The Love He Killed Chapter 5

Matteo's POV

I raced back to the estate, flooring it.

Several men were gathered at the cold storage entrance. When they saw me, they all stepped back in panic.

"Boss, you need to stay calm..." Carlo tried to block me, trembling.

I punched him in the face. He slammed into the wall and slid down.

The iron door was wide open, the thick stench of blood pouring out.

I rushed in, and the whole world instantly stopped.

Valentina lay in a pool of blood, her hands still tightly protecting her abdomen. Her face was pale as paper, dried blood at the corner of her mouth, those once-bright eyes half-open with pupils already dilated.

"No... this isn't real..."

I stumbled forward and fell to my knees. "Valentina! Wake up!"

"Doctor!" I roared. "Get a doctor! NOW!"

I picked her up - she was impossibly light, covered in horrifying wounds.

"Boss..." Carlo crept in, terrified. "It's... it's already too late..."

I grabbed his throat: "How did she die? TALK!"

Carlo's face turned red instantly: "It was... Miss Torrino... the madam tried to escape and got caught... the Miss whipped her... kicked her belly... and gave her the second shot..."

"Second shot?"

"Double dose of the delay drug... the madam started hemorrhaging..." He squeezed out the words with difficulty. "We tried to save her... but it was too late..."

I released him, and he crashed heavily to the ground.

"Where is that bitch?" I roared.

"She ran... heard you were coming back and ran..."

"Find her! Tear the earth apart if you have to!"

Carlo scrambled away.

I picked up Valentina again, noticing her clothes were torn to shreds, wounds covering her entire body. She must have been in so much pain, so desperate, so scared... and I wasn't there for her.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." I buried my face in her cold hair, sobbing for the first time in my life.

---

I moved Valentina's body to the master bedroom, laying her on the bed we once shared. Every day I changed her clothes, brushed her hair, as if she were still alive.

The room began to smell of decay, but I didn't care. I couldn't let her lie alone in that damn cold storage.

"Matteo..." The door opened, and Jennifer walked in holding the baby. "You need to let her rest in peace. You can't go on like this."

I held Valentina's stiff hand, not turning around.

"The Torrino family needs you to pull yourself together." She came closer. "We still have a child to take care of..."

"Get out."

"What?"

"Take your kid and leave this room." I turned to look at her coldly. "We're even."

Jennifer's face instantly went pale: "But... I thought... you cared about me..."

"Never did." I cut her off. "Everything I did for you was because of Lorenzo. Now his 'son' is born, we're even."

"Then what were all those days? You went to my appointments, prepared the nursery..." Her voice trembled.

"Consider it my duty to my brother." I stepped closer. "If it weren't for Lorenzo's child, I wouldn't have looked at you twice."

Tears poured from her eyes: "Then why did you treat Valentina like that? If you loved her, why did you let her suffer?"

"Because I HATED her!" I roared, a year of suppressed pain finally exploding. "Because everyone said she killed Lorenzo!"

Memories flooded back - that rainy night a year ago, Lorenzo ambushed by a rival family, calling me three times for help. But I was unconscious from the soup Valentina brought, missing all his distress calls. When I woke up, Lorenzo was already dead.

Everyone in the family believed Valentina drugged the soup to seduce me and get pregnant. For a whole year, I tortured her with hatred.

"So you tortured her?" Jennifer suddenly turned shrill. "Ignored her, humiliated her, made her live worse than a servant? Matteo, if you really hated her, why didn't you just kill her?"

I froze.

Why?

"You won't admit it, will you?" Jennifer wiped her tears, revealing a mocking smile. "You actually loved her, from the first moment you saw her. But you loved Lorenzo more, loved the family 'honor' more. So you chose to believe the most convenient story - it was all the outsider woman's fault."

Every word hit like a whip.

"YOUR coldness killed her!" she screamed. "YOUR attitude made everyone think they could trample on her! Why did Sophia dare to act? Because she knew you didn't CARE!"

"GET OUT!" I roared. "You fucking GET OUT!"

Jennifer ran away holding the crying baby.

I collapsed beside the bed, forehead against Valentina's cold hand.

"She's right... I killed you..." I choked. "If I could have trusted you a little more, if I could have been gentler..."

But repentance came too late.

She could never hear it again.

---

Late at night, insomnia had become routine. I wandered the estate, seeking some peace.

Hushed arguing came from the back garden.

"Derek, are you crazy? Coming to find me now?" It was Jennifer's voice.

I hid in the shadows, watching her argue with Derek, the estate groundskeeper.

"Matteo's lost it now," Derek grabbed her wrist, "perfect time to continue the mission."

Mission?

"What mission? I don't understand..." Jennifer tried to break free.

"Stop pretending!" Derek sneered. "Didn't you tell me Lorenzo's schedule? To have your affair with me, you leaked his entire plan that night."

The truth hit me like lightning.

Lorenzo's death... was Jennifer's fault?

"I... I thought I just wanted to know his schedule..." Jennifer cried. "I didn't know that would happen... you seduced me..."

"So what if you know?" Derek smiled smugly. "Lorenzo's already dead anyway. By the way, the Benedetto family is very pleased with your performance. As long as you keep cooperating with me to destroy the Torrino family, you can have whatever you want."

The Benedetto family... Lorenzo's mortal enemies.

"But Matteo won't be that easy to handle..."

Derek scoffed, "He's a fool. To protect our bastard, he killed his own real wife."

I felt the whole world spinning.

I killed my beloved wife and our child to protect my enemy's bastard?

Rage and despair erupted like a volcano.

I charged out, punching Derek in the face.

"You son of a bitch!"

Derek instantly collapsed, blood pouring from his nose.

"Matteo..." Jennifer looked at me in terror. "What did you hear?"

"Everything." I stepped closer, filled with hatred. "You got Lorenzo killed, and the kid belongs to this spy."

"I can explain..." Jennifer fell to her knees.

I grabbed her hair and punched her face again and again: "Explain how you betrayed my brother? Explain how you killed my wife?"

"Matteo! Please!" Jennifer begged through her bloody, mangled face.

I pulled out my radio: "Everyone to the back garden! NOW!"

Soon, Carlo arrived with the men.

"Boss?"

"Drag them out and feed them to the dogs." I gave the order coldly.