The Love He Killed Chapter 8

Valentina's POV

She was bound hand and foot, duct tape over her mouth, covered in blood. A month of torture had left her gaunt and unrecognizable. Her once-proud eyes now showed only terror.

The tape was ripped off, and Sophia immediately started sobbing: "Brother! Save me! I don't want to die!"

Seeing his sister's condition, Matteo's eyes instantly turned red: "Sophia... what did you do to her?"

I slowly walked toward her, my voice ice-cold: "What did I do? The same things she once did to me."

"Brother..." Sophia wept, "She's lost it... she has people torture me every day... please save me..."

I crouched down and slapped her hard across the face.

"SMACK!"

The crisp sound of the slap echoed across the dock. Sophia's face instantly swelled.

"Remember that whip? Remember how it felt to kick my belly?" I sneered.

"I... I was wrong..." she trembled. "I'll never do it again..."

Father walked over and stepped on her fingers.

"AHHH—!" Sophia let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Talk." Father said coldly. "Tell your dear brother who really drugged that soup a year ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Sophia shook her head desperately.

Father pressed down harder. The sound of breaking bones was clearly audible.

"AH! I'll talk! I'll talk!" She was in agony. "It was me... I drugged it..."

Matteo's eyes widened: "What?"

"I put drugs in the soup..." Sophia sobbed uncontrollably. "I wanted you to drink it... then..."

"Then sleep with you." I coldly finished her sentence. "But you never thought your drug would end up helping me... much less that Lorenzo would die..."

Sophia's face twisted instantly: "It's all YOUR fault! You BITCH! That drug was meant for ME!"

"So you hated me?" I crouched down, grabbing her chin. "So you pinned everything on me?"

"You stole everything that was MINE!" Sophia screamed hysterically. "That night should have been MINE!"

"Are you insane?" Matteo stepped back, face pale. "I'm your BROTHER!"

"NO!" Sophia suddenly got agitated. "We're not blood-related! I'm adopted! I have the RIGHT to love you!"

I watched this circus coldly, feeling nothing but disgust.

"Did you hear that? That's the truth." I slowly turned to Matteo. "Now you want my forgiveness? Fine, I'll give you a chance."

Matteo looked up, hope flickering in his eyes: "What chance?"

"Handle her yourself." I pointed at Sophia. "The murderer who killed your son."

Matteo's face went deathly pale: "The baby... our baby..."

"The baby's not dead!" Sophia suddenly shouted. "You must have hidden him somewhere!"

I took off a necklace from around my neck. Inside was a small amount of ash.

"These are our baby's ashes." My voice was calm as death. "Want to know how he died?"

Under the moonlight, the ashes in the necklace looked particularly horrifying.

"No... impossible..." Matteo stared wide-eyed.

"He slowly suffocated in that cold storage, struggling desperately in my womb." I recounted coldly. "Your drugs prevented him from being born normally, the freezing cold made his heartbeat slower and slower... finally, he died in my arms."

"He was so small, so light, hadn't even seen this world..." I continued. "And then he turned to ash..."

Matteo collapsed, letting out a wail: "No... no... my son..."

"You killed him with your own hands." I put the necklace back around my neck. "For a spy's bastard, you murdered your own flesh and blood."

"AHHH—!" Matteo clutched his head, sobbing. "I deserve to die... I deserve to die..."

He suddenly looked up, madness blazing in his eyes. He rushed toward Sophia, grabbing a piece of rebar from the ground.

"It's all YOU!" he roared. "You crazy BITCH caused all this!"

The rebar crashed down on Sophia's legs. The sound of breaking bones was bone-chilling.

"AH—brother... please spare me..." Sophia nearly passed out from the pain.

"I'll KILL you! I'll kill you, you psycho!" His eyes were bloodshot, striking again and again.

I watched coldly without intervening.

By the time Matteo had vented his rage, Sophia was barely breathing.

He knelt before me, pulling out a gun and handing it to me: "Kill me... Valentina... please... put me out of my misery..."

I took the gun, pointing it at his head.

"Death is too good for you." I said coldly. "I want you to live, carrying guilt for the rest of your life."

I threw the gun into the sea and turned to leave.

"Valentina!" he screamed behind me. "Kill me! PLEASE kill me!"

But I didn't look back.

---

**Three months later**

The Romano family's total destruction of the Torrino empire was complete. We cut off all their funding sources, bought off their allies, dismantled their organizational structure.

The once-glorious Torrino family crumbled in just three months. Centuries of family legacy turned to dust, completely bankrupt.

Matteo lost everything. No family, no money, no status, not even dignity.

**Six months later**

"Miss Romano said you're not allowed here. Get lost!"

At the cemetery gate, security guards roughly shoved down a ragged man.

It was Matteo.

Every day he tried to come repent at the child's grave, but each time my men blocked and beat him.

"Please..." he begged on his knees. "Let me see him... just once..."

The answer was more punches and kicks.

He lay on the ground outside the cemetery, looking at the distant tombstone through tears: "Forgive Daddy... Daddy's coming to be with you..."

Rain began to fall. He stood up in a daze, stumbling toward the road.

A big truck roared toward him. He didn't dodge, even spread his arms wide.

A massive crash echoed.

---

When I learned of Matteo's death, I was in the living room teaching Maria's daughter Emma how to paint. Hearing the news, my hands didn't pause.

"Got it." I replied calmly.

"Valentina, your painting is so beautiful!" Emma clapped excitedly.

I looked at the sunflower on the paper and smiled genuinely for the first time.

"Does Emma want to learn to paint more flowers?"

"Yes!"

I gently stroked her hair. Maria had given her life to save me. Now I would use my life to protect her daughter.

Sunlight streamed through the window. A new life was beginning.