CHAPTER SIX #3
“Are you okay?” He finally asked, his tone changing to something smoother, gentler. Almost caring. I was so lost that I could no longer tell whether it was deceptive or genuine. “You were gone for so long, I had been worried. I was looking everywhere for you.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I wanted to have some fresh air and I think I wandered too far into the garden without realizing… and then, well… I fell.”
It was the lamest, poorest excuse I could make but that was all I could muster. My strength had waned.
Matteo surprised me by wrapping his arm around my shoulder, pulling me against his warm chest. “You’re soaked and shivering. Let’s get you inside.”
“I c-can’t go in like that.” I shook my head, dumbly.
“Everyone will see,” Adrian drawled.
My chin wobbled at his words and I wanted so desperately to sob, but I refrained from breaking apart in front of the Salvatore brothers.
“Of course not, there is another door at the back. I’ll take you up to your room. No one will see,” Matteo reassured me calmly.
How was he so calm?
Did he actually believe Adrian’s lies and my excuses?
“Our families… they are going to be upset.” Oh God, my father. His fury would be unmatched if I were to abandon the engagement party like this.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make an excuse.”
Adrian scoffed but Matteo simply ignored him.
“B-but—”
Matteo’s arm tightened around my shoulders. “I’m going to be your husband, Serafina. Please start trusting me when I say I will handle it.”
My lungs almost caved within themselves at his words.
I had just betrayed whatever trust there was between us with his brother’s lips on mine…
Matteo’s arm remained firm around my shoulders as he guided me away from Adrian, whose eyes I could feel boring into my back. Each step squelched beneath my bare feet, Adrian’s jacket heavy and warm around me, its scent—his scent—wrapping around me like a degrading accusation.
We moved silently through the gardens, Matteo’s security men falling back to give us privacy while maintaining a protective perimeter. The night air bit at my wet skin, but the shame burning through me was almost enough to keep me warm.
“This way,” Matteo murmured, leading me toward a small side entrance I hadn’t noticed before. The door opened to a narrow corridor, mercifully empty of guests or staff.
Oh, thank God.
The passage was dimly lit, our footsteps echoing against the stone floors, just like the echo of my heart thudding in my ears.
My teeth chattered uncontrollably now, my body trembling with cold and what I could perceive as maybe delayed… shock. Matteo’s pace quickened as we ascended a narrow staircase, emerging onto the second floor where my guest room waited.
Matteo remained quiet, his jaw tight, his expression unreadable. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or concerned, and the uncertainty made my stomach churn terribly. I just hoped the night wouldn’t end with me vomiting all over Matteo’s expensive, polished shoes.
The distant strains of the orchestra floated up from below, a haunting reminder of the celebration continuing without us.
Without the bride-to-be who had fled into the night, only to fall into a fountain, and worse… into the arms of the man who was forbidden for me.
Into the embrace of the man who seemed to want my ruination.
I didn’t understand why but it felt like a personal vendetta against me.
When we reached my door, relief washed through me so powerfully my knees nearly buckled. Some small shred of my dignity had been preserved. No one had seen me like this: soaked, disheveled, wearing another man’s jacket.
No one except the two brothers who now glimpsed the fractures in my carefully constructed facade.
Adrian had seen me unravel and he was the cause of it. He now held my weakness and my shame in his hand like a prized trophy.
And Matteo… God, Matteo may not have witnessed it, perhaps not all, thankfully not all of it… but what he had seen was already too much.
Matteo unlocked the door with a key I hadn’t realized he possessed, pushing it open for me but not stepping inside. He hesitated at the threshold, his expression unreadable in the shadows of the hallway.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, his voice carefully neutral.
I nodded, not trusting my own voice to remain steady. I wasn’t okay. I would never be okay again.
Adrian’s touch…his kiss, they still burned on my skin like a flaming brand.
My fingers clutched his jacket tighter around me, maybe it was instinct, I didn’t know but I convinced myself it was because of the cold.
Matteo cleared his throat and his hand lifted slowly toward my face.
Thud. Blood roared between my ears and my body reacted before my mind could intervene—a flinch, sharp and unmistakable, my head jerking back from his approaching touch.
Perhaps it was to brush away a strand of wet hair or to offer some comfort, I didn’t know because I didn’t wait to find out.
The movement, my flinch, hung between us like a painful confession.
Matteo froze, his hand suspended in the air between us.
Something flickered across his features, something unreadable, maybe it was surprise or hurt or maybe he tried to hide his anger, I wasn’t sure.
Before I could process anything, he carefully schooled his expression back to neutrality.
Slowly, deliberately, he withdrew his hand and slipped it into his pocket.
“I want you to feel safe with me, Serafina,” he said quietly.
“I know this arrangement isn’t what you wanted, but I’m pleased with it.
I always knew I’d be married to you. So I’ve waited for this day for a very long time.
” His gaze on my shoulders where Adrian’s jacket was draped before he met my eyes again. “I want you to be comfortable.”
“I am.” Lies. Liar. I was such a fake.
He smiled, but it was devoid of any readable emotions and it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s okay, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better. We still have four weeks until our marriage. I look forward to us knowing each other more.”
Matteo pulled away, taking a step back. “You should change in some dry clothes and get some rest. I think the night has been eventful enough for you, so I’ll take care of the rest.”
For a moment, I was grateful for his understanding. I didn’t question it because I didn’t have enough energy to find myself suspicious of him, his words or his motives.
He gave me one final look before turning around and walking away. I couldn’t close and lock the door fast enough. My legs grew weaker and I stumbled to the bed. Dropping Adrian’s suit jacket to the floor, I quickly peeled off my wet clothes and slumped onto the mattress.
I dragged the covers over me, closing my eyes and pushing my face into the pillows. Then… finally… I let out a breath. An exhale. Long, slow… pitiful.
“All that fire, drenched but not extinguished. I wonder what my brother would think if he saw you now.”
My eyes snapped open in the darkness, the phantom sensation of Adrian’s mouth still lingering against my own.
My heart thrashed wildly in my chest as I sat up violently, the memory replaying with cruel clarity; his fingers tangled in my hair, the pressure of his body against mine, the shameful whimper that had escaped my dreadful, deceitful throat.
And his hand… cupping my breast… his finger circling my treacherous nipple.
The taste of him, the feeling of his touch… they all still lingered on my skin, burying under my flesh, trying to carve themselves a home in my bones.
Guilt coiled in my stomach like a venomous serpent, constricting tighter with each passing second.
God, I would never, ever forgive Adrian for this.
“Stop,” I whispered to the empty room, desperate to banish the memory. But it persisted, relentless and vivid, taunting me with what I’d allowed to happen. What I’d recklessly, unwillingly participated in.
I’d been engaged for mere hours and already I’d betrayed Matteo. I’d betrayed my family. And myself… of everything I’d been taught to be. My morals, my character, my honor, my virtue.
I had jeopardized everything with one impulsive moment in a moonlit garden.
I wondered if whatever Matteo had witnessed was enough to plant seeds of doubt that would surely grow into something I couldn’t control. The thought made me sick with dread and I swallowed down the nausea building in my throat.
A ping from my phone cut through my spiraling thoughts. The bright screen illuminated the darkness, momentarily blinding me. I fumbled for it, squinting at the notification.
Arabella.
God, she was everything I needed right now.
Arabella Rose was my closest friend, my only friend.
My only real friend.
Even though we never met.
We didn’t even know each other’s real name.
We had never seen each other’s faces.
But she was the person I knew would understand me best.
Arabella: Hey gorgeous. Just checking if you survived the big engagement party. Still breathing?
Arabella: I know you took his breath away (;
My fingers trembled over the screen. The concern in her simple message broke something in me, and all my emotions threatened to burst, trying to spill in the ugliest ways possible.
Before I could think twice, I was dialing her number, pressing the phone to my ear as if it were a lifeline.
She answered on the second ring. “Sera? What’s wrong? It’s like two in the morning—”
“I messed up so badly,” I choked out, a sob escaping from where I’d trapped it all evening: a raw, broken cry. “I don’t know how or if I can fix this.”