Losing Love

57

Hope's POV:

"Don't worry, Matteo will get the ending he deserves, I promise", Dominic angrily speaks in a low voice, his hands grip around the top part of my arms as he stares directly into my eyes with determination.

"I want to see him" I speak. Dominic's eyebrows connect as he gives me an odd expression, "are you sure?" He asks me slowly. I nod my head, "I just need closure" I push. He seems to think hard for a few minutes before eventually looking back up at me, he nods continuously as he speaks, "you can see him tomorrow, but only if you rest tonight", he has a stern and commanding tone that lingers in his voice, yet it's still sweet and soft.

I think about it for a moment before turning back to Dominic's face, "can you stay with me?" I ask him quietly, holding a pleading look, even though I know he can't see my expression through the darkness of the room. He doesn't verbally respond, but I feel his presence leave from in front of me and seconds later the empty side of the bed dips down under his weight.

He pulls the blanket up and over both of us, I scoot down and lay flat on the bed. I feel a heavy arm rest against my waist before I'm being pulled into Dominic's chest while I giggle. I breathe in his scent as I feel my eyes getting heavier and heavier. Until I'm finally asleep.

That night was the best sleep I had gotten in weeks, I believe it had a lot to do with Dominic being there. The nightmare that I had been continuously having every-night didn't return, instead I dreamt of a beach. It was a beautiful empty beach, just around sunset so the sky was different shades of pink and orange. Dominic and I walked along the border where the sea meets the sand, my hand in his and his hand in mine. It was peaceful, it felt right.

We are now in the car on our way to the warehouse where Matteo is being kept, I do truly believe that I'm ready. And I do believe that the only thing holding me back from living my life to it's full potential is not having the closure that I need and deserve. I feel like once I finish speaking to Matteo, I'll be able to fully move on.

The silent car comes to a stop, I reach my arm out and wrap my fingers around the door handle before Dominic's touch on my arm stops me. I turn to face him, "are you sure about this?" He questions me. "Yes" I answer in confidence, hoping he doesn't change his mind. Instead, he hesitates before nodding and turning around to open the door.

Dominic leads me through the dark hallways with my hand wrapped around his large ones, our fingers intertwined. He opens a steel door at the end of the hallway and pushes it open, "good luck" he softly says as I walk past him and into the dark room.

Dominic closes the door behind him as he enters, in front of me is Matteo. He's tied down to a steel chair, just as I was, bruises and cuts cover every square inch of his body as the ground beneath him pools with his own blood. His shirt that was a crisp white at some point is now ripped and stained red and brown.

Matteo weakly lifts his head, he eyes me as an ugly smirk spreads across his painful looking face. "Back for some more?" He questions me in a low, croaky voice.

"As if" I snarl at him, he tilts his head weakly as I watch it fall back slightly, exposing his Adam's apple under his growing beard. He chuckles evilly, "you know you enjoyed it baby". My heart bangs against my chest, I take deep breathes in and out to try to keep myself calm.

"You know I made you happier in those five minutes than he ever will" he bites back, eyeing Dominic. At this point my blood is boiling, "shut up" I growl. His smirk turns to a full smile.

"You know you liked it because you spread your legs like butter", "shut up" I growl again, this time louder than the last. Dominic rest his hand gently on my waist as he steps closer to me.

"Just like you would for anyone, you fucking slut" Matteo begins to raise his harshly toned voice, "shut up" I state again. My heavy breathing that I had tried so hard to keep consistent suddenly shifts to irregular, short paces. Dominic must've noticed as he leans his head closer to my ear, "stay calm" he whispers slowly and clearly.

I close my eyes and attempt to bring my breathing back to normal, "you should be glad I even touched you" Matteo snarks out. My blood boils as I clench and unclench my fist, my nails painfully digging into my skin as I fight with my body to keep my breathing right. Dominic squeezes my waist gently as a reminder.

"You would've been a terrible whore of a mother" he spits out, "control" Dominic quickly whispers into my ear once again before Matteo could challenge me again.

"You should be thanking me for killing that scum, death was the best gift I could've given him", my mind loses all control over my body as it turns around. My hand slides in between Dominic's jacket and his shirt and I grab his cold, heavy gun from the waistband of his trousers. I turn back to Matteo, aim, and shoot.

My anger isn't fulfilled yet as I shoot him once more. And again. And again. I ignore Dominic's screams and warning for me to stop as I continue shooting Matteo's limp body. I shoot until nothing comes out of the barrel when I pull the trigger.

"I think you got him" Dominic finally states sarcastically once the room is silent. My gaze falls from Matteo's bloody, still body to the gun in my hand. Back to Matteo's body and back to the gun. My hand opens wide as the gun falls to the ground with a loud clatter as it hits the cold, hard floor. My gaze moves up and finally lands on Dominic who is already making his way over to me with a worried expression on his face.

My gaze falls back to Matteo, his body filled with gunshot wounds caused by me. The wall behind has small dents from the missed bullets. A hand wraps under my chin as my head is tilted up to look Dominic in the eye, he doesn't hold the disgusted look I expected him to.

The love he held for me in his eyes still remains there, despite all thoughts and expectations I had that it would disappear once he recognised the monster I had turned into.

"I-I don't know what happened" I begin, tears welling up in my eyes as I attempt to turn my head back to the man who's life I had just taken. However, Dominic's hand holds my head in place so I can't look.

"It's okay" he answers softly, "I-I killed him" I stutter while pointing a shaky finger in Matteo's direction. Dominic's eyes travel over to Matteo in disgust, before he turns back to me and his jewelled eyes return to being soft. "He deserved it" he simply states, "he raped you, and countless other women. He killed our baby, he murdered thousands of innocent people" Dominic informs me, he chooses his words wisely as to not seem like a hypocrite while calling Matteo a murderer.

Dominic and Matteo were in the same line as work but the differences between them are vast. Matteo was an evil person, he was a rapist and he enjoyed watching the pain of others. He had murdered thousands of innocent people in cold blood, I know from Kyle that Matteo had been dealing in human trafficking. He and his father held Luca and Anna captive for 13 years, and had kidnapped their daughter. He took parents away from their child, and children away from their parents.
Dominic on the other hand, he still had killed thousands of people. Though they weren't innocent. Dominic isn't a rapist and he certainly has never dealt with human trafficking.

"His death was inflicted on him by his own choices" Dominic whispers. I gather my thoughts and nod my head in agreement.

Matteo deserved every bit of his death

That's the only thought that flows through my mind, I repeat it. Over and over again as we make our way out and back home.