Page 20 of Cavaliere

I’ve been trying not to think about everything that happened. I want it to all just be a nightmare, but my face says otherwise. “Look, I don’t really know. I had that weird feeling like I was being watched on my way home, and when I noticed the usual car wasn’t parked out front, that feeling grew.” Guilt flashes in his eyes. “Don’t do that.” I shake my head. “Don’t feel guilty. I told you I didn’t want your help. I’m sorry for saying what I did when I called. I should have never blamed you. It’s not your fault.”

Matteo holds up his hand. “I’m going to stop you right there because it is my fault, Wren. I told you I would take care of it, and I didn’t. I’ll regret that until the day I die.”

“We can agree to disagree.” I side-eye him. “Anyway, I decided to just shake off the feeling and go to bed. I was exhausted from work anyway. But then, I woke up because I kept hearing a bang. It didn’t take me long to realize that bang was someone trying to break in. He got to my room because I froze like an idiot.”

“That’s a normal reaction. Very rarely do people just spring into action.”

“I bet you do.” And that annoys the shit out of me. He’s just always so… composed. With the exception of when he stabbed that dude’s hand. God, that was fucking hot.

“I do, but that comes with the territory. Now, please continue.”

I let out a huge sigh before continuing. “I ran out of my room, but he caught me by my hair, threw me on the ground, tried to…” I trail off. “He tried too⁠—”

Matteo rests his hand on my thigh, squeezing reassuringly, making me feel safe in just one move. I study his face, surprised to see that it doesn’t match his body language. Inside, Matteo is raging. He’s barely hanging on by a thread if his eye twitch is anything to go by. “You can skip that part, tesoro. He will pay for every single fucking thing.”

He’s the definition of a giant, walking red flag. I should be so scared that I’m running out of the room, away from this man. But I’m not. I don’t know him that well, but something tells me that he would kill a man just for looking at me the wrong way.

“He didn’t rape me, Matteo,” I say softly as the breath he had been holding in rushes out of him. “I have no doubt that he was about to. But I kneed him as hard as I could in the fucking balls and shoved him off of me.” I smirked, trying to lighten the mood. “Then I grabbed a knife from the block on the counter and stabbed him in the stomach just as he was pulling me back by my hair. Then I ran out of there, and you know the rest.”

Matteo lets out a laugh of relief. “Fuck, I knew you would be ruthless. Knife wounds are no fun, especially in the stomach.” His face grows serious. “Did you kill him?”

I blanch at the thought.

“Oh my god. Oh my fucking god!” I yell as I jump to my feet and start pacing. “What if I killed him?”

“Tesoro, calm down. I’m sure he’s fine.” Matteo stands and puts his hands on my shoulders to keep me in place.

“Calm down?” I screech. “I probably just killed someone, Matteo! I can’t go to prison. I’m not cut out to be someone’s bitch. Oh my god! I’m going to prison!”

“Wren.” Matteo’s tone cuts through. “I don’t think he’s dead because there wasn’t anyone in your apartment when my brothers went and checked it out. It’s possible someone could have come and removed his body, but let’s be honest here, that piece of shit deserved to die. But you don’t know that’s what happened.”

I try to calm myself down by nodding my head quickly as if that’s somehow going to bring my anxiety level down. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Take some deep breaths. What helps you relax usually?” Matteo asks as he rubs my back soothingly. This is nice. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been touched like this that wasn’t by some creepy fuck at the bar. It’s nice to have someone who cares, even if I know it’s just because of this situation.

“I usually take a bath or watch a comfort show in bed. Now that we talked, I’ll call Delaney and get out of your hair.”

Matteo opens his mouth to respond but is cut off by a knock at the door. “That’s Aldo. I asked him to come check you over to make sure everything is okay. It’s open!”

The door opens, and in walks a man who resembles Matteo. Maybe another brother? There’s definitely some sort of relation. The black hair and dark brown eyes are clearly dominating traits in this family.

He stops dead in his tracks as soon as he sees me, the smile wiping off his face. “What the fuck,” he whispers slowly. “Tell me he’s dead,” he demands, looking right at Matteo.

Matteo stiffens. “I’m working on it.”

Aldo nods as if that’s enough of an answer to satisfy him.

“Wren, this is Aldo. Aldo, this is Wren,” Matteo introduces us.

“Hello, Wren.” Aldo smiles.

“Hi.” I smile awkwardly.

“Let’s get you looked over, and then you and Boss can get on with it.”

“Are you a doctor?”

“Of sorts,” is his response. My eyes shoot to Matteo, who is watching Aldo’s every move like a hawk.