"I'm not nice," Matteo corrected him instantly. "I have simply chosen to treat you differently than everyone else."
"Why?" Adrian asked.
Matteo leaned in, his shadow falling over Adrian. "Forget the 'why' for now. Tell me what made you so sad."
Adrian turned his face away, his gaze drifting toward the flickering streetlights outside the car window. Their pale glow cast long, restless shadows across his features.
He didn't want to answer.
He didn't want to hand the most shattered pieces of his soul to a man like Matteo, someone who lived comfortably in a world of darkness and blood.
But the grief inside him was rising like a tide, heavy and suffocating. Adrian suddenly realized that if he didn't let it out, it would swallow him whole right there in the backseat of the luxury car.
Slowly, Adrian spoke, the words dragging themselves out of the depths of his chest.
"I used to have a beautiful family… my wife and my son." he began slowly.
