All Chapters of BURNING BETRAYAL: My Mafia Professor.: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

“Sit.”Zander gestured to the empty chair beside the other man like we were about to have a normal conversation.Like I wasn’t standing here with revenge carved into my bones.I shook my head slowly.My fingers slid down to my thigh, under the edge of the cape. The metal felt cold when I wrapped my hand around it.I brought the gun out.The movement felt louder than it was.“We can talk just fine like this,” I said.My arm lifted. The barrel pointed straight at his chest.My heart was pounding so hard it hurt.He didn’t flinch.Not even a blink.He leaned back against the booth like I was holding a glass of water instead of a gun. His gaze stayed on me. Calm. Steady. Piercing.Ciro’s body went still beside him. The other man stiffened in his chair, eyes flicking between us, calculating.“Why did you kill my father?” I asked.My voice didn’t sound like mine.It sounded thin.Too tight.Zander’s jaw shifted slightly before he spoke.“Your father did so many evil things,” he said evenly,

I didn’t remember walking into the house.One moment there had been cold air outside the bar. Streetlights. Zander’s hand at my back guiding me toward the car.The next thing I knew, I was sitting on a couch.The room around me looked unfamiliar and quiet, but I didn’t try to figure out where I was. I only knew that Zander was standing in front of me.He was holding a glass of water.His mouth was moving. His lips formed words slowly, like he was speaking carefully, but I couldn’t hear him.I stared at him.Just stared.His brows were pulled together tightly. There was a crease between them I had never noticed before. His jaw looked tense, like he was clenching his teeth. His eyes kept searching my face the way someone looks at a person who is slipping away.I watched his lips move again.Still nothing.The room was silent except for the loud pounding in my head.Zander slowly went down on his knees in front of me.His eyes never left mine.The movement was careful, almost hesitant, l

I blinked slowly. The plate of food sat untouched beside me, the smell of it crawling across my skin like it belonged to someone else. My head felt heavy, my chest tighter than ever. Every breath was a question I didn’t want to answer. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to disappear into the blanket.Zander had left some minutes ago.The room was silent, but it wasn’t peaceful. It was the kind of silence that presses against your ears until your skull feels smaller, tighter, like the air itself is shrinking around you.I closed my eyes and pulled the blanket closer.If I wrapped it tight enough, maybe it could hide me.Maybe it could bury the truth.But the truth didn’t stay outside.It lived inside me.My fingers dug into the fabric until my nails bit into my skin. The sting pulsed through my fingertips, sharp and immediate. For a second it dragged me back to the present.But it faded quickly.Nothing was strong enough to pull me away from the weight sitting

“Sir—”He stopped abruptly when he noticed me standing there.Then he turned back to Zander urgently.“There’s a man outside forcing his way through the gate.”The words barely settled in the air before heavy footsteps echoed from the entrance.A moment later, Uncle J pushed past the security guard and stepped inside.His eyes found me instantly.For a split second, he froze.And then he rushed toward me.“Child—”His arms wrapped around me before I could even react.The familiar scent of his coat and the rough warmth of his embrace broke something inside me. My fingers clutched the back of his shirt like I was holding onto the only solid thing left in the world.A sob tore out of my chest.“I’m here,” he murmured, his voice low and steady as his hand moved slowly up and down my back. “It’s okay, child. I’m here now.”But it wasn’t okay.Nothing about this was okay.My tears soaked into his shirt as my body trembled against him. My chest hurt from crying, from breathing, from existing

The spoon trembled slightly in my hand as I lifted another bite.The cereal had gone soft in the milk, the flakes breaking apart as they touched my tongue. It should have been easy to swallow. It was just cereal. Something simple. But the moment I tried to push it down my throat, my body resisted.My throat tightened.The food sat there, heavy and unmoving, like my body had forgotten how swallowing worked.I forced myself.Slowly.Painfully.The bite finally slid down, scraping the dryness of my throat.I lowered the spoon back into the bowl.My stomach twisted.I was hungry.I could feel it clearly now, a hollow ache in my stomach, sharp and persistent, like my body was begging me for something.But every time I tried to eat, something inside me recoiled.My fingers tightened around the spoon.Across from me, Zander hadn’t moved.He was watching.Every time I lifted the spoon, his gaze followed the movement. Every time I hesitated, his jaw tightened.Uncle J stood near the foot of t