All Chapters of BURNING BETRAYAL: My Mafia Professor.: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

When I got home, I couldn’t sit still. I kept checking the time even when I knew only a few seconds had passed. The silence in the house made everything worse. It gave my thoughts too much space. Too much room to remember the hospital. To remember his face.I sat at the edge of the bed, my phone clutched in my hand so tightly my fingers ached. The screen had gone dark minutes ago, but I didn’t put it down. I couldn’t. It was the only thing tethering me to him. To whatever was happening outside this suffocating silence.The clock on the wall ticked.Each second sounded louder than the last.Tick.Tick.Tick.I lifted my head and looked at it again.5:56 PM.He should have been home by now.My throat tightened.He lost his aunt.My fingers curled slightly around the phone.I killed his aunt.The thought didn’t come like a scream. It came like a whisper.My stomach twisted.Did he know?Did he suspect?My heart began to pound harder, the sound filling my ears until it drowned out everyth

When Zander told me I would be going with him to his aunt’s funeral, the words stayed trapped behind my teeth.No.That was the first thing that rose inside me. Sharp and Immediate. But it never made it past my mouth.I had only nodded.Because there was nothing else I could do.Refusing would be wrong. Refusing would be strange. Refusing would make him look at me longer than he already did. Ask questions he wasn’t asking yet.So I nodded.And now I was here.Sitting in the car beside him.Trapped.The gates of the estate slid open slowly, the metal groaning as the driver pulled the car forward. Gravel crunched beneath the tires. The sound grated against my nerves.I stared straight ahead.My hands rested on my lap, fingers locked together so tightly the knuckles had gone pale.My stomach churned.Not from motion.From him.From everything.The car moved past the gates and onto the empty road. The estate disappeared behind us.I pressed my tongue against the roof of my mouth, swallow

“Who were you talking to?”The voice came from behind me.My heart jumped straight into my throat.For a second, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag so hard it started to hurt. I forced myself to turn slowly.Ciro stood a few steps behind me.Not Zander.Ciro.Relief hit first. It made my knees feel weak.But it didn’t last long.Because Ciro was looking at me. Really looking at me. Not in his usual careless way. His eyes moved over my face like he was trying to figure something out.I quickly used the back of my palm to wipe my mouth, pretending like I’d been trying to hold something down.“I was feeling nauseous,” I said. My voice came out steady enough. “I thought I was about to vomit.”Ciro didn’t say anything immediately.He just looked at me.“Are you okay?” he asked.I hesitated for a second before placing my hand over my stomach.His eyes dropped there immediately.My fingers pressed lightly against my stomach. I kept my face neu

I couldn’t breathe properly. My chest rose and fell too fast, each inhale sharp and useless. Zander stood in front of me, his arm extended, his hand steady, his eyes locked on mine with a look I had never seen before. There was no warmth in them. No familiarity. Behind him, I could see Ciro walking over to where we were standing. Luca didn’t move from the door.My fingers twitched at my sides, but I didn’t move. Zander tilted his head slightly, studying my face like he was trying to memorize every detail. Like he was trying to see something that had been there all along. “I couldn’t believe it at first,” he said quietly. My stomach dropped. “I knew something wasn’t right,” he continued, his finger resting near the trigger. “Weeks ago.” My throat tightened, but I forced myself to hold his gaze. He took a slow step closer, the gun never leaving my head. “The moment I found out my system was hacked,” he said. “Someone broke open my password. And you thought by fixing it I won’t be

A month passed.Time didn’t move the way it used to. It didn’t come in neat days with clear mornings and quiet nights. It came in waves. Some mornings I woke up disoriented, staring at the ceiling, unsure if it had been three days or three weeks since Zander found out about my real identity. Other days stretched so long I could hear my own breathing in the silence, slow and uneven, like the room was listening with me.I didn’t go out.Not once.The curtains stayed half closed. Light slipped through in thin lines across the floor, shifting from one side of the room to the other as the hours passed. I watched it sometimes. That was how I knew the day was ending.The first week, sleep refused to come. Every time I shut my eyes, I saw him again. The moment right before the gun went off. The way his body jerked. The look on his face.Not anger.Not even shock.Something else.Something that made it worse.I would whisper to myself, over and over, that I felt nothing for Zander.Sometimes t