CHAPTER 185

CHAPTER 185
The door swung open before Amelia had even braced herself for the hallway light. She was still pulling the last button of her blouse through the hole, still clutching her bag with shaking hands, still trying to steady her breath after the nauseous confusion of waking up in the wrong room. Her heart was pounding too fast, her mind too foggy, and she didn’t know how her legs carried her across those last few steps.

Then she opened the door.

And Matteo stood there.

He was mid-knock, his hand suspended in the air as if frozen in time. The moment he saw her, his expression cracked open in a way that made her knees weaken. Shock first. Then disbelief. Then a flicker of something darker - hurt, betrayal, and the kind of anger that came from a place too deep to hide.

“Amelia?” he said, barely above a whisper, as if her name itself was a blow.

She parted her lips to speak, but something behind her shifted. The towel around Leon’s waist brushed softly against the air as he stepped into view, still damp from the shower, still standing far too close for comfort. He leaned one shoulder against the doorframe, smirking with an ease that made Amelia’s stomach twist.

Matteo’s gaze dropped to the towel. To the bare chest. To the small space between Amelia and Leon.

The shock vanished.

What replaced it was fire.

“What the hell is this?” Matteo demanded, voice breaking louder than he intended. “Amelia, what is this?”

Amelia felt her heartbeat slam painfully against her ribs. “Matteo… wait. Please. I don’t know what’s going on. I just woke up here. I swear I don’t understand any of this.”

Matteo let out a strained, disbelieving laugh. “You don’t understand? Really? That’s the explanation you want to give me?”

“I’m trying to make sense of it too,” she said, her breath hitching. “I don’t remember how I got in this room. I don’t remember coming here. I wasn’t drinking alcohol, you know I don’t…”

“Yes!” Matteo shouted, pointing a shaking finger at her. “Exactly! You weren’t drinking alcohol. You told me yourself. So how did you end up here? Tell me that!”

“I don’t know,” she cried, fighting the tears burning her eyes. “I don’t know, Matteo. I’m trying to figure it out. I swear I don’t know.”

He took a step back, shaking his head hard, as if trying to dislodge the image before him. His breathing was uneven, raw, furious. The door along the hallway beside them opened with a soft click. Then another. Soft footsteps padded on carpet. The first whispers began.

“What’s going on?”

“Is that Matthew Cruz?”

“Is that Amelia?”

“Oh my God - Leon?”

Someone lifted a phone. A flash went off.

Amelia flinched.

Matteo saw it too - the phones, the small crowd forming, the flashes signifying what this moment would become in less than an hour online. He dragged his glare back to her.

“This is your explanation?” he said, each word edged with pain. “You woke up in another man’s room and you have no idea how? Are you serious, Amelia?”

Behind her, Leon clicked his tongue softly. “Stop pretending,” he said, his voice smooth and slow. “You were fine when you came here. You knocked. You talked normally. Don’t act clueless now.”

Amelia whipped her head toward him, horrified. “Leon, stop! I didn’t…”

Matteo cut her off, eyes narrowing sharply. “None of this looks like confusion to me. It looks planned.”

She staggered back as though struck. “Planned? Matteo, why would I ever…”

“Let me ask you something,” Matteo said, stepping closer. “Is this your sick way of breaking up with me? Do you think I’m that stupid? That weak? That if you told me you wanted to leave, I wouldn’t listen? Was this easier? Letting me walk into this scene so I’d do the breaking for you?”

Amelia’s hand flew to her mouth in shock. “No. No, Matteo, that’s not it. I would never…”

He laughed again, this time hollow and sharp. “I always knew Leon had feelings for you. I told you, didn’t I? I told you he looked at you differently. I warned you. But you didn’t seem bothered. Maybe you didn’t want to be.”

Her tears spilled over. “That’s not true. I didn’t feel anything…”

He held up a hand, cutting off her words. “Don’t lie to me. Not after this.”

Leon stepped behind Amelia, leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed. His smirk widened, and the sight of it made Amelia’s stomach wrench.

The hallway was filling now. More staff. More strangers. More phones. More flashes.

Then Matteo pulled out his phone.

“Maybe this will help your memory,” he said bitterly.

He turned the screen toward her.

Amelia blinked through her tears. At first the words didn’t register. Then they hit her like ice.

A message from her phone. Sent at 3:07 a.m.

I miss you so much.

Come surprise me before the morning shoot. Come to Room 714.I want you to knock on my door and wake me up.

Her breath shattered.

“I didn’t send this,” she whispered. “Matteo, I didn’t…”

“It came from your phone,” he said sharply. “I didn’t send it to myself, Amelia.”

“I was asleep,” she said, voice breaking. “I don’t remember sending this. I don’t remember anything after dinner. I don’t…”

“You expect me to believe that?” he snapped. “I dropped everything this morning. I pushed my meetings. I came here to surprise you, only to be surprised myself.”

Fresh whispers flooded the hallway.

Someone murmured, “This is bad.”

Another whispered, “This is going viral.”

A camera clicked again.

Then Amy appeared.

She sprinted down the hallway, eyes wide, hair messy from rushing out of her room.

“Oh my God - what? What is happening? Amelia!” She grabbed Amelia’s arm, then Matteo’s, pushing them backward. “Inside. Inside now. All of you. Move.”

She shoved them back into Leon’s room and slammed the door, leaning against it while she caught her breath. Her eyes flicked between the three of them - Matteo blazing with pain and fury, Leon lounging in a towel, and Amelia trembling violently, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Explain,” Amy said, her voice low and intense. “Right now. Before this becomes a PR catastrophe.”

Amelia opened her mouth first. “I woke up here. I don’t know how. I swear I don’t know how. I didn’t send that message. I didn’t come here on purpose, Amy, please believe me.”

Leon scoffed. “Oh come on, Amelia. You walked in on your own. Stop pretending now that you’re caught.”

“STOP,” Amelia screamed, her voice breaking. “Leon, please stop lying.”

Matteo shook his head slowly, his jaw clenched so tightly she wondered if it hurt. When he spoke, his voice was softer but far more painful than his shouting.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s all a setup. But not the way you think.” His chest rose and fell in deep, shaking breaths. “Maybe this was your way of giving me the message. Maybe you’re done with me now that you’re famous and don’t need my influence or my power. Maybe you wanted me to find you like this so the breakup would be easy.”

“Matteo, no,” Amelia sobbed. “Please. Please listen to me. None of this makes sense. It doesn’t make sense even to me. I’m terrified. I don’t know what happened.”

“Maybe to you it doesn’t,” Matteo said quietly. “But it does to me.”

He took a long breath, and Amelia felt the world tilt before he even spoke the next words.

“It’s over, Amelia.”

Her knees weakened.

He continued, voice shaking with heartbreak, “I got your message loud and clear. I hope you don’t break another man’s heart the way you broke mine.”

He turned.

He walked out.

Amy didn’t stop him.

The door clicked shut behind him.

Amelia dropped to the floor as if her strings had been cut. Her sobs came in harsh, shaking bursts, her hands gripping the carpet as though she could keep her world from collapsing beneath her.

Leon took a step forward. “It’s good he left,” he said gently. “He never deserved you anyway. I was the one who was always there for you. He didn’t appreciate you. Let him go.”

Amelia recoiled violently as if his voice itself burned her skin.

“Don’t touch me,” she choked out. “Don’t come near me.”

Her vision blurred as she stared up at him.

How did I not see this side of you?

How did I not see who you were all along?

Amy stood frozen, staring at the two of them, her face pale with horror.

She didn’t need to say it aloud.

They were in the center of a scandal that could destroy everything.