In that brief moment, Matteo found himself unable to say no.
But before he could speak, Rebecca's eyes brimmed with tears.
"Matty, am I putting you in a tough spot? It's okay, really. If this is hard for you, I won't go tonight."

She expected Matteo to immediately lower his voice and comfort her. But to her shock, he simply let out a breath as if relieved and reached out to pat her head.
"Tonight is kind of special, so it's better if you don't come with me."
Rebecca's eyes widened in disbelief. A flicker of resentment flashed across her face before she quickly masked it with a pitiful expression. The tears that had been about to stop began falling in thick, heavy drops again.
"Matty…"
But Matteo's mind was elsewhere. He barely noticed her reaction, gently pushing her away before looking up at the ceiling.
"This is the one that's broken?" he asked, nodding toward the light fixture.

Rebecca bit her lip, sulking. Since he wasn't giving her the reaction she wanted, she let out a small, grudging hum and plopped down on the couch, refusing to look at him.
However, Matteo wasn't paying attention.
That dream from earlier kept replaying in his mind. The anxiety in his chest grew heavier and heavier, nearly suffocating him.
Noticing something was off, Rebecca scooted closer, his voice trembling as she tugged at this sleeve.

"Matty, what's wrong?"
Only then did Matteo snap back to reality. His heart was pounding so violently that a thin layer of cold sweat formed on his forehead.
Shaking off Rebecca's hand, he pulled out his phone, frowning as he tried to call Evelyn.
But no matter how many times he dialed, the call wouldn't go through.
The monotonous beep, beep, beep in his ear only fueled his irritation.
"Becky, I need to go. I'll send someone over to fix the light later."
He barely spared her a glance before striding toward the door.
The moment the door slammed shut behind him, Rebecca's expression twisted with fury.
She didn't even need to guess. Matteo had left in such a hurry because of that bitch Evelyn.
Grinding her teeth, she snatched up her phone and furiously typed out a message. "Evelyn, you disgusting whore. Do you really think being some hidden mistress makes you special? Just die already."
She hit send, only to see a bright red exclamation mark pop up on the screen.
Evelyn had blocked her. A wave of unease crashed over her.
Panicking, she quickly deleted the message from her phone.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Matteo stormed through the front door and rushed upstairs.
But when he threw open the bedroom door, the room was empty.
Evelyn was nowhere to be seen. His hands clenched into fists.
His voice trembled. "Where's Eve? Is she not back yet?"
The staff exchanged glances before one of them hesitantly answered, "We… haven't seen Ms. Walsh since this afternoon."
Another housekeeper hesitated before adding, "Sir, while we were cleaning earlier, we noticed something strange. Ms. Walsh's belongings are all gone."
The words sent a chill down Matteo's spine. His entire body stiffened as a wave of cold dread washed over him.
"What do you mean?" The housekeeper looked up at him, confused.
"Sir, didn't you have her things moved? All her clothes are gone. We thought you were planning to buy her new ones…"