2. MATTEO

Egines roared through the empty street like a pack of wolves chasing blood. The night air burned in my lungs as my bike cut through the wind while the road blured beneath me in a streak of darkness. 

As I crossed the finish line. My crew, the Diavlo Scuri, cheered behind me with their headlights flashing like camera bulbs. We'd just smoked one of the rival clubs in a street race. The bets were high so I had to make sure that I take home that money.

Fuck, I used all my money for that engagement ring for Giuli only for her to cheat on me. Fucking whore.

I pulled my helmet off and ran a hand through my sweat-soaked hair. Enzo threw an arm around my shoulder while laughing hard. “You fucking killed it out there.”

“Couldn’t let them walk away with our cash,” I muttered, trying to smile.

The others gave me a fist-bumped and slapped my back and the others revved their engines in celebration. For a moment, I let myself feel that small, burning satisfaction. It was better than silence. Better than hearing Giuli's voice in my head again and again crying my name as she ran away from me.

I looked down at my gloves. The same hands that once held her. The same hand that slapped her. I took my gloves off and gave it to Enzo to hold onto.

God.

But I shoved that guilt down, deep where it couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t ruin me.

Until, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up near the curb, headlights cutting the burnt rubber and laughter. My crew quieted down, some reaching for their guns instinctively. The windows were tinted, but I didn’t need to see to know who it was.

The passenger door opened, and out stepped Antonio Bianchi. Giuli's father.

A man I didn’t expect to ever see again. He never wanted me for his daughter.

He wore a dark coat his hands in his pockets, and his face unreadable as he walked toward me. There was no rush while he walks toward me but every step held the weight of a gun's lips pressed to your temple.

The silence from my crew was loud. “Matteo,” he said, his voice calm but cold.

I stood straighter, trying to match his composure. “Hello, sir."

“I need to talk. Alone.”

I hesitated. My throat felt tight, like a noose had suddenly slipped around it. “About what?”

He didn’t answer. He looked at my club as he was disgusted with my lifestyle. Then he turned his head slightly toward the car.

I nodded and followed him, leaving behind the smell of burnt rubber and the uneasy stares of my crew. We sat inside the backseat of the car. The leather still had that calvin jlein smell. The windows blocked the outside world completely. I was alone with the devil now.

He didn’t speak right away.

Instead, he looked at me for a long time—like a father looks at the man who broke his daughter.

Finally, he said, “Where's my daughter? Oh right, you don't know.”

I blinked confusedly. “What?”

“Giulianna,” he repeated, slower this time. “She’s missing. No one’s seen her since the night of her birthday.”

My chest tightened as I force out a laugh "Probably with the man he cheated me with. Shouldn't you be happy he left me?”

“She didn’t pack a bag. She didn’t take her phone. Her friends haven’t heard from her. My men can’t track her.”

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry. He leaned forward a bit, his voice sharp now. “I gave her to you because I trusted you.”

I flinched. “I trusted you,” he repeated, “to love her. To protect her. But instead, you slapped her in front of everyone. You humiliated her. You called her a whore. I accepted you even when I warned her you were no good for her."

“She cheated on me!” I snapped, louder than I meant to. “I saw the photos. The entire city saw it.”

Antonio stared at me for a moment. Then… he laughed as he rest on his seat.

It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t joyful. It was bitter almost pitying. He reached down and pulled out a slim folder from beside him. “You really think my daughter would throw away everything she had with you… for some stranger?"

He tossed the folder onto my lap. I looked at him.

“Open it if you have the balls to face your mistakes.”

My fingers trembled as I unfastened the flap and pulled out the papers. It was another bunch of photos. The photos were a picture of a woman—Valentine—handing a thick envelope to someone in a hoodie. The next shots were clearer. 

Then the next photos were raw files of the image that had played on Giuli’s screen. Zoomed in, analyzed, broken down. The face of the woman in the picture at her birthday party—it wasn’t even Giuli. Slight resemblance, but not Giuli. The lighting was different. The background didn’t match.

A setup. A complete fabrication.

I felt the blood drain from my face. Antonio’s voice was a razor. “You believed your whore over my daughter who was willing to throw every inheritance in her way just to be with you.”

I looked up at him, my vision starting to blur. “I didn’t know…”

“You didn’t care to know. There's a difference with not knowing and not caring to know." he corrected. “You were so quick to accuse, quick k to throw her away. And quick to bring another woman into your bed while she was begging you to listen to her."

I felt sick and barely could breathe. Words wouldn't even leave my mouth. “You didn't even gave her time to explain herself." he added quietly. “She kept saying your name… like she still hoped you’d believe her.”

The folder dropped away from as my hands “You lost her, you find her. Whatever pain she’s in you put her there, Matteo.” I turned to him, barely able to lift my head. “Where do I even start? What if she doesn’t want to see me?”

He looked at me like I was the dumbest man on earth. “Trust me, she wants nothing but for you to just be a nightmare she forgets once she wakes up." He said as he fixed his coat.

“I’ll find her,” I whispered. “I swear to you, I’ll find her.” I said not even having the courage to look at him out of shame. Antonio's driver opened the door for me, signaling that he wants me out. I swallowed as I stepped out. But before his driver shut it, he turned his head one last time.

“If you don’t… I’ll bury you myself.”

Then his driver closed the door. And I was alone in the now suffocating streets with nothing but my guilt, my shame, and a thousand burning regrets.

I stared at the photograph on my hand. It was Giuli's result from the ob-gyne and it turns out she's pregnant with my kid. My club approached me and ask if I was okay and what happened inside the car.

How would I be okay when I pushed her away pregnant with my kids... twins.