"What are you talking about?" Adrian asked, his pulse quickening.
"With everything you just confessed to ," Maya said, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp calm, "you conveniently forgot to ntion that you slapped him."
Adrian froze, the blood draining from his face. "How... how did you find out?"
"Because Matteo reached out to ," Maya said directly. "He explained everything. And he wasn’t lying, Adrian. He laid out every single part, everything he did wrong, the manipulation, the secrets. He told how deeply he regretted it. He said he already apologized to you, but you refused to forgive him, and it’s been over a month now. He even explained what led to you slapping him. He wasn’t shy or embarrassed about it. He was completely honest."
Maya continued. "He told that for a man like him who sits on top of an empire, you are the first person to ever raise a hand against him, and he just stood there and took it. He said that was the fourth ti you’ve hit him."
Maya took a slow breath, letting the weight of her words sink in. "Matteo noted that if the roles were reversed, if he were the one raising his hand to you, the entire world would judge him instantly because of his reputation. Yet, he has never once laid a finger on you, while you hit him without thinking twice."
Adrian swallowed hard, unable to look his sister in the eyes.
"Matteo was in agony just talking about it," Maya continued. "He hated his own decisions, but he said he couldn’t just vanish and stop contacting you without letting know first. He didn’t want it to look like he just dumped you. But he’s done, Adrian. He said no one who truly loves you stays away from you for a month, slaps you, and still expects you to keep running back to them. He’s finished with that cycle. He made realize that if he doesn’t reach out to you, you will never reach out to him. Matteo sees now that you’ve been treating him like a friend you happen to love, not as a partner you cherish and protect."
"That’s not true," Adrian whispered, tears finally blurring his vision.
"It is true. Matteo said that since you won’t reach out, whether he’s alive or dead is apparently none of your concern, and he said he can’t survive in a relationship like that forever... one where he is the only one trying.
He admitted he was wrong and said he was ready to apologize and fix things, but he also said he’s done chasing you. He made promise not to call you or tell you anything about our conversation, because he was certain you would never reach out first. He believed your pride would stop you from reaching out to him, no matter how much you cared.
He wanted to prove that point... that if he stopped, you would not co after him. And he was right. He didn’t contact you for days, and you didn’t reach out to him even once. I called him today to confirm... and he said you hadn’t sent a single ssage."
Maya shook her head. "If you are waiting for him to break the silence this ti, Adrian, he won’t. As we speak, Matteo isn’t even in the city. He’s out of the country."
The tears spilled over, heavy and fast. "Why didn’t you tell ?!" Adrian cried, his voice breaking. "Aren’t you my sister?!"
"I am your sister," Maya said. "But I also realize that Matteo was right."
"What do you an by that?" Adrian demanded, wiping his face.
"I didn’t want to say this to you, but I have to, because you’re being incredibly selfish," Maya said bluntly. "You enjoy Matteo’s company. You enjoy the thrill of soone as dangerous and powerful as him becoming completely soft just for you. Adrian... when Elena was alive, could you ever have brought yourself to raise a hand and slap her?"
Adrian shot up from the couch, his voice cracking. "No! You’re supposed to be my sister! How can you talk to like this?!"
"I am acting like your sister, because you are acting like a little devil here, manipulating him in your own way!"
"No! I love him!" Adrian shouted, the tears streaming down his face.
"When Elena was alive, could you ever have stayed away from her or pushed her aside like this?" Maya pressed, her voice rising to match his intensity. "No matter what mistakes she made, she was always right in your eyes. You couldn’t even stay away from her for twenty-four hours, yet you’ve pushed Matteo away for more than a month.
I still rember what you told back then—that true love doesn’t hold onto anger, and that couples shouldn’t sleep with a wall of resentnt between them. But looking at the way you’ve handled this... I realize you don’t love Matteo with that sa kind of love."
"Maya!" Adrian shouted his sister’s na, his voice choking on a sob. "Stop, please..."
But Maya didn’t back down.
She shook her head, a look of deep disappointnt on her face. "You don’t call him, Adrian. For a man who used to call you every single hour, you couldn’t even manage a simple text to check if he was breathing. But I rember how you used to call Elena incessantly, even when she was the one in the wrong. I never wanted to compare Matteo to Elena, but I won’t sit here and play blind when the difference in how you treat them is this glaring."
Adrian broke down into hysterical sobs, the harsh truth cutting deeply into him. "Maya, this is wrong... You shouldn’t treat like this. I’m your brother."
"Don’t cry too hard," Maya said. "Wipe your tears so you can see things clearly for once. It’s a good thing you finally know how much he loves you from reading those ssages. But what exactly is all that love for? For soone who treats him like an optional hobby rather than a lover?"
"He was wrong!" Adrian shouted defensively. "He manipulated from the very beginning!"
"I know he did," Maya agreed. "But what happened to sitting down and talking things through like adults? Now you suddenly want to run back to him only because you found out the truth from his mother. But what if you had never learned the truth? Would you have even considered calling him or trying to fix things?
"He hurt , Maya..." Adrian choked out brokenly.
"And your love clearly wasn’t enough to make you talk it out," Maya said. "Because when you truly love soone deeply, you don’t keep pushing them away forever. Real lovers fight for each other, Adrian... and deep down, you know that."
Adrian panicked, his mind scrambling for a solution. "Maxwell told Matteo was at their father’s place. I’ll just go there right now."
Maya let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head. "Is your instinct really this slow, brother? Do you honestly think Maxwell would choose you over his own blood? Matteo told him exactly what to say to you. He fed you the answer Matteo wanted you to hear.
Matteo is no longer even in the country, Adrian... and you, his own boyfriend, didn’t know a single thing about it."
Adrian looked at her, completely defeated. "Are you saying I was wrong to react the way I did after finding out he lied to ?"
"No. You had every single right to be angry with him," Maya clarified. "But you were already deeply embedded in a relationship. If your love for him was as profound as you claim, you would have sat him down to resolve it. If he treated you with this exact coldness, would you be happy?"
"You’re shifting the entire bla onto , Maya."
"If that’s how you choose to see it, fine," Maya said, letting out a tired sigh. "I need to go. That was the real reason I ca here, to make you understand what kind of good man you’re losing. Matteo is the last person I ever expected to show this much patience and devotion to soone."
Maya stood up, smoothing her clothes, and turned toward the door.
"You know I love him," Adrian pleaded, his voice cracking.
"I never said you don’t."
Adrian shot up from the couch and rushed toward her, grabbing her hands desperately. "Please, Maya... please, what do I do? I love him so much. I can’t lose him."
Maya looked down at his trembling hands, her expression neutral. "I’m going to leave you to figure this out on your own. You strictly forbade him from telling your friends or Mark about your fight, and he respected that completely. He only ca to because you never told him not to.
Now you can’t even ask your friends to intervene or speak to him for you, because none of them would dare face Matteo. The one person who could talk to him—Mark—you’ve already kept out of it.
So tell , brother... how are you going to explain to them that you’ve been cutting Matteo off for over a month? You created this situation yourself. Now find a way out of it."
"Maya, please help ," Adrian begged, tears streaming down his face as he held onto her tightly.
Maya stared at her brother for a long mont. "I will think about it. But the fact that you hid all of this from too..." She shook her head in disbelief. "I just can’t imagine why?"
Gently, Maya removed her hands from his grip, turned around, and walked out of the house, closing the door behind her.
Adrian collapsed backward onto the sofa, burying his face in his hands. "Why..." he whispered into the empty room, his heart breaking. "Why did everything turn out this way?"
After a while, he grabbed his phone, his hands trembling as he opened Matteo’s number. He stared at it for a long mont, the silence feeling heavier than ever.
Unable to take it anymore, he swallowed his pride and pressed call.
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