"He might make you leave."
"Then you're coming with me."
"Enzo—"
"I mean it, Isabella. I'm done being separated from you. I'm done letting other people decide whether we get to be together. If Matteo says I have to leave, you're leaving with me and we'll figure out the rest as we go."
The certainty in his voice makes my chest tight.
"Okay," I whisper. “If he makes you leave, I go with you."
He kisses my forehead and we lie there until the sun starts coming up and neither of us has slept and there's a knock on the door.
Rafael's voice. "Matteo wants to see you both. His office. Ten minutes."
We get up in silence.
I shower quickly, change into clean clothes and try not to think about what this meeting means, what Matteo is going to say, whether this is the conversation where everything falls apart again or the one where it finally comes together.
Enzo is waiting when I come out, already dressed, his face carefully neutral.
"Ready?" he asks.
"Let’s do this."
We walk through the house together and I'm acutely aware of the way people are looking at us, the staff and the guards, everyone knowing what happened yesterday, everyone knowing that Enzo came back and rescued me and killed for me.
Everyone watching to see what happens next.
Matteo's office door is closed when we arrive.
Enzo knocks and we wait and my heart is hammering so hard I can hear it in my ears.
"Come in," Matteo's voice.
We enter together and Matteo is behind his desk, when he sees us his eyes immediately go to the way Enzo's hand is resting on my lower back, the way we're standing close enough that our shoulders are almost touching.
"Close the door," he says.
Enzo closes it and we stand in front of Matteo's desk like students called to the principal's office.
I'm trying to read his expression, trying to figure out what he's thinking, but his face gives nothing away.
He's quiet for a long moment, just looking at us.
Then he speaks.
"I had a conversation with Alessia last night," he says. "A long one. About you two. About everything that's happened. About what I should do."
I hold my breath.
"She told me I was being an idiot." A small smile flickers at the corner of his mouth. "Not in those exact words, but close enough. She said that keeping you apart is only causing more damage. That I'm punishing you both for something that isn't actually a crime."
"Matteo—" I start.
He holds up one hand. "Let me finish."
I close my mouth.
