Chapter 140 I'm Right Fucking Here

Chapter 140 I'm Right Fucking Here
Massimo closed his eyes, the weight of the world crushing down on his shoulders. “I’m not good enough for her. I will only bring pain and misery to her. You said it yourself—my father is shit. My mother…”
“Don Massimo,” Rosa interrupted gently but firmly, her aged hands reaching out to grasp his with surprising strength. 
"The day you came into the mansion, I looked into your eyes." Her hand moved up and settled on his cheek.
"You were hurt. You were angry. You were lonely." Her thumb stroked his skin. "But your soul was unspoiled."
She smiled. "You are a good man, Don Massimo. I've known it from the beginning." 
Massimo's jaw flexed. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he reached for his glass and drained it in one swallow. He stared at the shattered bottle and spilled liquid on the floor like it mirrored the wreckage inside him.
“I got it,” Rosa said, standing slowly. But then she swayed lightly, a brief unsteadiness crossing her face.
“Rosa,” Massimo said sharply, brows furrowing as he moved to steady her.
“You worry about your wife and leave this old woman alone,” she chided softly. “Come on, go now.”
Massimo pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek before leaving the bar, his heart heavier than when he had arrived.
\---
Some time after midnight, Eloise stirred as strong, familiar arms lifted her from the bed. It was Massimo. His scent washed over her, cocooning her. She didn’t open her eyes and simply let him carry her through the quiet mansion to their master bedroom. 
He lowered her onto the bed with heartbreaking gentleness and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
Just as he began to pull away, Eloise’s arm snaked around him. “Please… stay with me,” she whispered.
She felt him go perfectly still. Then, with a deep, shuddering breath, he relaxed and slid behind her, cupping her body against his powerful frame. Eloise moved like a cat, pressing back into him, seeking every inch of contact she could get. 
His warmth surrounded her, and for a moment, the ache in her chest eased. She drifted back into sleep, safe in his arms.
Massimo stayed awake for a long time, simply holding her, his face buried in her hair. Eventually, exhaustion claimed him too.
Smoke.
There was so much smoke.
It clawed at his throat and burned his eyes. The world was ringing. Bodies. Bodies everywhere. 
A severed hand. A single shoe lying in the rubble. Blood crept across the broken marble like dark rivers.
“Eloise!”
His own voice sounded strange. Distant. Foreign.
He staggered forward, boots slipping on something wet and warm. “Eloise!”
There was no answer.
The building groaned around him like a dying beast, pieces of the ceiling raining down in sparks and dust. 
His chest tightened with pure terror. No. No. She had to be here. He shoved aside a fallen beam. Nothing. Another body. Not her. He stumbled again, his heart shattering.
Then he saw her.
White. So horribly white against the destruction.
She lay several feet away, motionless, her dark hair spread around her like spilled ink. Blood pooled beneath her. Too much blood. Far too much.
The world stopped spinning.
“No…”
His knees hit the ground.
“Eloise?”
There was no answer. He touched her face. It was cold. So terribly cold.
His hand began to shake violently.
“Eloise.”
Nothing.
Then a voice cut through the smoke. A cold, familiar, and cruel voice. 
“Born wrong. Born from sin and shame. Everything you touch turns to blood and ruin.”
His breathing grew faster, ragged.
“No. Not her. You can't take her!”
The voice grew louder, echoing from every direction.
“YOU’LL NEVER BE LOVED. YOU’LL ONLY BRING PAIN AND DEATH WHEREVER YOU GO!”
He looked down. Blood covered his hands. More blood seeped endlessly beneath Eloise’s body.
“You’re my curse… and I’m yours.”
“No.”
The word tore from his throat like a wounded animal.
“No!”
The smoke thickened. The blood spread. His mother’s voice screamed everywhere.
“YOU ARE CURSED, MASSIMO!”
“No! No! No!”
“ELOISE!”
He jerked upright with a violent gasp, chest heaving, his body drenched in cold sweat.
“No! No! Eloise! Eloise!”
Strong arms were holding him. “Massimo! Massimo!” It was her voice. Eloise’s voice. She wasn’t dead. She was right here.
“I’m right here, Massimo!” Eloise cried, straddling him, grabbing his face with both hands and forcing him to look at her. “Look at me!”
“The curse…” Massimo rasped in a broken, hoarse voice, rocking back and forth. “Took… you… away from me…”
He began chanting the words in a terrifying monotone that raised the hairs on Eloise’s arms.
“Born wrong. Born from sin and shame. Everything you touch turns to blood and ruin.”
“You’ll never be loved. You’ll only bring pain and death wherever you go.”
Eloise’s tears streamed down her face as she held his face more tightly, her heart breaking for the tormented man beneath her.
“You are my curse… and I’m yours,” he finished, his voice cracking.
In a desperate bid to pull him back, Eloise shouted, “MASSIMO! You goddamn look at me right fucking now!”
The spell shattered.
Massimo’s wild blue eyes finally latched onto hers, haunted but present. Eloise grabbed his large hand and dragged it under her robe, pressing his palm flat against her bare chest, right over her racing heart.
“I’m right fucking here,” she said fiercely, tears falling onto his skin, “and no fucking curse is taking me away from you!”