“You do know,” I growl, the words dragged from somewhere deep.“Don’t play dumb with me, Em.Not now.”
Her mouth twitches.No smirk this time.Just fury.
“I don’t know, Matteo,” she snaps, eyes wild with fire.
I don’t believe her.I can’t.Because if she’s telling the truth, then I’ve got nothing left but violence or failure.So I let the anger take over.
I shove her back in the chair harder.Hard enough so she feels it in her spine.Hard enough to make the chains bite into her skin.
“You’re lying,” I say, standing over her like a shadow she can’t outrun.“Say it again.Look me in the eye and fucking say it.”
She glares up at me, chest heaving.
“I.Don’t.Fucking.Know.”
Each word hits as a punch to the ribs.Because I want them to be a lie.I need them to be a lie.Because if they’re not… Then I’m not getting the information my father needs.I’m not doing my job extracting the information from her.Because if she’s telling the truth… Then I’ll be hurting her for nothing.
And if I stop now.If I don’t break her, my father will send someone who won’t hesitate.Someone who won’t care what she was to me.
I stand there, staring down at her as if she’s the trigger and I’m the loaded gun.My breath is ragged, fists tight, as though if I don’t do something, I’ll come apart right here in front of her.
“Who’s protecting him, Em?”My voice is low, lethal, meant to wound.
Her eyes narrow, defiance crackling behind them.
“Who’s hiding the bastard that sold you out?”I press, each word like a shove.
She jerks against the cuffs, teeth bared, snarling as if feral.“My father would never sell out his family,” she yells.“He’s nothing fucking close to you.”
I laugh, sharp and cruel.
“He already fucking did, Em.”
“No,” she spits.“Don’t stand there acting like you’re better than him as if you're some righteous executioner.You take orders from the same monster that built him.You became what he tried to protect me from.”
“He sold you out,” I say, eyes locked on hers, daring her to deny it.“Traded you.He fucking pawned you off to the highest bidder and didn’t look back.”I pause, letting the silence rot between us.“He gave you up to save himself.And you’re still bleeding loyalty for a man who never even flinched.”
“I don’t believe you,” she says.
“How the fuck do you think I found you, Em?”I snap.“My father was the highest bidder.”
She freezes.
Not all at once.
Just a flicker.
A blink.A breath that catches in her throat.
But I see it.
The crack.The mask slips just enough for the pain to crawl through.The kind of pain that doesn’t scream, it just sinks in.
I should feel satisfied.I should press harder.But instead, something shifts in my chest.
Because for the first time since I walked into this room, she falters.And for a breath, just one, I see the girl I used to protect.The one I swore I’d never let anyone break her like this.
Her lips part like she wants to fight, but the words don’t come.
