"I know." My voice was shaky. "I don't know why."
"You just cut ties with your entire family. You're allowed to cry."
"It's not just that." I pressed my face against his chest. "It's everything. The call. Choosing to stay. Choosing you. Feeling this—" I gestured vaguely between us. "This intense about someone who kidnapped me."
"Regrets?"
"No." The word came out firm despite the tears. "No regrets. Just... overwhelmed. By how much everything's changed. By how much I want this even though it's insane."
Matteo held me tighter. "It is insane. Completely fucked up."
"But real?"
"Real," he confirmed. "So fucking real it scares me."
I looked up at him. "You're scared?"
"Terrified." His voice was raw. Honest. "I've never felt this way about anyone. Never wanted someone so completely. Never been willing to burn down everything for one person." He cupped my face. "You scare the hell out of me, Stefan. What I feel for you. How far I'd go to keep you."
"How far would you go?"
"As far as it takes." His eyes held mine. "I'd go to war with your family. With the other families. With the FBI. With anyonewho tried to take you from me. I'd burn down the entire world if that's what it took to keep you safe."
The intensity of his words should have terrified me.
Instead, they made me feel cherished. Protected. Chosen in ways I'd never experienced.
"That's probably unhealthy," I said.
"Definitely unhealthy." He smiled slightly. "We're both completely fucked up about each other."
"And that's okay?"
"I don't know." He pulled me closer. "But I don't care enough to stop. Do you?"
I thought about it. About Antonio's warnings. About Stockholm syndrome and trauma bonding and all the psychological reasons this shouldn't work.
"No," I said finally. "I don't care enough to stop either."
We lay there in silence for a while. Both processing. Both trying to understand what we'd become to each other.
Matteo's hand traced patterns on my back. Soothing. Gentle. So at odds with the fierce possession he'd shown moments ago.
"Do you think I made the right choice?" I asked quietly. "Refusing to go back?"
"I think you made the choice that was right for you. That's all that matters."
"Antonio said I'm naive. That you're using me. That I'm going to regret this."
"Are you?" Matteo's hand stilled on my back. "Regretting it?"
"No." I was surprised by how certain I sounded. "I'm scared. And guilty. And worried about what comes next. But I'm not regretting choosing to stay."
"Good." He pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Because I meant what I said. I'm not letting you go. Not to your family. Not to anyone."
"Even if I wanted to leave?"
He was quiet for a moment. "If you genuinely wanted to leave—if you woke up one day and realized this was a mistake—I'd let you go. It would destroy me. But I'd let you go." His arms tightened around me. "But I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you never want to."
