As we race away in the car, a storm of anger and fear swells inside me. How could she be so reckless? How could she risk everything like that?
When the empty road stretches before us, I slam on the brakes, my heart pounding in my chest. I throw the...
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The cabin was silent as I slipped out onto the porch. Chiara had finally fallen asleep after what had been a chaotic few days. I needed some air, needed to think, but more than anything, I needed to make sure everything was still in control. My mind was buzzing with unease ever since we had arrived here. Things had been too quiet, too still, and that never sat well with me.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Matteo first. His line picked up after just two rings.
“Boss,” Matteo greeted, his voice clear but with a cautious edge to it. He always answered like that, alert and waiting for orders.
“Everything good on your end?” I asked, pacing along the wooden planks of the porch. The sky was fading into dusk, the woods around us cast in shadows.
“Yeah. No movement here. Place is quiet, like you expected,” Matteo replied. “We’re lying low, keeping our distance. No one seems to be sniffing around.”
That was good. Matteo was holed up in a secure location I had set for him a few hours away from the cabin, lying low with some of our key assets. But there was still one person I needed to check on.
“And Fiona?” I asked, my voice low. The safety of Chiara’s best friend was another layer of this twisted mess. She didn’t know about everything yet, but if Fiona was compromised, then it could blow up in our faces.
“She’s fine, boss. I’ve got her in a safe house. She’s asking a lot of questions, though. Doesn’t like being kept in the dark,” Matteo added with a slight chuckle.
I sighed. “Keep her safe, Matteo. We can’t afford to let anything happen to her. Especially not now.”
“Understood. Anything else?”
I hesitated. Something had been gnawing at me since we arrived. The last time I had spoken to Antonio, something felt off. He hadn’t been his usual sharp self. “I need you to check on Antonio,” I finally said. “He didn’t answer my call earlier, and I don’t like that. Make sure nothing’s happened to him.”
Matteo paused for a moment. “Antonio? He was fine the last time I talked to him. You think something’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, running a hand through my hair. “But I want to be sure.”
“Got it, boss. I’ll check in on him and let you know.”
I ended the call, my fingers lingering over the screen for a moment. Antonio not answering was unusual, and in our world, unusual usually meant trouble. I had a bad feeling, but I couldn’t dwell on it now. Not while I was trying to keep Chiara safe.
With a final glance at the woods surrounding the cabin, I turned and headed toward the car. The plan was to stay under the radar, but even in hiding, we needed basic supplies. Groceries, mostly. I’d made a list earlier, things we needed to last us another few days while we figured out the next steps.
The drive to the nearby town was short and uneventful, the only sounds coming from the engine and the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind. I kept my eyes on the road, mind drifting back to Chiara. She had trusted me enough to come here, but I could see the cracks forming. She was suspicious, asking more questions lately, pushing for answers. And while I wanted to tell her everything, I knew it wasn’t time yet.
By the time I got back to the cabin, my mind was swimming with everything that had happened and everything I was still holding back. The groceries sat in the passenger seat, a mundane contrast to the chaos swirling around us.
I parked and grabbed the bags, heading inside. The cabin was dimly lit, quiet, just as I had left it. I called out for Chiara, but there was no response. My chest tightened slightly. I stepped into the living room, my shoes making soft thuds on the wooden floor.
And that’s when I saw her.
She was standing there, with her back to me, frozen in front of the small table in the center of the room. At first, I couldn’t tell what had caught her attention, but then my eyes followed hers, and I saw it.
The photoframe.
My stomach dropped. I had forgotten about it, hidden beneath the table, tucked away with the other photographs. Photos that I had kept secret, not just from her but from everyone. She had found them. She had found out.
The bags in my hand slipped to the floor with a dull thud, but she didn’t flinch. She was still as a statue, staring down at the frame and the scattered photos around it.
“Tuono,” I said quietly, but my voice felt distant, hollow. She didn’t turn. The air around us felt heavy, suffocating. I could sense the shift in her. Something was different now, something irrevocable.
I took a cautious step forward, my heart pounding in my chest. “Tuono,” I repeated, my voice firmer this time.
She finally moved, her hand slowly reaching for one of the photographs. My breath caught in my throat as I watched her fingers brush over the image—an image of her, taken without her knowledge, long before I had ever revealed my feelings for her. Photos from when I was watching, observing from afar, before I had let myself get close.
She turned around then, slowly, deliberately. When our eyes met, my blood ran cold. The love, the trust that had once shone so brightly in her gaze—it was gone. Replaced by something hollow, something that terrified me more than anything I had ever faced in my life.
I had never been scared before. Not like this.
“What is this?” Her voice was soft, but it cut through the air like a knife.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could I say? The truth was there, laid bare in front of her, and there was no way to explain it away. I had been hiding this from her for so long, hoping that she would never find out, hoping that I could keep her in the dark just a little while longer.
But now, she knew.
“I…” My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard, trying to find something, anything to say. But her eyes—those eyes that once held so much warmth—bored into me, and I felt exposed. Vulnerable.
“I trusted you,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “And you… you were watching me. You were lying to me this whole time.”
I shook my head, stepping forward, desperate to explain. “It’s not like that, tuono. I swear—”
“Then what is it like, Gabriel?” she snapped, her voice rising, her emotions bubbling to the surface. “Tell me! Tell me why you had these pictures of me. Tell me why you’ve been keeping this from me!”
I stood there, frozen, unable to answer. The truth was a heavy weight on my chest, one that I had carried for so long. I had been obsessed with keeping her safe, with making sure that nothing would ever happen to her, but in doing so, I had crossed a line. And now, I was losing her.
Her eyes, once filled with love, now held nothing but betrayal. And in that moment, I knew—I had never been more terrified in my life.
Chiara took a shaky breath, her hand still clutching the photograph. "I don't even know who you are anymore," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
And with that, she turned away from me, her back stiff, her posture rigid with hurt and anger.
I was losing her. And I didn’t know how to stop it.
