A Crash, A Song, A Wave

Chapter 7

TW in the description
Art coming!

Mattias POV

Mattias paced his room, mumbling to himself. Occasionally he would stop, curse, then resume his pacing.

"I shouldn't have done that." He thought.

"Damn it!" He half shouted, throwing the letter from Talia onto his bed.

His insides squirmed with the acidic taste of guilt.

"Your behavior is out of control." His mind said to him again and again.

"I know!" Mattias barked back.

The stress of everything was reaching a peak. He couldn't avoid this a moment longer. The time had come to face what he'd been running from for so long.

But even if he faced it, why was he facing it alone? Was it right, now that he had chosen a partner for life, to hide this? Shoulder this?

He shook his head.

It wasn't fair to make Giulia carry his burdens. His obligations. But was it right to cut her out? If cutting her out led to more of him yelling at her, Mattias wanted it to end.

"No... I have to tell her." He said, a pit of anxiety falling in his stomach like a stone.

"But then she will know. She will know everything."

Mattias grit his teeth. Maybe it was time for him to let go of his secrets and be wholly honest with someone for once in his life.

Groaning, he made his way to his bed, picking up the letter. Without giving himself a chance to hesitate, he ripped it open. He was met with his sister's chicken scratch handwriting.

"Mattias,

"I know you've been ignoring the family summons. I don't blame you. But it's serious this time. The family is on edge and won't start discussions without you present. I'm writing to you because Grandma has threatened to send someone to collect you if you don't show up in a few days. Rather than being dragged by one of her goons, I figured you'd rather come of your own free will."

Mattias cursed again. Damn that old bat. He kept reading.

"Everyone is already pissed you didn't come to the funeral. You're on thin ice. Don't put this off anymore."

"If only they knew," Mattias whispered.

His family... they had no idea he was part of the battle in Portorosso. As far as they were concerned, he was peacefully working a typical day at the hospital and in and out of operating rooms which is why he never received their urgent summons to help his cousin. Well, second cousin.

Mattias hated it to his very core. But there was no denying the truth.

Ercole was his second cousin. And if the family knew he was fighting alongside the people that killed him, they would be out for his blood. He and everyone he knew and loved would be in danger. His family had the incredible habit of making people that have wronged them disappear. It was a secret he had to keep from them to preserve his life and the life of the one he loved most. Giulia.

He shuddered at the thought of what they might do to her if they ever found out what side he was truly on. Better that they think he was a dismissive waste than someone allied with their enemies.

Mattias thought of his second aunt and uncle. He thought of their grief when they discovered what had happened to their son. Though Mattias was shocked they didn't see it coming, Ercole had been on a self-destructive path for some time. But still... a parent's grief was nothing to brush off.