Chapter 4 - Matteo Admitted He Had Fallen for the Maid
We returned to the mansion before dawn.
Emily slept in my room.
Matteo refused to leave the hallway.
I found him sitting in a chair.
“You don't need to guard me.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
He looked at me.
“Because I don't want to be somewhere else.”
I sat beside him.
“Why?”
He was silent.
Then:
“Because I fell in love with you.”
The words hit me without warning.
“Matteo.”
“I know.”
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough.”
“You're engaged.”
“Not anymore.”
I frowned.
“What?”
He took out his phone.
A message from Alisandre.
You will regret humiliating me.
Matteo deleted it.
“The engagement is over.”
“You can't simply—”
“I can.”
“What about the war between your families?”
“There is no peace in a marriage built on a lie.”
I looked away.
“I don't want to be someone's replacement.”
“You aren't.”
“You don't know what you want.”
He moved closer.
“I know exactly what I want.”
He stopped before touching me.
“You.”
I looked at his hand.
Then at his face.
He whispered:
“But I won't force you.”
That mattered.
Because Alisandre had spent the entire evening treating me like property.
Matteo was offering choice.
I didn't kiss him.
Not yet.
But I didn't walk away.
Meanwhile, Luca found another file.
This one connected Enzo Duca to Project Nightfall.
Matteo's uncle had been secretly controlling the operation.
But Gabriel Vitali was his partner.
The family feud had been manufactured.
For twenty years, the Ducas and Vitalis had blamed each other for deaths they had jointly ordered.
The engagement had been designed to merge the two families under their control.
Matteo was never supposed to survive.
And Alisandre had been assigned to marry him.
Then Eva discovered the truth.
That was why she died.
The final piece involved Matteo's mother.
She had been investigating the same network.
Her death had been called an accident.
It wasn't.
I asked Matteo.
“Does your mother have any surviving records?”
“She kept one diary.”
“Where?”
“Her grave.”
We went at sunrise.
The cemetery was covered in frost.
Matteo knelt beside the grave.
He looked younger.
Not weak.
Just human.
“I haven't visited in years.”
“Why?”
“Because I blamed myself.”
“For what?”
“For surviving.”
I sat beside him.
“You didn't choose the explosion.”
“My father did.”
I reached for his hand.
He looked at me.
I held it.
He squeezed gently.
Then we found the diary hidden beneath a stone.
Inside was the truth.
Matteo's mother had discovered Enzo and Gabriel.
She had also discovered Alisandre's mother was involved.
But there was one more name.
A judge.
Thomas Devereaux.
He had protected the network.
His son was now the city's attorney general.
Political power.
Money.
Crime.
Everything was connected.
The final page of the diary contained a message:
The person Matteo trusts most will betray him.
We looked at each other.
“Who do you trust most?” I asked.
He hesitated.
“Luca.”
“Does he know?”
“He knows everything.”
I stared.
“Then we need to talk to him.”
We returned.
Luca was waiting.
He looked pale.
“I know what you found.”
Matteo stared.
“Explain.”
“I was ordered to protect you.”
“By whom?”
“Your mother.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew Enzo wanted the throne.”
Matteo's expression changed.
“What throne?”
“The Duca empire.”
“And you worked for her.”
“Yes.”
“And after she died?”
“I worked for you.”
Matteo lowered his weapon.
“I don't know what to believe.”
Luca looked at me.
“Believe her.”
He pointed toward the diary.
“She is the one thing they didn't account for.”
Then he looked at Matteo.
“Because they expected a servant to stay invisible.”
May you like
He smiled sadly.
“They forgot servants hear everything.”
Related Stories
