Caught In Her Vengeance - Book 2

23

CHAPTER 23

Matteo

I opened my eyes to the painful ache in my abdomen and the loud rumbling of my stomach. Opting to stay in my room and sleep instead, I hadn't eaten all day. It was my way of avoiding my housemates.

Sighing, I looked over at the clock—It was 2 am. I had to stop doing this shit. Though could anyone blame me? Nope. I couldn't face them. Not right now, at least. I hadn't seen Catalina since I screamed at her to leave my room, and I definitely hadn't seen Sal. He came and knocked on my door, but I didn't answer. I needed space to process my feelings, and I would definitely do that, but right now, I needed to eat.

Fuck it. Getting up from the bed, I pulled my sweatpants on and headed out of my room. The hall was pitch black, the house was dead silent, but I knew everyone was still awake.

Nic was most likely in his office contemplating a plan to get the old Catalina back though I knew she wasn't coming back. Lorenzo was probably with the paid whore he often acquired to forget about the woman who left us. I shivered in disgust, thinking about him being with random women and Sal. Well, I didn't give a shit what he was doing, but I knew he was a night owl like the rest of us.

I walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and found a plate of food with my name scribbled across the foil in what looked like Catalina's handwriting. I didn't know what pissed me off more that she didn't fight harder to gain my forgiveness earlier or that she was still trying by doing subtle shit like this. The crazy part was that if she had just talked to me, I knew I would have tried my best to understand everything she was struggling with, but instead, she shut me out and fucked my brother.

Suddenly I was startled by a bloodcurdling scream coming from Catalina's room, and I slammed the refrigerator door shut. Nic zoomed by the kitchen, busting her door open, and I walked to the end of the hall, watching him kick the door close behind him. Everything in me wanted to run in there, but because of where Cat and I stood, it didn't feel like my place anymore.

Another scream rang out, this time louder than the last, and Lorenzo darted out of his room and into hers, leaving the door open. I let out harsh breath after harsh breath as my breathing picked up and dug my nails into the palms of my hands, attempting to will her nightmares away. From where I stood, I could see Catalina thrashing on her bed as the eldest Mariano brother watched on.

"But she's hurting," Lorenzo shouted.

Nic just shook his head and whispered something to him. That's right, Nic, don't wake her up. I said in my mind hoping he would somehow hear me because I was too much of a coward to walk in there myself. Almost as though he heard what I was thinking, Nic got up from the bed and said something to Lorenzo before the younger Mariano nodded and made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Well, would you look who it is?" Lorenzo clipped, and even though the lights were off, I could still see his icy blue eyes cutting into me through the darkness. "Done hiding in your room like a little bitch?"

"I guess so, and I see you aren't done being your typical asshole self."

"Wanna say that again to my face?"

I looked away, clenching my jaw and exhaling through my nose, and without hesitation, I severed the intense connection with the icy blue eyes that have haunted my dreams for so fucking long. I hated him. He was an asshole—a fucking psycho, and yet since we were young, I'd been drawn to him despite knowing better. 

Cutting my eyes back at him, I took in a sharp breath, not realizing until now how close he was to me. I  wasn't going to let him intimidate me. We weren't teenagers anymore. "Get the hell out of my face Lorenzo."

"Why don't you make me get out of your face, Matteo?"

"Fuck you," with both hands; I pushed at his hard chest as he pressed himself against me, pinning me to the wall. "Why are you even messing with me?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"You know why," he growled, and heat coursed through my veins. I cursed myself feeling his hard thigh brush against my cock, and I fought the urge to groan, growing hard in my thin gray sweatpants. Fighting against it, I focused on the irritation that bubbled in the pit of my stomach when I thought about how shitty he treated me over the last ten years.

You know why. The fuck I did. He was playing a game, and I wasn't interested in partaking in the bullshit. I swallowed hard as his eyes darkened, and for some reason beyond me, I continued to poke the beast. "Don't you have those prostitutes you spend a pretty penny on to be fucking right now?"

"What's the matter, Matteo?" he sneered, showing me his teeth like a wild animal skulking in the dark before leaning forward and speaking against my ear and caused a violent shiver to roll down my spine. "Jealous, it's not you I'm fucking?"

"No, there's nothing to be jealous about," I bit out, trying to keep my composure, but he just cocked an eyebrow while smirking down at me, almost to say he knew I was lying, and I hated him for seeing through my unbothered façade. "I fucking hate you."

"Oh, I'm sure that you do, Kitten."

That was my last straw. He was taunting me with the nickname I'd given to Catalina, and I was over his shit. Using every bit of strength I had, I shoved Lorenzo away from me. He stumbled backward, his amused expression turning deadly in an instant, but I didn't care. He couldn't push me around just because he wanted to anymore.

"What's wrong, Kitten," he said it again, this time with a sharper edge on that single word that made me shudder. "What, you don't like it when I call you that?"

"Oh, fuck you," I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him. "Let's not pretend like you aren't saying it to hurt me."

"After what you did," he stomped up to me, quickly eating the space between us. I stood frozen in place as he grabbed me by the chin, forcing our gazes to one another's, and my breath hitched in my throat. "I haven't even begun to hurt you," leaning closer, he dug his nails into my cheeks, and I bit down on my tongue to suppress the small whimper that threatened to bypass my sealed lips. My dick stiffened between us, and he snickered, noticing my struggle to pull my lower half away from him. "Oh, but, Matteo, I will."

With that, he shoved me away and into the wall. I groaned in pain and watched him walk back into his room, shutting the door behind him. Asshole. I still hadn't moved as I was left too stunned to process what had just happened. I knew exactly what he was angry about, but it wasn't my fucking fault, and he was going to stop blaming me for it.

It's been ten fucking years, and I was tired of bearing the brunt of what went down that day—especially when I had nothing to do with that stupid tape. I would have never done that to him, but he didn't care.

The sound of wood creaking behind me drew my attention, and I turned to find my brother standing there. He had seen everything that went down. I was sure of it.

I held my breath as we stood in silence, neither one of us making an effort to leave. "Matteo, please talk to me," my brother finally let out, regret evident in his voice, but I was still too furious to give a shit.

Rather than walk into the kitchen to warm up and eat my food, I instead made my way towards the stairs to go back to my room. Despite what he did, Salvatore was still my brother, and I loved him, but I wasn't ready to speak to him, and honestly, I also didn't want to say something I couldn't take back in the heat of the moment. I just needed time. I could get past this with time—I think? I wasn't even sure if I wanted to get past it. After being hurt so many times, I just wanted to wash my hands of everyone and everything, but that wasn't me, was it?

"For what it's worth, I am so sorry, little brother," Salvatore called out from the bottom floor of the house, and I wasn't prepared for the wave of emotion that hit me hearing him say those words. My throat tightened as tears welled up in the creases of my eyes, and I blinked the sting away.

Wrapping my hand around my doorknob and pulling the door open, I cleared my throat and swallowed down the pain, "It isn't worth much." I croaked out before slamming my bedroom door behind me as I entered the desolate room. Maybe it was time I moved out—this living arrangement was toxic—these people were poisonous, and fuck, I wasn't still hungry.

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