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Chapter 49--- Forgiven?

Author: Beauty m.j
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-18 05:07:30

Matteo didn't stop to think.

Didn’t stop to breathe.

He moved like a blade through the city—fast, sharp, and forged in fear. The words from the burner phone burned in his mind:

Leo is not where you left him.

But Matteo had left Leo with Dominic.

That night—the night everything exploded—Matteo had walked out, soaked and shattered, leaving Leo asleep in the guest room Dominic had set up for him. Leo had been safe, tucked under heavy blankets, his small chest rising and falling steadily.

So how?

How could someone have gotten to him?

He ran until his lungs burned. His shoes slapped hard against wet pavement, vision tunneling. Logic and panic wrestled in his chest, but instinct took over.

By the time he reached the edge of the city, he was drenched in sweat and barely breathing. He found a corner to dial the number again.

No answer.

Then a second text came:

Tick, tick.

He stared at the words. Time was running out. His fingers trembled, knuckles pale around the phone.

He had to see Dominic.
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  • Burning empire   Chapter 49--- Forgiven?

    Matteo didn't stop to think.Didn’t stop to breathe.He moved like a blade through the city—fast, sharp, and forged in fear. The words from the burner phone burned in his mind:Leo is not where you left him.But Matteo had left Leo with Dominic.That night—the night everything exploded—Matteo had walked out, soaked and shattered, leaving Leo asleep in the guest room Dominic had set up for him. Leo had been safe, tucked under heavy blankets, his small chest rising and falling steadily.So how?How could someone have gotten to him?He ran until his lungs burned. His shoes slapped hard against wet pavement, vision tunneling. Logic and panic wrestled in his chest, but instinct took over.By the time he reached the edge of the city, he was drenched in sweat and barely breathing. He found a corner to dial the number again.No answer.Then a second text came:Tick, tick.He stared at the words. Time was running out. His fingers trembled, knuckles pale around the phone.He had to see Dominic.

  • Burning empire   Chapter 48-- Let The Fears Fall

    The safe house wasn’t much.A crooked one-bedroom apartment wedged between a dying barbershop and an abandoned dry cleaner, with peeling paint, a water heater that clanked every few hours, and a broken lamp in the corner that blinked like it had epilepsy. But it had a door that locked, and a window that faced nothing but bricks. No one would look for him here.Matteo slid to the floor once he got inside. He didn’t turn on the lights. Just sat in the dark, listening to the echo of his own breath.It was over.Not just the mission, not just the betrayal.Everything.He’d burned every bridge — with Dominic, with the ones who’d sent him, even with himself.His only anchor now was Leo.And Leo didn’t even know.Matteo leaned his head back against the door, eyes fluttering closed. For the first time in days, he let the tears fall without choking them back. They were quiet, shaking. Exhaustion wrapped around him like chains, and he let it.He slept on the floor that night, curled up like a q

  • Burning empire   Chapter 47--- You Fell For Him‼️

    The rain softened into mist by morning, but the cold lingered, clinging to the edges of everything like grief. Matteo kept walking. His shoes were soaked through, hoodie heavy against his back, but he didn’t stop. His body moved out of instinct, out of the old muscle memory of survival. Head down. Shoulders up. Keep breathing. Keep walking. Don’t think.But the thoughts came anyway.He’d seen Dominic angry before. He’d seen him pull a trigger, snap a command, level entire empires with a single call. But last night wasn’t anger.It was betrayal.And that made it worse.Matteo walked until the estate was nothing but a memory behind him, until his legs screamed and the world turned orange with dawn. He didn’t know where he was heading. Somewhere far. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere Leo wasn’t.But Leo would ask.Leo would wonder why his brother wasn’t beside him that night.He stopped under an abandoned bus shelter, sank onto the cold bench, and buried his face in his hands.“I’m sorry,” he w

  • Burning empire   Chapter 46-- So, Everything Was A Plan?

    The rain hadn't stopped for hours. It bled against the estate windows like the sky itself was grieving. Inside the mansion, candlelight flickered against the library shelves, casting soft shadows across the hardwood floor. Matteo sat curled into the corner of the leather couch, a thick throw draped around his shoulders. He was reading, or pretending to. In truth, he was listening — to the footsteps overhead, to the occasional rustle of Dominic's movement in the study upstairs, to the silence that had grown too loud between them. There had been a shift after the warehouse. Dominic didn’t say much, but Matteo could feel it — the way Dominic looked at him now, slower, longer. Not just with suspicion, but something else. Something cracked and hungry. And Matteo... Matteo had stopped pretending he didn’t want Dominic too. It wasn’t just about Leo anymore. It wasn’t just about the mission. It was about the way Dominic made him feel like the world quieted. Even in the danger, even in the

  • Burning empire   Chapter 45--- The Lie He Lives

    CHAPTER 45 – THE LIE HE LIVESDominic sat alone in the underground wine cellar. Not drinking. Just staring at the glass of red between his fingers like it might whisper answers.The cellar was cold. The kind of cold he normally liked.But tonight, it reminded him too much of the warehouse. Of blood and cement and silence.He leaned back in the leather chair and closed his eyes.There was something Matteo wasn’t saying.Not just about the kidnapping.But about everything.Dominic wasn’t stupid. He'd known for a while now that Matteo had secrets. There were too many moments—too many pauses before answering, too many glances that held questions instead of answers.But he had ignored them.Because wanting Matteo had become more important than knowing him.And now, it was eating him alive.---Matteo sat on the floor of the library, cross-legged, flipping through a medical journal. Not reading. Just looking at words.His mind was far away.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Dominic in t

  • Burning empire   Chapter 44-- A Lie That Started Everything

    The estate was quieter than usual. Not the calm, soft kind of quiet, but the strained kind. The kind that buzzed beneath the surface like an electrical wire ready to snap.Dominic stood in his office, staring at the large glass windows overlooking the garden. Rain tapped gently against the glass. It had been doing that for hours now, the same rhythm, like a heartbeat he couldn’t ignore.Behind him, the door was closed. Locked. Just the way he needed it.Matteo was still asleep in his bed upstairs.His bed.Dominic had refused to let the staff move him back to the guest quarters. It wasn’t even a debate. Matteo was carried upstairs and placed under thick blankets in Dominic’s own room, while Dominic stood guard at the edge of the bed for the entire night.He hadn’t slept.Not one minute.There were too many thoughts tearing through his mind.The warehouse. The blood. The bruises. The rope burns on Matteo’s wrists.And worse—the silence.The fact that Matteo had never cried out. Never b

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