Sinbound (18+) | ✓

48 | a modicum of truth

48 | a modicum of truth

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My eyes flutter open to be met with a popcorn ceiling and a dim light above me. My eyelids feel heavy and my body feels stiff. Animated chatter brings me from the edge of unconsciousness to being wide awake.

Or as awake as I can be while having my eyes closed slightly.

I blink, trying to get a handle on reality.

My head buffers and an exhale leaves me. Someone shifts closer to me and I flinch away, fear rushing through me as I'm reminded of that cold deadly stare the scarred man gave me last night.

All at once, I'm reminded of the moment — me leaving Matteo to his thoughts, running away from the man at the bar, trying to move further into the gala to keep myself safe only for him to shoot anyway.

"Hey," The familiar voice whispers beside me as he leans forward and clasps my hand in his, "It's me, princesa."

I blink and turn to look at him, eyes widening at the sight of his being. His eyes are puffy and red, shirt untucked and covered in blood, hands tinted red, and cheeks tear-stained.

"H —" My voice fails me when it cracks, hopelessly. Matteo moves quickly, grabbing a cup of water from the table beside him and holding the straw up to my mouth. I sip slowly, soothing the harshness in my throat. He moves it away, allowing me to try again.

"How is Luis?" I sound out, my voice as rough as sandpaper. "He was behind me."

Matteo chuckles as he caresses my cheek and leans forward to kiss my forehead, "He's safe. You wake up from a six hour surgery and don't even worry about yourself?"

I stare up at him, "You'd do the same thing." I'm itching to touch him but my arm is heavy and I don't have the energy to lift it right now. "I heard that man fire again when I was down — who did it hit?"

Matteo purses his lips, making me furrow my brows, "Him. He, uh, he shot himself, that fucking coward."

I say nothing and transfer my gaze to the ceiling.

"You didn't ask what I needed, Monique Harper."

"He knew my name." I blink away the tears before whipping my head around to stare at Matteo who was doing everything to avoid my gaze, "How did he know my name, Matteo?"

He runs a hand over his beard and shifts in his seat. A moment passes.

"He worked for Santiago."

My breath hitches in my throat, "And he's sending out hitmen now? Is your company worth killing over?" He remains quiet. "No," I shake my head, my eyes watering as I stare him down, "You don't get to do that. You don't get to just decide what not to tell me anymore. You don't get to lie to me anymore."

The look on his face tells me he's going to deflect yet again, "Mo, I —"

"No." I cry, "I'm in a fucking hospital bed because your rival wants part of your business and yet you still want to keep shit from me?"

He blinks before leaning forward. His hand reaches for mine but I use everything in me to move it away.

"Fuck..." He whispers and gnaws on his bottom lip nervously. A moment passes before he allows the words to slip from his mouth, "I have connections to a certain set of people — the mafia. They'd been helping me the past two weeks to figure something out with Santiago. Something to get rid of him without making it look obvious. He, uh, apparently, caught up and tried to throw a wrench in our plans."

He watches as I blink away my tears, "Monique, everything I kept from you, I did it for a reason." This makes me roll my eyes, "What, you don't believe me?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to believe you when you swore up and down that you'd never lie to me only to have lied to me the entire time we've known each other."

"It wasn't important."

"Yes, it was!" I whisper harshly, "You're involved in some shit that is beyond me. I'm in your life now — I deserve a modicum of truth or a - a - a warning that being in your life would mean getting shot in the middle of a party."

He bows his head and when he looks up again, a single tear rushes down his cheek. His tongue pokes against the inside of his cheek as he runs a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry, Monique." He cries, "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this shit. I thought I was out, I thought you would've been safe. Fuck, I should've done more to protect you."

I shake my head, my vision blurring with unshed tears. "You weren't the one that pulled the trigger, Matteo."

"Yeah, well, I should've been the one on the other end of that gun, not you."

"Look at me." I deadpan, reaching my hand out to hold his. He looks at me, his tears bringing more to my eyes. "I'm alive. What happened wasn't your fault. It wasn't mine either. It was nobody's but the man who shot a gun in a crowd of people and the man who hired him."

"I should've told you in the office, Monique." He sighs shakily, "If I did, we probably wouldn't be here right now."

I shake my head, "Hey, it happened. There's no reason to dwell on what we can't change."

count how many times i said *blink* in one chapter 😭😭 bro it's too early for this

just so y'all know, i really don't be plotting stuff for the book until like a chapter before certain things are revealed 😭😭 can't y'all tell im soooo good at this writing thing —

anyway, with that being said, when i finish the book, which is **idk when** (see what i mean) - imma edit it to make things a lot more obvious in earlier chapters

cause half the shit i be putting in my books is so last minute 🌚🌚