Chapter 120

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty

“Genevieve, you need to breathe,” Matteo’s voice echoed faintly from somewhere nearby, steady yet distant. “Weakness, look at me.”

But she couldn’t. Her eyes remained glued to the wanted poster bearing her name, over and over again. The photos pinned there were the mugshots from her last arrest—when she’d foolishly struck the officer who was detaining her. Those nights spent behind bars had been her stepmother’s harsh attempt to make her understand the consequences of her recklessness. Cruel? Absolutely. Effective? Without a doubt. In those images, her eyes were bloodshot and wild, her right ring finger swollen and purple from having forgotten to remove her ring amid the chaos, and her clothes were torn and caked in mud.

Matteo snapped his fingers in front of her face, yanking her back to reality. Her gaze flickered upward, and the fear that clouded her eyes made him recoil.

Gen sprang to her feet so suddenly that Matteo had to stumble backward to keep from falling over.

“What is this? Are these for real?” she demanded, her voice trembling with disbelief.

“Yes, they’re…” Matteo began.