca.
Lena’s ex.
Dressed in black, a bulletproof vest under his jacket, gun slung lazily over his shoulder.
“Missed me?” he said with a grin.
Lena’s blood ran cold. “What are you doing here?”
Matteo stepped forward. “You know him?”
“Unfortunately.”
Luca’s smile widened. “You didn’t tell him about us? How we used to play house before you ran off to become a princess?”
Lena pulled out her gun. “Back off, Luca.”
He raised his hands. “Relax. Aria sent me. I’m the inside man.”
Matteo didn’t look convinced.
“Look,” Luca said. “I want revenge too. Your father burned me just like he burned everyone else. I’m not loyal. I’m pissed.”
Matteo and Lena exchanged glances. They didn’t trust him. But they didn’t have a choice.
---
The operation was fast and brutal.
Matteo took the east wing. Lena and Luca hit the main vault.
They cleared guards, planted explosives, and downloaded files from a secure terminal.
Then it happened.
Lena turned her back for a second. Luca aimed his gun.
“Sorry, babe,” he said. “Can’t let you leave alive.”
She didn’t hesitate.
Bang.
One shot to the throat.
Luca gurgled. Collapsed.
Matteo ran in seconds later. Saw the body.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Next time, I pull the trigger first.”
They finished planting charges and ran.
As they dove behind a cement wall, the compound exploded behind them—fire and smoke lighting up the sky.
They didn’t speak on the drive back.
But in the silence, something shifted.
No more running.
No more pretending.
They were in this together. All the way.
- Writer
