Trapped by Seven Mafia Wolves novel Chapter 23

**The Unplaceable End by Austen**
**Chapter 23**

**The Wait**

**Leon’s POV**

I find myself pacing the narrow hallway, a restless creature trapped in a cage of my own making. Back and forth, my footsteps echo against the walls, a rhythmic dance of anxiety that feels all too familiar.

Time stretches out before me, each second dragging like an eternity, taunting me with its sluggishness.

Matteo has been in that room for what feels like an age. Is it too long? Or perhaps not long enough? The uncertainty gnaws at me like a hungry beast.

I can’t decipher the clock’s hands anymore; they blur into a haze of impatience.

With a frustrated sigh, I rub the back of my neck, attempting to dissipate the weight that presses heavily into my spine, a burden I can’t seem to shake off.

My jaw clenches tightly, a reflex I can’t control, and I find myself grinding my teeth, the sound grating against my already frayed nerves.

Why does it feel like I’m suffocating?

She looked lifeless.

No—she wasn’t truly dead.

But she was close. So agonizingly close that the image of her body, slumped sideways like a forgotten doll, haunts me. Her face, pale as a ghost, and her lips tinged with an unsettling blue from the chill that enveloped her.

And the worst part? No one noticed she was gone. Not even me.

The door creaks open, its sound slicing through the silence like a knife.

I jerk my head up, the sudden movement sending a jolt through my neck.

Matteo emerges slowly, his hoodie half-zipped, a phone still clutched in his hand like a lifeline.

He doesn’t meet my gaze, his eyes focused elsewhere, and my heart sinks further.

“Well?” I demand, urgency lacing my voice the moment he steps into the hall.

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