Chapter 11
The room was dim and heavy with silence-except for the faint static hum of the hidden receiver echoing through the walls.
Matteo’s voice spilled from the speakers, calm and collected, like he wasn’t orchestrating someone’s ruin. Like he wasn’t talking about me.
“Don’t worry, Marian. We’ll blame it all on that Ivanna and her bitch of a mother.”
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I stood by the window, the glass cooled against my fingertips. Outside the city lights blinked like a million tiny lies, pretending they didn’t see any of this.
My chest tightened. My nails dug into my palms until I felt them break skin.
Even after my death… they’re still trying to destroy me.
‘They’re really going all in, huh?” Sam said behind me, his voice unsure. “Your family’s a mess This is like… a full-blown melodrama.”
didn’t answer.
.othario didn’t say anything either-at first. When I turned slightly, I saw his expression stone-cold. No surprise, only fury burning low in his eyes.
When I get my hands on that bastard,” he muttered, voice rough and dangerous, “Don Matte vill beg for death before I’m through with him.”
turned fully then, and the weight of everything hit me at once. My face felt calm, too calm-bu nside, something was splintering.
Lothario,” I said, my voice barely holding steady. “You looked into my past… like I asked. Wha lid you find?”
My throat tightened.
I know my mother wouldn’t have done what they claimed. I saw it-the pain in her eyes before she died. What they’re saying… it can’t be true.”
He didn’t speak at first. Instead, he reached for a black folder sitting on the coffee table and slic t toward me. His expression was unreadable, but I could feel the weight in the gesture.
Your mother didn’t cheat,” he said softly. “She was raped.”
Everything inside me went still.
My breath caught. My fingers trembled as I reached for the folder, like it might explode in my hands. I flipped it open.
And then I saw it.
Medical reports. Police statements. The details I never wanted-but needed.
I covered my mouth, choking on a gasp. My knees nearly gave out, and I collapsed into the
nearest chair.
“She… she didn’t…” I whispered. “Oh my God.”
Lothario’s voice was steady, detached, like he had to be the one who didn’t fall apart. “Matteo never believed her. He accused her of lying. Said she was just trying to cover up an affair. That’s when he started seeing someone else again-an old flame. Marian’s mother.”
Chapter 11
12:06 am
I stared at the pages with blurred vision, but I kept flipping through them anyway. Each page felt colder than the last.
“She saw him again before my mother died?” I asked.
“The report says they reconnected shortly before the incident,” he said. “But they’d met once before-years ago. Quietly. Briefly. I don’t think it was by chance. I think she wanted back into his
life.”
My jaw clenched. My fingers tightened on the edge of the paper.
“So Marian’s mother…” I swallowed. “She could’ve been involved in what happened to mine.”
Lothario nodded, slowly. “It’s possible. But she died before Matteo ever found out about Marian There’s no way to confirm anything now.”
The silence that followed was different. Heavier. Final.
looked up, and I knew something inside me had shifted. Hardened.
‘I didn’t know my mother went through all of this…” My voice cracked-then steadied. “They’re ruly heartless.”
pushed the folder aside.
They think this is over? That they can just erase her like that?” I stood slowly, each movement deliberately. “I’ll make them pay, twice what we originally planned.”
Behind me, Sam made a sound. A sharp breath. He looked like he was about to say something, >ut didn’t.
Even he was afraid.
They want to play the victims now?” I murmured, mostly to myself. “Let them.”
walked to the bar, uncorked a bottle-Marian’s prized vintage, the one she smiled over like it neant something-and poured it into a glass. The wine shimmered under the light, dark and ich, like blood in a storm.
held the glass in my hand, swirled it once, then met their eyes.
And drank.
If they insist on blaming me,” I said quietly, “I’ll give them something real to blame.”
set the glass down with care.
‘This isn’t just my revenge anymore.”
looked at Lothario. He stood beside me without a word, but that was enough.
‘This is for my mother.”
Sam shifted nervously, rubbing his hands together. “So… do we move on to Phase Two?”
I turned to face him.
And smiled.
But there was nothing warm in it.
“No,” I said. “We escalate.”
A beat passed.
Chapter 11
12:06 am PPPP.
“Launch Phase Two and Phase Three-at the same time.”
12:06 am P P P P
