Page 85 of Gilded Princess

Chapter Thirty-Three

MADDIE

The car pulls away from the curb with a squeal of the tires and I stare at the unassuming apartment building. It’s a far cry from the fancy one we just came from. Big, gray, and nondescript.

Matteo tilts his head toward the building. “Come on, just this way.”

I hesitate for a moment. I’m not afraid of Matteo, not physically, at least. He protected me when I was vulnerable and scared.

But he’s dangerous for me emotionally. And that is what has my feet rooted to the cement.

He stops a few feet ahead when he notices I’m not behind him. “Leo and Dante will be here soon. But if it makes you feel more comfortable, take this.” He hands me his phone. “Three one nine, four one two.”

His phone feels heavy in my hand, like the gesture is more symbolic than the actual action. I slip it inside the pocket of my dress with a nod of thanks.

“Three one nine, four one two,” he repeats, holding my gaze.

“Got it.” Three one nine is easy to remember, my birthday is March nineteenth. It’s the other three numbers I need to commit to memory. I repeat them three times in my head as we walk inside the apartment building and take the elevator to the top floor.

We walk down a short hallway in silence, the clicking of our shoes on the floor the only noise. There’s a keypad on the doorframe, and I stop next to Matteo as he presses six numbers. A hiss and a click, and the door unlocks with a whirring.

I follow Matteo inside, stopping in the open-concept kitchen. The whole place is an open concept, but outside of that, it doesn’t feel anything like Matteo’s apartment.

“Whose place is this?”

He shuts the door, the lock re-engaging, and comes to stand across from me, the island between us. “It’s a safe house.”

My eyebrows bunch low on my face. “A safe house? Why am I here?”

“I brought you here so I could explain.”

I straighten my shoulders. “I think you’ve already explained enough, don’t you? If this is why you brought me here—”

“It’s not,” he interjects, sliding his hands in his pockets and looking toward his feet for a moment. He raises his chin, his gaze meeting mine. “I’m in the mafia, Maddie.”

“Okay,” I murmur.

He takes a step back and cocks his head as if to look at me from a different angle. “I said I’m in the mob, and all you say is okay? This shit tonight isn’t a fluke. It’s a direct attack—on me. It’s a warning that could be from ten different people for twenty different things. This is my life.”

I lick my lips and shift my weight. Looking into his tortured eyes, I say, “Alright.”

“What—what do you mean, alright?”

I lift a shoulder. “I mean, Leo kind of already told me earlier. He didn’t give me too many details, but you can’t help who your family is, Matteo.”

He takes three quick steps around the island to get closer to me. “It’s not just a loser uncle we’re talking about here. It’s me. I am in the mafia.”

I close my mouth slowly and swallow as I search his gaze. “I don’t understand.”

He closes the gap between us, standing close enough that if I inhale deeply, our chests brush together. “I’ve done deplorable things, Madison. And I’ll continue to do them. This is the life I chose, but it’s not yours.”

Like a lightbulb slow to turn on, an idea comes to me. One so ridiculous that it’s barely worth bringing up, but there’s something about the way he’s looking at me now. It’s a one-eighty from how he spoke to me at his apartment not sixty minutes ago.

I think he’s scared.

Of what, I’m not sure, but now that the seed has been planted, it’s all I can see in the hushed tone of his voice, the way his eyes are wide and sincere.

“Tell me I’m crazy, Matteo, tell me you don’t feel the spark, the connection between us still. Tell me I’m a hopeless romantic and it’s all in my head.” I hold his gaze as I talk, opening up to let him see all the hope I feel. “Don’t push me away just because you think you know what’s best for me.”

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