Page 103 of Blood Debt

Everything else fades. The shouting. The pounding boots. The men closing in.

It’s just us.

His gaze is desperate, raw, and unguarded in a way I’ve never seen. My heart stutters. I can’t look away. He’s not moving, but I feel him begging me not to go.

I swallow hard, forcing steel into my spine even as something inside me cracks. If I hold this look any longer, I might break.

Marcello’s men seize my arms. I don’t fight.

I let them drag me toward the gate, but I turn one last time. His expression hasn’t changed—it’s pain, fury, and something too close to love all tangled together.

I memorize it, because I know it’s the last time I’ll see him like this.

Then the night swallows me whole.

Chapter 27 - Cristofano

Bellarosa Estate

Matteo staggers against the wall, clutching his arm where the blank grazed him. His face twists with outrage, and his voice rips through the night.

“Are you out of your mind?” he hisses, veins bulging at his neck. “You shot me!”

My chest heaves as I lower the gun, its weight suddenly unbearable in my hand. The smoke still curls from the barrel. I slip it back into my holster, jaw clenched. “It was a blank.”

Matteo stares at me like I’ve grown two heads. His shirt sleeve is torn, the skin beneath singed. “A blank that almost tore through me. They took the Black Book, Cristo. Do you understand what that means?”

I inhale through my teeth, force myself to meet his gaze. “No, they didn’t. I switched it.”

For the first time tonight, silence cuts between us. Matteo blinks, eyes narrowing.

I step closer, lowering my voice. “The Black Book was moved to the safe house; my father is protecting it. I planned to move it the moment I knew she was after it.” The words taste bitter on my tongue. Admitting it aloud—admitting she was after it—scrapes at my insides. “She has a fake.”

Matteo exhales in a rough laugh, pressing a hand to his chest. Relief flickers across his features. “Madonna.” He shakes his head, then points a finger at me. “You’ll pay for this. I’ll get my revenge for that shot.”

I ignore him. My blood is pounding too loud in my ears, an ache spreading through my chest I can’t shake. “We need to save her.”

Matteo freezes, his relief replaced with disbelief. His jaw drops. “Save her?” His voice sharpens. “Have you completely lost it? That woman betrayed you. She betrayed us. And you want to save her?”

I turn away, running a hand through my hair, tugging at the roots until pain cuts through the storm inside me. My throat is tight when I speak. “Something feels off. She…she accused me of killing her friend.”

Matteo doesn’t move, just studies me with hard, calculating eyes.

I pace, fists clenching. “I showed her the cellar, the cages…. It was supposed to push her, make her open up. But she said she saw a ring.” My voice drops to a whisper. “A ring.”

The image flashes in my mind—the way her face crumbled, her eyes widening with something between rage and grief. I thought it was an act. I wanted it to be an act. But now….

My heart lurches painfully in my chest.

Matteo curses under his breath. “You’re telling me she recognized something down there?”

My voice is raw. “I don’t know what the hell to believe anymore. But if she thinks I killed her friend…then she’s been bleeding for vengeance all this time.”

“Let’s check it out,” he says.

****

The clang of our boots echoes off the iron walls as Matteo and I descend the stairs. There is a knot in my stomach I can’t shake.