Page 164 of Phantom Mine

He towers broadly over me, his brown hair so unkempt it mirrors the turmoil inside him. His distressed green eyes close and he drags a hand roughly over his face, looking every inch like a man on the verge of breaking.

His next words are murmured with the kind of poisoned venom that seeps only from a breaking heart. “So you thought I wouldn’t care?” he asks. “You thought I’d watch you marry someone else?”

Tears etch rivers down my cheeks.

This is unfair. So fucking unfair. He doesn’t get to be devastated that I’m engaged when he is too.

“You’re getting married as well, Matteo. You’ve been very clear with me from the beginning that you can’t break up your engagement.” My voice cracks. “What do you want from me?” I rasp brokenly as I shove at his chest. “Do you want me to spend the rest of my life thinking about you, pining after you, wishing I was the one sleeping next to you instead?” I shove at his chest. “Do you thinkIdon’t care?”Shove. “Do you wantmeto watch you withher?”Shove.

Matteo grabs my wrists and uses them to wrench me into his chest. “Do you want to marry him?” His voice is hoarse with distaste. “Tell me the truth.”

“No!” I exclaim.

“Then what Iwantis for you to explain to me why you’ve just accepted this,” he bellows. Matteo’s gaze is tormented, his eyes red rimmed. Raw emotion burns so brightly in them, everything withers beneath his gaze. “Why haven’t you told your brother tofuck off? Why haven’t you told him you can’t marry whichever worthless cunt he’s picked for you?”

The blazing anger pouring off of him scorches the earth beneath my feet, the skin on my body, the heart in my chest.

“I did! Of course I did. I told him I couldn’t marry him, but he didn’t listen.”

“Then why didn’t you tell him there’s someone else?”

“Because there is no one else.”

Matteo’s hand flies to my throat with enough force to make me stumble backwards. He follows, a dark look of primitive rage unfurling in his eyes.

“Be very fucking careful, Valentina,” he warns, voice strained down to a dangerous whisper.

My throat moves beneath his hand as I swallow thickly. I wipe the tears off my cheeks with the backs of my sleeves.

This isn’t how I wanted this to go, but I guess a messy, explosive end was inevitable for two people who should never have met, never have found each other again, and never risked it all for the other.

“I’m not trying to provoke you, Matteo. It’s the truth.” I look up at him with difficulty. Every time I gaze into his face, a sharp pang stabs me in the chest. “You’re not an available option, you know that.”

“I told you I’d find a way to make this work.”

“You’re also the one who expressly told me not to fall in love with y—”

“Did you?” he interrupts.

Protective gates slam loudly shut around my heart. I push the hand he has at my throat away and he lets me. “You don’t get to ask me that.”

He bumps into my chest. “And why not?”

“Because whatever feelings I may or may not have for you, they don’t matter. This was always going to end between us,you made that very clear.” Spitefulness makes me meet his gaze square. “Are you mad because I’m the one leaving you instead of the other way around?”

He hisses in a vicious, shaky breath. “Watch it.”

“You were going to end this!” I exclaim. “I heard you telling Enzo to confirm the meeting with the Marchesanis.” A hollow laugh leaves me. “Seems you were able to bring yourself to meet her after all.”

Matteo takes another step, bumping dominantly into me, his eyes flashing. “You have no idea what you heard. None at all.” His jaw slams shut so violently, I hear his teeth snap together. “Forget Marina, forget your family and mine. Forget everything but the decision before you, Leni.” He continues advancing, forcing me to take matching steps backwards. “You’re at a fork in the road and you need to choose now. So what’s it going to be? What am I to you? Am I just a fling and are you going to marry him, or am I more?”

I push my hands into his chest again, but it does nothing to hold him back. “No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to make me be the one to take the leap here. This whole time, you’re the one who’s had another woman in the wings. You’re the one who’s been setting the rules.Youtellme.”

“I’m the one who’s spent the last four months protecting you, helping you, and earning your trust! I’m the one who’s been steadfast in my dedication to you. I’m the one who’s been honest,you’rethe one who’s lied.” His breaths are short and uneven, growing huskier with every viscerally uttered word. “For once, you owe me the truth about what you want.”

My back hits the wall. “Matteo—”

His palm comes down next to my face and he traps me beneath his body. “What do you want?”

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