Chapter 2
“Hello again… my sweet, sweet Sera.”
My eyes dilated slightly when those words left his mouth. The way my name rolled off his tongue sent chills down my spine.
I swallowed hard and shook my head.
"I—I guess there is some misunderstanding." I tried my best to keep my voice low. "I am not Sera."
I expected him to loosen his grip on my hair or accept my words, but instead, his smirk deepened.
Oh God.
I tried to pull away from his grasp, but his fingers twisted tighter in my hair, forcing my head back, making me look straight into his eyes. He kept his gaze locked with mine the entire time.
“You’ve got the wrong person,” I choked out. “Please… let me go. I’m not who you think I am.”
His eyes narrowed as he scanned my face again, taking his time. He savored every moment as his eyes took in my features. It seemed like he was reliving every memory he had buried during the years I’d been gone.
I understood the consequences I would face if he identified me. To save myself, my fingers quickly slipped into my purse as I pulled out my ID card.
"You ... you can check my ID card."
"Shh...."
Matteo clenched his teeth tightly and held onto my hair. An inaudible, painful yelp escaped my lips as I tried to endure the pain.
“You think a new name and a forged ID can fool me?” His voice was dangerously low and calm. "Even blindfolded, I could pick you out of a thousand faces."
My heart thumped wildly against my chest. I licked my lips and swallowed hard as my throat went dry.
"Believe me... You can have my ID card checked. My name is Samantha Adams, not the one you are using to refer to me."
Slowly, he let out a low, humorless laugh and finally released my hair. I stumbled back and regained my balance. I clutched my scalp, which throbbed in pain. I was surprised it wasn’t bleeding already.
One of his eyebrows arched up as he examined my ID card.
"So she claims she is Samantha Adams. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it?”
The men behind him chuckled darkly.
I flinched slightly when he looked up and tossed the ID card aside like it was worthless. The storm in his eyes threatened me to my core.
“I don’t need a piece of plastic to tell me who you are, Sera, and I certainly don’t need your lies,” he stated, looking straight into my eyes.
“I’m not lying,” I whispered, taking small and slow steps back.
I knew it was difficult to outsmart these men, but that didn't mean I wouldn’t try. My knees were still scraped and stinging, and my whole body trembled with fear.
“Let me go; I swear I won’t tell anyone, not even a single soul." I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. "I don’t even know you.”
Suddenly, he started moving toward me, rendering all my attempts to escape futile. Each step he took was like a lion approaching its prey.
“You don’t know me?” He repeated, his voice soft yet laced with deadly calm.
My hands moved back for support as my entire body trembled. His eyes darkened as he waited for me to respond.
“That’s a shame. Because I know you.”
My breath caught in my throat when I felt my back hit the wall. I tried to control my breathing as he closed the distance between us. He was now so close that a single breath could bridge the gap between our bodies, a gap I didn’t want to close.
I attempted to sidestep to my right, but before I could move, he slammed his palms against the wall, trapping me in his grasp.
He searched for my eyes while I looked anywhere but at him. I knew how easily he could read me, and I didn’t want to give him anything.
“I know the way you breathe when you’re nervous,” he said, lifting a hand to brush a strand of hair from my cheek.
I exhaled a shaky breath—it was becoming difficult to control my emotions.
"I know how your body trembles when you lie," he murmured, leaning closer.
I sucked in a breath and froze as he dipped his head into the crook of my neck.
"And on top of everything, I know how you smell."
He inhaled deeply, as if I were his drug. Tears welled in my eyes as I placed my palms against his chest to push him away. I definitely didn’t want his attention, because I understood exactly what it meant.
“Please,” I whispered. “Whatever happened between you and her, I had nothing to do with it. Just… just let me go!"
His jaw clenched tightly as he pulled back. The smirk that had been playing on his lips was now replaced with pure rage.
"Six years... I spent six years rotting behind bars because of you, and you want me to let you go so easily?" he asked in disbelief. I shook my head. "For six damn years, your face burned behind my eyelids… the same face I loved so much in my past. Do you know what that did to me?”
My blood ran cold, and my throat went dry with horror. I wanted to disappear. I didn’t care if the Earth swallowed me whole or if the wall melted away; I just wanted to escape this devil.
I changed everything—my appearance, my identity. No one was supposed to find me. I buried Sera the day she lied on that stand, but they say that karma doesn’t spare anyone. And here I was, standing in front of the same man I had tried to escape. The same man whom I wasn't supposed to face again.
"You should have prayed I'd never get out. Isn't that right, my sweet Sera?" he asked.
I shook my head again; my entire body was shivering like a leaf.
"But guess what? God doesn’t support traitors."
My eyes squeezed shut and my head tossed to another side as he called me a traitor.
A traitor?
I had been innocent my whole life, but hearing myself labeled as a traitor by him shattered me to another level.
"Get ready," he warned. "Because I’m going to make you pay for every single breath I wasted thinking about you.”
NO!
My eyes shot open. I was about to push him away and run for my life but before I could take any action, he pulled back and threw me toward his men, who caught me in their iron grip almost immediately. My knees gave out; if it weren't for them, I would have collapsed on the ground.
“Want us to finish her?” one of his men asked with amusement dripping in his voice.
"Don't touch her more than I ask you to!" Matteo threatened them.
His voice was so thick and dark that it sent chills down my spine. I didn’t have the courage to look back at him. His next words terrified me to the core.
"She is my ruin. I’ll kill her slowly until she begs for her death every single day!"