When Love Had Reached Its End

Matteo pressed me against the wall, pulled the knife from his shoulder and turned the blade so the tip pointed at my neck.

"How could you attack my child!" he shouted.

"Victoria, have I treated you so well that you've forgotten who you are?" he added.

"Without me protecting you, you'd be dead long ago!"

"But now you’ve become too arrogant. You cannot protect your own child, so you attack other children. You are fucking monster! How can you be capable of such a thing?"

Although every word cut me, I kept my face calm and smiled.

"Didn’t you always say if we had to end things, one of us would have to die?" I asked.

"Since no one dared to do it, I’ll ask you myself!"

I shouted, "Kill me now! If I'm not dead, you won't have a good life!"

However, the blood-stained knife failed to reach my neck. Instead, Matteo met my stubborn eyes, while his smile softened.

"Victoria, I’ve told you that we don’t need to fight to the death because of this," he said.

After that, he told me, "You decide what to do with the child. I will not ask whether he lives or dies."

"This matter ends here. Don’t mention it again. Understand?" he ordered.

Matteo was as cold as ever, like the part of me that felt nothing. He did not look back, did not sign the papers and slammed the door as he left. For ten years, I had never ever seen his back until now.

In my memory, he used to run to me through blood and chaos, always shielding me with his body. His back had always seemed firm and sure. But now I noticed a small tremor of worry beneath that strength.

I curled my lips into a bitter smile and called my bodyguard.

"Release him. I'm not cruel enough to harm a child."

"But I want the child's mother's information in ten minutes," I told him.

Unfortunately, my people found almost nothing. With Matteo’s power, saving someone would have been easy. That was why I could only find a few clues. Those few clues broke the fragile control I had over my feelings.

Five years ago, Matteo was not with me the night I lost my baby. I had thought he had taken his men out to avenge me. He had not.

Instead, Matteo had been only a few steps away. He was with another woman as she gave birth. So, the betrayal had started early.

When my husband had sworn he would never let me down in this life, my body and my heart had already begun to drift apart. I swallowed the sudden pain, gripped the bloodied knife and slashed it through the screen.

Deep love had been broken and only hatred remained between us. Before I could take the child home, the mother was unable to control her anger. Sylvia Bruno came to my door.

The moment she pushed the door open, Sylvia shoved a dagger at my chest.

"Bitch, you touch my child and I will kill you!" she screamed.

I turned my head without thinking. The blade tore through my arm, leaving a long, bleeding wound. Flesh split while the blood poured out.

I pretended not to feel the pain. Then, I grabbed her hair and slammed her head into the doorframe.

My men held Sylvia down until she fell to her knees. That woman did not cry. She just stared at me with fierce eyes. She was truly beautiful, with eyes as clear as the naive me had once been.

The same savage look burned in her face that I now had inside me. It was a pity she had no idea that she could not leave this without paying a heavy price. I picked up a baseball bat leaning against the wall and brought it down hard on her leg.

The sound of breaking bone mixed with her screams, but it gave me no pity.