Nicola.
The blood.The screams.The way he’d force me to watch him torture his victims, the way their begging would echo for hours afterward.My lungs seized as I felt that same paralyzing fear coil around me, binding me to the ground.I thought I was past it.I thought I’d healed.But the horror clawed back through me like it never left.
Alessandro turned.
At first, he looked like he was going to walk away, but then his eyes met mine — and he stopped dead.
The fury that flashed across his face made my stomach twist.His brows furrowed sharply, his jaw tightening until the veins in his neck showed.Without a word, he shoved the gun into the waistband at his back, but his gaze never left me.
He looked at me like I was his next target.
His full lips were set in a deep frown, his eyes heavy with exhaustion and something darker — something colder.His hair was disheveled, his white shirt half untucked and streaked with blood and dirt, like he’d just walked out of a fight he clearly won.
Tears spilled down my cheeks before I even realized I was crying.I couldn’t look away from him — from the man who once held me, once whispered he loved me.
Now, he just scowled.
And then...he turned his back to me and walked away.
I stood there, frozen.Minutes passed — or maybe seconds; I couldn’t tell.My mind refused to move.Behind him, Salvatore and Bruno followed, both calm, both unfazed by the body on the ground.It was as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
My gaze drifted back to the corpse lying motionless in front of the estate gates.My breath hitched as a wave of nausea climbed up my throat.My body trembled uncontrollably; chills crawled up my spine.
This wasn’t a place I could survive — not mentally, not emotionally.Not again.
I’d fought too hard to escape my past.
And now, here I was...living it all over again.
There was only one thing left for me to do.
I had to leave.No matter what..
CHAPTER 20
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