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"Damn you!"

The photographers she had personally contacted gleefully took pictures as Massimo's face snapped to the side.

"You never really loved me, did you?"

Massimo did his best to control his own temper. "Whether I did or not has nothing to do with your sister—-"

"Of course, it does, you—-" Too late, Ynez realized what she was about to let slip...or had let slip.

Shit, shit, shit!

Her panicky gaze swung wildly to Massimo's, and Ynez felt herself pale at the chilling expression on his hardened features.

"You lied to me, didn't you?"

His murderously soft tone frightened her, and all Ynez could do was shake her head and stammer incoherently. "I—-I—-"

"Don't fucking lie to me!"

Massimo had never spoken to her like this way before, and she finally understood why evenLa Stregaherself described Massimo as the most terrifying among her grandsons.

"It was Ysabel that I met at Halloween five years ago.Wasn't she?"

Ynez was so, so tempted to lie, but the moment Massimo took a step towards her as if he were willing to wring her neck if that was what it took to get the truth out—-

"Y-Yes."It killed her to admit to her deception and trickery, but Ynez also knew Massimo would make her life hell if she was stupid enough to try lying to him again.

"And you lied to me about other things," Massimo bit out. "Didn't you?"

Ynez desperately racked her brains for something to say that would turn the tables around and have Massimo trust her again. But when she saw Massimo's dark gaze drop to her neck as if trying to gauge whether he could strangle her with just one hand—-

"I d-did..."

By the time Ynez finished confessing her every lie, security was already waiting to escort her out of the building, and Massimo didn't even turn her way when she begged for him to forgive her.

"Please, Massimo! I did it for you! I love you! We belong together!"

The sound of her cries only made Massimo want to kill her even more, and the only reason he wasn't punishing her as she deserved was because he knew now—-just when it was too late, and so much damage had been done...

He now knew exactly what kind of girl hisfidanzatawas, and it was not the type who would ever want to see her sister hurt—-even if that same sister had hurt her first.

On his way back to the family estate, Massimo tried calling Ysabel several times, but none of his calls could get through. In his desperation, he decided to call his grandmother, and the older woman answered his call on the first ring.

"Where is she,nonna?I need to talk—-"

"She's gone, Massimo."

The pain underscoringLa Strega'svoice lashed at his heart...because he knew his grandmother could only be hurting on hisfidanzata's behalf.

"I could not force her to stay, you understand? She could not even cry when she asked me..."

The first time Massimo had ever heard heard his grandmother's voice crack was when she had to tell him and his brothers that both their grandfather and father were dead. The second time...was now.

"She was in so much pain, bambino."

His heart threatened to collapse at the thought of Ysabel hurting to such an extent, and all because of his blind stupidity.

"It was just too much to bear, and so when she asked me to help her disappear..."