From NYU Labs to Street Flyers The Price of Loving a Don Chapter 06
I hadn’t anticipated that Luca would actually follow me here, let alone that he would possess such a complete lack of basic boundaries, openly insulting Matteo to his face.
Over the years, just to survive, I had discarded my pride entirely, forging a skin as tough as iron.
That was exactly why the Serena Luca saw was deferential, meek, looking like a spineless creature who could be pushed around at whim.
But when it came to Matteo, I refused to tolerate a single negative word from anyone. In my eyes, he was my light, my sanctuary, my sole comfort in this world, and my absolute bottom line.
I stepped firmly in front of Matteo, my gaze sharpening as I channeled the fiercely independent Serena from
years ago.
“Don Luca, five years have passed, and it seems I’m not the only one who has changed. You have too.”
“Do your expensive manners and high upbringing dictate that you can just casually judge another person like
this?”
Since our reunion, regardless of what Luca said, I had played the part of a timid, working-class civilian,
terrified of offending him.
This sudden display of sharp wit caught Luca completely off guard, leaving him frozen in place with
disbelief.
“Serena, you’re telling me I have no manners? Are you out of your mind? How can you speak to me like that?”
“I said he’s useless, and that’s a basic fact. Where am I wrong? Five years! It’s been five years, and he still
hasn’t managed to help you clear that debt your mother left! Serena, you were with me for three years-when
did your standards plummet this low? What could you possibly see in a loser like him?”
Luca’s venomous words caused a flash of profound hurt to dart through Matteo’s eyes.
The term “useless” wasn’t merely Luca’s insult toward Matteo; it was the hidden ache buried deep in Matteo’s
heart, a source of long-standing self-doubt.
He was just an ordinary man with limited capabilities. Compared to Luca, who could throw around millions with a single wave of his hand, Matteo always felt inherently inadequate.
His fists clenched instinctively by his sides. Despite the clear sting, he still managed to force a reassuring smile down at me.
“Serena, Don Luca is right. You don’t need to start a fight with him for my sake.”
“If he can bring you true happiness and offer you a better life, I-”
I knew Matteo inside out. In his eyes, his own love could never compare to my future.
If another man could provide me with more than he ever could, he would step aside without a single shred of
hesitation, choosing to smile through his own agony just to watch me run toward my own happiness.
When a person loves someone down to their absolute marrow, they are plagued by inadequacy and
insecurity.
But in my eyes, he was better than Luca.
A thousand times better, a million times better.
I grabbed Matteo’s hand, locking my fingers securely through his.
Looking straight into his eyes, I spoke clearly, emphasizing every single syllable.
“No, Matteo. He can’t. He can’t offer me a single shred of happiness.”
“The events from back then have always been a buried trauma in my heart. You never pried, and I never
brought it up to you. But right now, I’ve suddenly seen the light. I survived the literal brink of death, so what
else is there left to fear?”
“Five years ago when we first reunited, you constantly broke down over how gaunt I was, how completely
dead my eyes looked. What if I told you that all of that was caused by the man standing right in front of us-
this grand Don Luca?”
Matteo’s eyes widened in sheer shock.
Taking a deep breath, I stood right in front of Luca and recounted the horrors of the past, piece by piece,
entirely from my perspective.
Strangely enough, the memories I once believed would torment me forever felt as though they truly belonged
to the past now, just as I had spent years telling myself.
Luca listened in absolute silence, the rims of his eyes gradually flushing a deep crimson.
Even though he was an active participant in those events, the primary architect of my ruin, he had never
dared to look back, never dared to dissect the truth so nakedly before his own eyes.
He was terrified of being guilty, and even more terrified of the reality that he was guilty.
Matteo didn’t utter a word, but his grip on our joined hands tightened so fiercely that a sharp pang of pain
shot through my fingers.
His eyes burned with pure heartbreak. Turning a completely hostile gaze onto Luca, he shielded me securely
behind his body, his expression suggesting he wanted to tear the man apart limb from limb.
“Don Luca, I might indeed be a man of ordinary means, but at the very least, I am willing to bleed for Serena.”
“Unlike you, who nearly drove her to her grave, yet still stand there putting on a high-and-mighty display of
charity.”
“As a fellow man, I see right through your pathetic little mind. You never truly let go of Serena, yet you have absolutely no intention of leaving the wife who bore you a child at home. You regret your choices, find your eight-year marriage suffocating, and have started looking around for a little excitement on the side.”
“But you don’t deserve her, Don Luca. Luca, you don’t deserve her! You are the one who isn’t worthy of
standing within a mile of Serena!”
Luca froze to the spot, his mouth parting slightly as if to fire back, but not a single syllable came out.
Watching Matteo take such a rare, unyielding stance, the heavy stone hanging in my chest finally dropped. I wanted him to know, once and for all, that he was the single best thing to ever happen to me, and that
outside of him, nobody else mattered.
“Husband, I’m starving. I want that sweet and sour pork you make.”
“Let’s go home, okay?”
I looked up at Matteo with a bright smile. As our eyes locked, the tension in his face gradually melted away,
returning to his usual gentle warmth.
“Okay. Let’s go home.”
