I Was His Precious Until She Came Back Chapter 07
Matteo and I began with no home, no security, and almost no money.
He hauled materials at construction sites while I secretly followed an elderly man and collected
bottles from trash cans.
Whenever I came home filthy, Matteo hid his worry behind a stern face while carefully scrubbing
my hands clean.
Afraid I would wander off again, he began taking me everywhere.
Later, capable Matteo earned a great deal of money and moved us into a beautiful house.
After leaving my brothers, I followed him.
I collected bottles for three days, ate expired bread for a month, and lived in a basement apartment
for five months.
Then came five years and seven months of comfort, during which I slowly broke the habit of apologizing for every breath and even learned to pout sometimes.
In the sixth year, one slap taught me to apologize again, and I ended up living alone.
Throughout it all, I never knew my brothers were searching.
Their long-absent voices surrounded me again, anxious and desperate to know where I hurt.
Then Matteo roared nearby:
“You bastard! Let her go!”
Victor and Matteo attacked each other, and I looked up at Nico in panic.
“Nico, please don’t let them fight.”
Nico only carried me several steps backward, away from them.
After casting Matteo an icy glance, he gently covered my eyes.
“Don’t be afraid, Lucia. He deserves it.”
“You were here in New York, yet we searched for six years without finding a trace.”
“Matteo deliberately hid you from us. He kept you concealed.”
“He deserves to die.”
i stared, unable to understand.
Why would Matteo deliberately hide me from my brothers?
I turned toward the fighting men, but every answer only created another question in my mind.
My brothers and Matteo had always warned me that outsiders were cruel and complicated.
I had never understood, but now I almost did.
My brothers had wanted me to die, and I truly went to die in Clara’s place. ‘
Yet they regretted it so deeply that they searched for me for six years.
Matteo said Amelia was his childhood sweetheart and that he could not fail her.
Yet whenever I tried to leave, he clung to me and even prevented my brothers from finding me.
They were all so strange. Whenever I remained beside them, my presence seemed to make them
angry.
When I tried to leave, they became heartbroken.
What did Lucia have to do to make her brothers happy?
Bruises covered Victor’s and Matteo’s faces as neither man showed the slightest intention of
backing away.
After a tense pause, Matteo looked at me and held out his hand.
“Lucia, come here.”
“Have you forgotten that we’re family, so you should come back to me?”
Nico’s arms tightened around me, and the softness in his voice hardened into a deadly warning.
“Matteo, say that once more if you want to die.”
Matteo answered the threat with a contemptuous smile.
“You can stop pretending to be devoted brothers.”
“Everyone knows how thoroughly you spoiled Clara during the past six years.”
“Besides, Lucia told me herself she had no family. She abandoned you long ago.”
“If you have any decency, stop disturbing her.”
Victor and Nico lost all color at Matteo’s accusation, but Victor quickly gave a cold laugh.
“How dare you judge us when your first love sent you to prison?”
“Were you ever faithful to Lucia?”
As the three men argued, my stomach pain intensified.
The names Clara and Amelia passed endlessly between them.
Their voices blurred into a deafening roar inside my head, and I lost consciousness again.
