Chapter 13 - The Divorce She Was Finally Free to Sign
June had imagined freedom many times.
It never felt like this.
For weeks she had told herself the marriage was temporary.
A contract.
A practical arrangement between two adults.
No promises.
No expectations.
She should have been relieved.
Instead she sat alone in Matteo’s study staring at the original divorce forms.
The ones Mrs. Kaplan had sent.
The irony was almost insulting.
Matteo entered quietly.
“You’re awake.”
“So are you.”
He sat across from her.
His shoulder was healing.
The sling was gone.
A faint stiffness remained when he moved.
For several seconds they said nothing.
Finally Matteo looked at the papers.
“You can sign them tomorrow.”
June forced a smile.
“You make romance look easy.”
“This was never supposed to be romance.”
There it was again.
The sentence that once protected them.
Now it hurt.
“No,” June said.
“It wasn’t.”
Matteo looked at her.
His expression was controlled.
Too controlled.
“I’ll honor everything in the agreement. Your mother’s home. Anthony’s debt. None of it changes.”
“I know.”
“You can return to your apartment.”
“I know.”
“Your position at the courthouse remains protected.”
“I know.”
“June.”
“What?”
His voice softened.
“Say something else.”
She looked down.
“What do you want me to say?”
That broke through his control.
He stood.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
Matteo walked toward the window.
“For most of my life, people wanted something from me.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Money. Protection. Access. Fear. Approval.”
“Matteo.”
“You wanted a contract.”
“So did you.”
“Yes.”
He turned.
“And then you ruined it.”
June stared.
“How?”
“You argued.”
Despite herself, she laughed.
“You ignored instructions.”
“You give terrible instructions.”
“You followed me into gunfire.”
“You were being shot.”
“You stood between me and Carlo.”
“Because you were about to do something stupid.”
“You made my grandmother apologize.”
“She needed to.”
“You brought my sister into my family when I didn’t know how.”
June’s eyes burned.
Matteo stepped closer.
“And somewhere in all of that, you stopped being temporary.”
Silence.
There it was.
Not polished.
Not a declaration from a romance novel.
Better.
Real.
June whispered, “Then why are you telling me I can leave?”
His face changed.
“Because I refuse to make your safety the price of staying with me.”
She understood.
The threats.
Elena.
The fear.
Matteo loved through protection.
Even when protection meant losing someone.
June stood.
“Do you want me to go?”
He looked at her.
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Her heart broke open.
“Then stop deciding for me.”
He closed the distance.
“June.”
“No contract. No trust. No debt. No protection bargain.”
“June.”
“If I stay, it’s because I choose to.”
His breathing changed.
“And if you stay?”
She looked into his eyes.
“Then you don’t get to call it fake anymore.”
Matteo touched her cheek.
The same way he had in the church.
This time there were no bullets.
No sirens.
No blood.
He kissed her slowly.
June wrapped her arms around him.
The kiss deepened.
Then his phone rang.
They ignored it.
It rang again.
Matteo pulled away reluctantly.
“If that’s Daniel, I may fire him.”
June smiled.
“It’s probably important.”
It was.
Matteo answered.
His face changed.
“What do you mean disappeared?”
June’s smile vanished.
“Who?”
Matteo ended the call.
“Giovanni.”
Her stomach dropped.
“The federal facility?”
“Transport vehicle was intercepted.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
June stared.
A ninety-year-old criminal mastermind had escaped federal custody.
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
Then the estate lights went out.
Every window turned black.
Security alarms began screaming.
Matteo pulled June behind him.
A voice came through the house intercom.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
Giovanni.
“You chose the clerk over your blood, Matteo.”
June looked toward the hallway.
The study door began opening.
May you like
Giovanni’s voice continued.
“Now let us see what that choice costs you.”
