Chapter 199
Aria’s POV
I had been reading for a while, I didn’t even know how long. The sun had moved lower in the sky, leaving my room in this soft orange glow. The journal felt heavier in my hands now. Not because of weight but because of what was inside it. My father’s thoughts were all over the pages. Some of them were gentle some scared, some almost frantic. He had tried to hide it with short lines and small letters, but I could feel it. The fear was always underneath.
Then I noticed something weird.
A number.
Then another one.
They were written in the corner of a page. I thought it was just a date at first but it kept showing up. Not always in the same place. Sometimes in the margin. Sometimes at the bottom. A ten–digit number, repeated again and again. Always the same. Sometimes circled. Sometimes underlined. No notes around it. Just there. Quiet. Sitting in the middle of everything like it was trying not to be noticed.
I stared at it for a long time. It didn’t look like a phone number. Not one I recognized anyway. It wasn’t a date. It didn’t match anything I remembered. I flipped through to check if it showed up earlier, and yeah, there it was. Three more times. Then again near the back. My heart started beating faster. I didn’t know why but something about it made me feel cold inside. Like this was a clue. Or a warning. I didn’t know which.
I was still holding the journal open when I heard the door open.
I looked up as Matteo stepped in and closed it quietly behind him. He looked calm. Focused. His shirt was dark again, sleeves pushed up to his elbows, black pants fitting just right. His eyes found mine fast like he had been looking for something and found it.
He walked over to me without saying anything at first.
Then, in that quiet voice of his, he asked, “How are you holding up?”
I didn’t answer.
I stood up instead. Moved to him without thinking. My arms went around his neck and I straddled him, sitting across his lap like I just needed to be close to someone who felt steady. I tucked my face into his chest. His body was warm and solid. His arms came around me fast, holding me tight like he already
knew what I needed.
“It’s too much,” I said softly. “Reading this. His thoughts. His guilt. All of it. I missed him before. But now it feels worse. It feels like I’m just starting to lose him all over again.”
Matteo held me tighter. One hand rubbed my back slowly. The other stayed firm around my waist. He didn’t talk right away. He let me sit there for a second, breathing him in.
“Let me see what you found,” he said after a while.
I pulled the journal from the bed and pointed to the number. “It’s everywhere. This exact number. But he never explains what it means.”
Matteo looked at the page, studying it. Then he nodded. “I’ll get someone to look into it. We’ve got people who know how to crack stuff like this.”
I let out a small breath. “Okay.”
We stayed like that for a moment.
Then I pulled back a little so I could see his face
“Can I ask you something?”
He nodded.
“Why weren’t there this many guards before? I feel
like I barely noticed them before, Now there are people everywhere.”
Chapter 199
He gave me a soft smile, one hand brushing my hair back behind my ear.
“Because before, it was just us. We know how to protect ourselves. But now that you’re here… everything’s different. You’re not just come eid we’re hidr You matter to us. We’re not taking any chances with you.”
I didn’t say anything. I just leaned forward again, pressing my forehead into his neck.
His hand slid down to my hip.
Then to my thigh.
The other stayed low on my back, fingers tracing slow patterns.
I felt his breath on my neck.
Warm.
Close.
His hand moved again, now resting on my waist, fingers exploring, holding me like he was trying to memorize every part. My skin tingled under his touch. 1 felt safe and wanted and full of so many things I didn’t know how to say out loud. I tilted my head and looked up at him. His eyes were already on me. Focused. Intense.
I didn’t wait.
I leaned in and kissed him. Quiet at first.
Then deeper.
Everything else slipped away.
And for that moment, it was just us.
He didn’t pull away. Instead he deepened the kiss his hand tightening just a little around my waist like he needed me closer like letting go wasn’t an option anymore and something in me cracked open wide and aching and soft I shifted in his lap my legs pressing tighter around him as the journal slipped forgotten to the side everything buzzing under my skin like I’d just been rewired I could feel the tension in his body the way he held back like he was afraid to let it all out afraid he might break something between us if he did but I didn’t want him to hold back I wanted all of it the weight of him the heat the unspoken things swirling between us his mouth moved to my jaw then lower to my neck his breath brushing hot against my skin and it made me shiver not from fear but from need raw and sudden and real I let my fingers curl in his hair tugging gently anchoring myself because it was too much and not enough all at once and I didn’t know where this was going but for the first time in days maybe weeks I wasn’t thinking about what came next I just wanted this moment this feeling of being seen held wanted like I wasn’t just a shadow in someone else’s story but the center of my own.
