Page 141 of Phantom Mine

Matteo slams me back against the kitchen wall by my throat with such force that the air expels from my lungs. I don’t get a moment to suck it back in before he’s crowding me with his body. Raw emotion pulses in his eyes as they slash across my face. His voice comes out clipped and even but danger radiates off him like a dark shadow.

“You want to explain to me why you just told another man you love himwhen it’s my bed you’ve been sleeping in every night?”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Matteo

There’s a loud, piercing ringing in my ears.

Valentina just told him she loves him.

“I'm sorry,” she claims. “Matteo—”

She just told him she fuckingloveshim.

“You really are sleeping with him,” I whisper, confirming what I suspected, but never wanted to believe. Bile burns in my gut, the words alone nearly enough to make me sick.

The entire world is collapsing around me.

This must be the end of days. If it isn’t, then this isworse.

“W-what?” she stammers, looking genuinely confused.

Valentina flinches when I slam my palm down next to her head. “Don’t fucking play with me right now or I’ll make you regret the day you ever met me,” I vow angrily.

She recoils, hurt flashing in her eyes. Howdareshe when it’smychest that’s been violently ravaged,myheart that’s been reduced to nothing more than a defunct appendage?

My gaze roves over her face, searching for signs of what I’ve somehow missed all along—the conniving, backstabbing Valentina who betrayed me in a way I never saw coming.

The phone rings again, loudly announcing her lover's desperate attempts at reaching her. Every ring makes me progressively more nauseous.

“It’s not what you think,” she chokes, clawing at my hand.

“Not what I think? You’ve been fucking him the entire time you’ve been fucking me.” The words spew venomously from my lips. “I didn’t realize your bed was so crowded—I’m not sure how you’ve found the time to keep us both satisfied, I certainly have had no complaints. You really are a pro at this.” Blind jealousy barrels through me like a runaway train, making me both careless and vicious. For the first time since we met, I want tohurther. I want to hurt her as badly as she’s just hurt me. Her heart should be on the ground, murdered and bleeding like mine is. “Tell me, do you clean yourself up between us or are there times where I’ve been inside you right after he has?” I demand spitefully.

I expect Valentina to punch the cruel words right out of my mouth. Surprisingly, she doesn’t flinch. She only looks at me imploringly, her hands clinging to the one I have locked around her throat.

“That’s not true—”

I roar, slamming my fist down on the wall again and making her jump.

“That’s how you want to play this?” I seethe, swaying slightly. “After everything we’ve been through? You really want to pretend I didn’t see what I saw last night? That I didn’t just hear what I heard?”

“I…” she shakes her head wordlessly. Her mouth opens but no sound comes out.

“Fine.” I laugh humorlessly again. “Fine. I’ll be the one to say your lover’s name since you’re too much of a fucking coward to do it. Thiago da Silva.”

Her eyes grow to a size that would be comical if there was a chance in hell that I’d ever laugh or experience joy again. The current wasteland that is my chest cavity makes any emotion except anger and despair impossible. There’s been a continuous wailing inside me since last night.

In the background, the phone rings once more.

“No longer denying it now, are you?” My windpipe is so dry, I can’t even attempt a sarcastic scoff. “I’m assuming he ordered you to get close to me, to seduce me into telling you everything and exposing my most closely held weaknesses so you could use them against me.” I stumble and Valentina places both hands on my abdomen to stabilize me but I shove them away. “It’s a fucking brilliant plan, even I can admit that now that I’ve had twelve hours to process it.”

Last night, Enzo dragged me out of the ballroom against my will, much to the bewilderment of the Tellier women. It didn’t matter how vehemently I threatened to shoot him, he wouldn’t let me go after Valentina and cause a scene.

Not in that room, not in front of that audience.

He’d been right and I’d punched the hell out of him for it anyway. Enzo took it without a word, then dug up a bottle of bourbon and poured me drink after drink until it was empty.

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