Blood and vows
209 Words
The safehouse didn’t last.
Three nights later, the De Luca estate was firebombed.
Matteo received the call with Elira asleep in his arms. He rose like a shadow, silent and still, and answered in the kitchen with a voice like ice.
When he returned, his face was pale beneath the stubble.
“They hit the compound,” he said, jaw rigid. “Three dead. My cousin among them.”
Elira sat up, the sheet slipping from her bare shoulders. “Who?”
“The Marchesis,” he said, eyes gleaming. “They want the ledger. They want you.”
“What are you going to do?”
Matteo sat at the edge of the bed, burying his face in his hands. For the first time, she saw the cracks in him—splinters beneath the steel.
“I have to end it,” he said. “Tonight.”
She reached for him, pressed her lips to his shoulder, then whispered, “Take me with you.”
“No.”
“I’m not leaving you, Matteo.”
His gaze burned into hers.
“If you come,” he said, “you won’t just see blood. You’ll be part of it.”
She cupped his face. “I already am.”
- Writer
