{Nico’s POV}
Her footsteps echoing down the hallway were the last thing I heard before silence swallowed the estate. She ran. Not because she was weak, but because I’d finally become the monster she always feared I was.
I stood there, hands clenched into fists at my sides, watching the door disappear. Matteo said something, orders to the guards, maybe. I didn’t hear him.
All I heard was Marco’s voice playing in my head like a curse. “Tell her the truth, Nico. Tell her how you were part of the system that broke her.” The truth. The damn truth.
I sank into the nearest chair, elbows on my knees, hands pressed to my face. For a second, I just breathed. In and out. Like that would be enough to stop the war inside my chest.
But the thing about the truth? It never stays buried.
And this o
