Chapter Nineteen

Matteo.

Isabella’s footsteps echoed in my mind even after the door slammed behind her. I sat still for a moment, staring at the door she had just walked out of. My fists clenched. I told myself to stop thinking about her. She’s nothing. Just a woman. Just...

Shit! My emotions has been all over the place since that night, I can't get her out of my head, I can't get the image of her falling down out of my fucking head.

I shook my head. I needed to clear my thoughts. Violence always helped.

I grabbed my phone and called Rocco. “Meet me in the underground. Bring Alexander.”

I walked down to the basement dungeon. The cold air hit me as I opened the steel door. The room smelled of blood, sweat, and fear. Three of Rossi’s men were chained to the wall. Their eyes widened when they saw me.

Good.

Rocco and Alexander arrived a few minutes later, both quiet, both tense. They knew what this room meant.

Not looking at them. My eyes were on the men. “Start with the one on the left.”

The man was already bruised. His lip was split, his eye swollen. I grabbed a knife from the table, the silver one with the jagged edge.

I'll ask you few questions, and I want answers.” I asked calmly.

He spat at me.

I smiled and drove the knife into his thigh. He screamed.

“Don’t be shy,” I said, twisting the blade.

He gritted his teeth and said nothing.

I pulled the knife out and pressed it against his cheek. “Where's Rossi's main warehouse located at?"

“Go to hell,” he hissed.

Wrong answer.

I spent the next hour moving from one man to the other, asking the same questions. here's his main unit? What did he want with the boy? What is he doing with those traffickers?

They stayed silent—for a while.

But pain breaks everyone.

The second man cracked first. “Rossi needed the boy for business, heard the boy was good with technology” he gasped, coughing up blood.

"Rossi walks with the traffickers for slaves, going boys and girls to turn to his puppets."

Pathetic Motherfucker, needs puppets to survive.

"He asked us to kill the lady and take the boy."

I slammed my fist into his face.

“thats the biggest mistake you made, daring to touch my wife.” I growled.

I heard a sharp breath from Rocco. Alexander looked at me like I’d just said something crazy.

I didn’t care.

“Did Rossi send the order to shoot her?” I asked.

“Yes,” the man coughed. "information for to him that you have something with her, he... He said if she dies you would break.”

He was right. I did break. But not the way Rossi hoped.

The third man started talking after that. Gave me names. Locations. Inside details about Rossi’s businesses, his security, even one of his secret homes.

It was enough.

I stood up, wiping the blood off my hands with a towel. My heart was still pounding, but slower now.

“Wrap it up,” I said.

Rocco stepped forward. “Boss—what are we doing with them?”

I walked over to the first man, who had said nothing the whole time. I looked him in the eyes.

Then I cut off his head.

Blood sprayed everywhere. Rocco flinched. Alexander turned pale.

I moved to the second man. “This is what happens when you shoot my wife,” I said before I cut his throat open.

The last man begged. “Please. I told you everything.”

I nodded. “And I’m grateful.”

Then I killed him too.

I looked at the mess and felt nothing. Just cold.

“Put the heads in a box,” I said. “Make it look nice. A gift for Rossi.”

Rocco was still staring at me. “You called her your wife.”

I turned to him. “Because she is.”

Neither of them spoke. They didn’t know what to say.

They didn’t know what she meant to me.

Flashback

The night it happened, I was fire. I was rage.

The second I saw her fall, blood pouring from her side, something in me snapped. I didn’t wait. I didn’t think.

After killing the men who was sent to assassinate me and take Hugo,and making sure Isabella and Hugo were safe and out of sight I drove straight to the warehouse Rossi used on the edge of the city.

I shot the guards at the gate without slowing down.

Inside, I moved like a ghost. Silent. Deadly. Men screamed, ran, tried to shoot back.

They didn’t stand a chance.

I set the warehouse on fire, flames climbing fast. The smell of smoke mixed with gunpowder and death.

I dragged out the last five men who were still breathing and loaded them into my car. They were going to be my message.

A message in blood.

Flashback ends

Back in the dungeon, Rocco was taping the boxes shut. “What do you want me to write on the tag?”

I thought for a second.

“To Rossi,” I said. “For touching what’s mine.”

Alexander looked at me. “You think he’ll come after us?”

I nodded. “I hope he does.”

Because this wasn’t over.

Not until I burned every piece of him down.

Let me know if you’d like a follow-up chapter or a different version.