“I think it’s more than that,” I said softly, my voice almost swallowed by the sound of the waves.
Matteo tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly – not in suspicion, but in that way he did when he was paying attention. Really paying attention. The breeze lifted the hem of my white nightgown, wrapping it lightly around my legs. The moon hung low over the ocean, a silver coin spilled across the sky.
“Then tell me,” he said gently. “What’s going on in that sharp, complicated head of yours?”
A laugh almost escaped me, but it came out as a breath instead. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Start anywhere.” He took a slow step closer, not crowding me, just… there. Solid.
I stared out at the horizon, where the black ocean met the night sky. “I’ve lived in New York my entire life. Everything I’ve ever worked for is there. My family, the business, my future. It’s all mapped out, like someone drew the road for me before I was even born.”
He stayed quiet, letting me unravel my thoughts.
“And for the first time,” I whispered, “The idea of going back doesn’t make me feel strong. It makes me feel… Trapped.”
The word hung between us, fragile but true.
Matteo exhaled through his nose, slowly. “You think maybe that road isn’t yours,” he said. Not a question – an observation.
I glanced at him then, at the way the moonlight touched the gold in his hair and turned his skin to warm bronze. His linen shirt fluttered slightly against the wind, and he looked like he belonged here – free, untamed, alive.
“I don’t know what’s mine anymore,” I admitted. The confession surprised me as much as it did him. “I thought I did. I thought becoming Underboss was the next logical step. That it’s what I wanted. What I had to want. But lately…”
“Lately,” he echoed, taking another careful step toward me.
“Lately I’ve been wondering if I even want that life,” I said, looking back out at the water. “If I want to keep living in New York. If I want to be part of something I didn’t really choose, just… inherited. I don’t know.”
The admission felt like tearing something open inside me, raw and real.
Matteo was quiet for a long time. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and certain. “You know, it’s okay not to have it all figured out.”
I blinked at him. “You sound way too calm about this.”
He smirked slightly, that crooked, devastating smirk. “I’ve lived long enough to know that pretending you’ve got it all figured out is a trap. And you? You’ve been carrying everyone else’s expectations for so long, you forgot to ask yourself what you actually want.”
The truth of it landed like a soft punch to my chest. I wrapped my arms loosely around myself, more out of instinct than cold.
“What if I don’t know what that is?” I asked quietly. “What if I can’t figure it out?”
Matteo stepped close enough now that I could feel his body heat cut through the cool night air. His voice softened, almost like he was letting me in on a secret. “Then you take your time. You explore. You let yourself breathe for once. You stop living like every decision has to be final and perfect.”
I looked up at him, the night sky reflected in his eyes. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It’s not,” he admitted. “But it’s worth it.”
Something in my chest loosened then, like the knot I’d been carrying all week finally slipped. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t performing, or strategizing, or playing a part. I was just… me.
The moonlight washed over the beach, and the waves whispered at our feet. Matteo stood beside me – not as the boss, not as the flirt, but as someone who, unexpectedly, understood.
And for that moment, under the stars, it was enough.
“Let’s go swim.”
The suggestion caught me completely off guard.
I blinked at him, that mischievous glint sparking in his eyes under the moonlight. I smirked. “Matteo… I’m scared of the ocean.”
Something shifted in his expression – so fleeting I almost missed it. A flicker of recognition. Maybe even understanding. Then his usual teasing mask slid back into place.
