Page 48 of My Italian Love Affair

“So don’t slip up.”

He says it so simply, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

Like all I have to do is decide to be better, and suddenly the odds won’t be stacked against me anymore.

“You really think it’s that simple?” I ask, my voice quieter now, but no less sharp.

Matteo tilts his head, watching me.

“I think people likehimwant you to believe it’s impossible.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

His dark brows lift slightly, but I don’t give him a chance to cut in.

“You don’t know what it’s like to constantly be questioned. To walk into a room and feel like everyone’s already made up their mind about you before you even open your mouth. You -”

I shake my head.

“You’reMatteo Rossi. You could turn up to a press conference in your underwear and they’d still call you a genius.”

Matteo’s lips twitch.

“Depends on the underwear.”

I glare at him.

“I’m being serious.”

For a second, I think I see amusement flash in his dark eyes, but it’s gone in an instant as his jaw tightens.

“You think you know me?”

I’m taken aback by the immediate change.

His voice isn’t teasing anymore. It’s edged with something sharper, something colder.

Matteo steps closer, his presence suddenly suffocating in the narrow corridor.

“You think I’ve never had people doubt me?”

His words are quiet, but they cut through the air like a blade.

“That I don’t know what it’s like to have a room full of people decide who I am before I even say a fucking word?”

“You -” I falter, because I don’t know what to say.

Because Ihadassumed.

I’d thought that for someone like Matteo Rossi, life was just… well,easy.

He scoffs, shaking his head as though he’s just read my mind.

“You look at me and see some arrogant asshole who’s had everything handed to him, right?”

His eyes darken, his accent sharpening around the edges.

“You havenoidea what I’ve had to put up with. The shit people have said about me since I was a kid. The way they pick me apart, build me up just to try and tear me down the second I slip.”

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