MADDEST OBSESSION - Chapter 51: Chapter 51

— Blood Is a Loaded Word
Aria didn’t wait.
No phone call.
No warning.
Just steel heels and a colder heart.
Matteo was back at the café.
Same corner table.
Same damn croissant.
She slammed the photo down in front of him.
It slid across the table like a threat wrapped in silence.
Matteo stared at it.
Color drained from his face.
“I didn’t know someone was following us,” he said quickly.
She folded her arms. “You expect me to believe that?”
He looked up, jaw clenched. “I swear to you, Aria, I didn’t send that photo.”
“But you knew the program still existed.”
He hesitated.
And that was all the answer she needed.
Her voice dropped, cold and cutting. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I thought Father had shut it down. Years ago. After the marriage. After you stopped fighting.”
Aria’s stomach twisted. “Stopped fighting?” she echoed bitterly.
Matteo exhaled. “You became what he wanted, Aria. Polished. Perfect. Quiet. I thought… maybe it worked. Maybe you were safe.”
She laughed—sharp and humorless. “Safe? You thought because I stopped screaming I was safe?”
He didn’t answer.
Because there was no excuse good enough.
She leaned forward, voice low. “Someone took this photo. They knew where I was. They watched me, Matteo. They’re watching you too.”
His fingers curled tightly on the table. “He has people everywhere. Silent ones. Ones even I don’t know.”
“Then who can I trust?”
He didn’t respond.
And that told her everything.
She stood up.
Matteo reached for her wrist. “Aria, wait—”
She pulled back sharply. “Don’t. You had one job. Protect your sister. You failed. Now I’ll protect myself.”
He looked at her like a man watching a memory walk away forever.
But Aria didn’t look back.
Outside, the city pulsed around her. Crowds. Noise. Chaos.
And still—someone was watching.
She didn’t know where.
Didn’t know who.
But she fe
lt it.
And this time, she didn’t feel fear.
She felt something sharper.
Readiness.