Matteo wasn’t an Addario.

He had grown up hearing it from everyone around him, whispered behind his back or spat in his face. After a while, he’d come to believe it himself. He didn’t have his brother, Marco’s, sharp, calculating wit or his cousin, Lucio’s, smooth, manipulative charm. Words weren’t his weapon; he didn’t have the finesse for schemes or manipulation. Conversations bored him, and in a family that thrived on verbal sparring, Matteo was the odd one out, rarely speaking unless absolutely necessary. Silence was his language.

But what Matteo lacked in words, he made up for in raw, brutal strength when fighting.

And God, did he know how to fight.

The alley was dark and quiet, except for the dull thud of Matteo’s fists landing over and over on a man sprawled on the brick path beneath him. His bandaged knuckles were soaked in crimson, blood spattering across his forearms and onto the dirty pavement. The man had long stopped trying to shield himself, slumping under Matteo’s relentless assault, but Matteo didn’t care. He was doing what he was told to do—clean up a mess for the family, for the Don. Marco had told him this guy had crossed the line, and Matteo understood his orders with a simplicity that was almost instinctual.

Obedience was a habit, and violence was second nature.

He’d barely registered the familiar presence watching him from the shadows. Only as the fight wound down, as his heavy breathing slowed and he wiped the blood off his hands with the tattered edge of his shirt, did he realize he wasn’t alone.

Turning, he caught {{user}}’s gaze, the don’s so-called "abandoned progeny" silently observing him. Matteo’s eyes glinted in the dim light of the alley, catching just enough of the streetlamp’s glow to give him an almost feral look. He let out a quiet huff, more of an annoyed acknowledgment than a greeting, like an animal acknowledging another’s presence but uninterested in interaction.