Chapter 25: Phone call
Her heart was in her month when she bumped into him. He had liis hands in his pockets, and his eyes to
ech for answers to questions that had yet to be answered.
“Shall we?” he wonllevntalhaskhet, stretching a hand saber. She kicked up at him to see a penileumde play armsa his face and reluctandy took his hand,
He led her back to the table and helped her to get rested. Grab a glass of wine and sipat 11, the fastest wine lingering on her lips as her mind chumed with unanswered questions. She hadn’t and to shear Matteo’s conversation, but new that she had, the words replayed in her mind like a riddle hegging to be sabed she couldn’t shake thechilthey’d
in their wake–business makes goes aww..no mitokes.
When a slid back into his seat, his expression was calea bun faintly distant, as though his mind was still half occupied by whatever he’d been discussing on the phone. She feveda wilk, hiding the tech of emotions beneath.
“ww.begining wonden where you’d gone,” she said lightly, hoping to mask the unease in her yoke
**I know.” He quickly replied belove reaching for his fork.
“Just some business matters,” he replied smoothly, his gaze steady on her. “I’t mean to keep you waiting”
The ease with which be dismissed in made her stomach best. She took a stancherah, keeping her tone cosul. “You seem to have alot of important business calls,” the observed, picking at the edge et bot napkin. “Vimagine that imst get…complicated.”
His jaw rightened just slightly, barely noticeable, but it was enough for hubelle to sense that her comment i guarded. “But it’s necessary. Some things in life aren’t as simple as we’d like them to be.”
She nodded, frigting understanding while her mind span with questions she dared not ask–at least not yet
struck a nerve. “Complicated, yes,” he said, his voice level but
The table between them seemed to grow heavier with every inspoken word, a barrier she wasn’t quemady togross. But the thought of what she’d overheard, the weight of his sectets, promed at her, and soon she found herself speaking before she could stop.
“ALatteo……….” she began, her voice softer than she intended. “I can’t help but feel like there’s more to youthan you let on.
He met het se, his expression unreadable, and for a moment, she thought shesa aflicker of something vulnerable beneath his guarded exterior. “I didn’t expect you to understand everything about me,” he said, his lone soft now. “Het Trould tell you more, I would ”
The words hung in the air, laced with an honesty that made her heartache. She wanted to be hum, to trust that what he was hiding, he was doing it out of some twisted sense of protection. But the shadows in his world seemed to stretch far beyond what she could see, and with every layer she peeled back, more questions rose to the surface
The it because of Aberto?” she wenbred carefully, testing the waters “Imean, he’s more than josta trainer or driver, in’t here
Matteo’s are dropped, and a look of pain crossed his face “alberto my any.” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. He took me in after my parents died. They were
alled when I was young, without him, I wouldn’t have survived. He saved me.”
The admission cut deeper than Isabelle had expected Shefchapang of empathy for the boy, who he been alone and vulnerable, taken under the wing of a man like Aberta, Tict as much as she wanted to reach out and comfort ham, the manory of his phone call echoed in her mind, reminding her of the darkness that still vormended him.
“Ta sony, Manes,” she said softly. “Teatingne what that must have been like for you.”
The pave a sight nod, his eyes distant. “Thank you,” he murmured, his vorebandy audible. “W’s not something luk aboutoften.”
They fell simit again, the weight of his past settling between them like a fragile glass barrier. Isabelle let herresolve wover, her doubts threatening to drown in the depths of his gour. She wanted to be love that he cared, that whatever shadows he carried were a burden the bone alone, not something that world touch her or anyone else.
But then she remembered the words she’d overhead, the faint edge in his voice when he’d spoken to whoever was on the other end of that call. No mistakes make sure it goes away. It wasn’t something a man with pure intentions would say. And as much as she wanted to dismiss it, the n fear that he was more deeply involved in dangerous dealings than he let on kept her anchored in reality.
“I wish you’d let me m,” she said finally, the faintest tremor in her voice. “I don’t likruverts, Mastro,”
For a moment, he seemed to hesitate as though he was weighing her words, deciding whether to trust her with the darker parts of himsel,ut then be sighed, pushing back his
chair as he stood.
“Maybe same things are better let in the dark,” he said, histone heavy with regret. “There are parts of my life you don’t need to see, Isabelle Parts I’d cather you never knew
Heffed her a brief, sad smile, and before she could protest, he turned and walked away, leaving her alone in the dim courtyard, the soft glow of the Interns casting flickering
Isabelle satin silence, the echo of his words swirling in her mind like smoke. The darkness he carried was hearder than she’d realized, and as much as she wanted to believe i him, she couldn’t ignore the warning signs any longer.
Before long, dinner was over, and he walked her down the path villa. “You know, I still can’t believe you gave me a whole house to myself,” she said, casing them both to chudde
“the idea was to make sure you are comfortable,” he said with ashrapicometrom a crowded apartment with my roommate and her boyfriend in the middle of NewYork City,” she said, looking at him.
“Having a whole house to diguelf… is uncomfortable,” she remarked v
“Oh dear,” he laughed at what she had vid
“knew I should have gotten an Island instead. He criorted, mapping his finger and feening regnet, causing them both to laugh
“Pleach you tomorrow, alright?” he said, met with asdentnod from her.
“goodnicht,” she waved before slowly making her way into the house, ushered in by his watchfil gaze
Sheared inside her room and reflected on rything that had happened that night.
Her frost thoughts were on the now increased possibility that he was actually a monster and the mind behind the pain of count women and children, but on the other hand, d there were the good things and the subtle signs that he should never do that
She was conficted about to trust and who to believe. Wolle Door Maleo?
She felt the need to investigate even more now, but how would she go about At that moment, her eyes widened as she combed someone.
