“That’s exactly it.” He cuts in. “I dragged myself out. Used my belt for a tourniquet. Bad knot. Worse pain. But it did the deed.”
I stare at him, horrified.
“And then,” he adds, lips curling, “since I had fucked up by going without Matteo and backup, I called Rafe.”
My brows lift. “And?”
Lorenzo’s eyes gleam with dark amusement. “He answered like I was interrupting his beauty sleep.”
Despite myself, a laugh escapes. “No way.”
Lorenzo’s mouth lifts, the closest thing to real humor I’ve seen from him since the wedding. “He thought I was joking. Told me to ‘stop being dramatic.’”
“That sounds like him.”
“He showed up, but he wasn’t alone. He brought Matteo,” Lorenzo continues, voice rougher now. “Both of them took one look at me and went white, which was satisfying.
“I remember both of them so clearly despite being delusional from blood loss,” Lorenzo says, quieter. “Rafe was trying to hold pressure. Matteo kept telling me not to close my eyes.”
My chest aches. “And then?”
“I lived, obviously. But I told him if I died, he owed me a drink.”
I blink. “That’s what you said?”
He shrugs one shoulder. “I was trying to motivate him.”
“That’s not motivation.”
“It worked,” he replies.
Silence settles between us. I stare at the scar again, then at his bruised knuckles, then at his face. Something shifts in me.
Understanding.
Because monsters aren’t born. They’re made.
I swallow hard. “Does it hurt?”
His gaze flicks up, surprised.
“Still,” I clarify, gesturing helplessly at his scar. “Does it still hurt?”
“Sometimes,” he admits, the word reluctant. “When it rains. When it’s cold. When I’m tired.”
My throat tightens. “So basically always.”
His mouth curves faintly. “Basically.”
I stare at him, and my voice comes out before I can stop it. “Why show me?”
Lorenzo’s eyes sharpen, and he looks at me like I just asked him to confess to a crime he didn’t commit.
Then he shrugs. It’s small, almost careless. “You asked. And you were looking at me like you wanted to know.”
My cheeks heat. “I was looking because I was shocked.”
“Sure,” he replies, gaze dropping to my mouth briefly, then back to my eyes. “Shocked.”
