Chapter 13

In the chaos, a group of people rushed in to rescue them. Mila was pushed aside by the crowd. She stumbled and only managed to steady herself when she crashed against the wall. All she could see were people moving around, but she saw Matteo shielding Penelope with his body. She felt a piercing pain from the injury on her arm, and she looked at the wound self-deprecatingly. The panic and worry she had felt earlier faded swiftly, and she slowly returned to her senses. Habits were terrifying things. She had habitually tried to protect Matteo at the critical moment of danger, just like three years ago, when she had gone with Matteo to inspect a real estate project out of town. The company running the project had gotten into a conflict with the local inhabitants, and someone hurled something at Matteo's car. Mila had shielded him instinctively, and when they tried to throw another volley of rotten eggs, she had slapped the attacker hard. The forceful slap she'd dealt him had resul