My neck strained under the force, my hands instinctively reaching for his wrist as I tried to pull away.
“Vincenzo—”
“You don’t answer me with silence, Elena.”
His voice was low.
Dangerously calm.
But the grip on my face tightened, his fingers pressing into my jaw until I could feel the pressure.
“You’re hurting me—”
“I don’t care.”
The words came out flat.
His hold tightened further.
Tears welled immediately, hot and uninvited, blurring my vision before I could stop them.
One slipped free.
Then another.
Trailing down my cheek in quiet, burning lines.
“Please... let go of my jaw. You’re pressing too hard—I swear my jaw is going to break.”
I tried to pull his hand away again, my fingers trembling as they pressed against his wrist, but his grip didn’t yield.
“You’re hurting me. I’m already in pain—and my knee still hasn’t healed from your punishment.”
For a second—something shifted in his expression.
Not softness.
But something that looked disturbingly close to—something human.
He released me.
Abruptly.
As if the moment had never existed.
Air rushed back into my lungs in a sharp gasp, and I immediately brought a hand up to my jaw, cradling it as though I could physically press the pain back inside.
My fingers trembled as they hovered there, not quite sure whether to stay or move.
I chose to stay.
To hold it.
To keep the pain contained.
Tears continued to fall, silent and unrestrained now, sliding down my cheeks without permission.
I didn’t wipe them away.
