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Chapter 8
I sat in my dimly lit penthouse, the city stretching beyond the glass windows. The De Luca name was already cracking, whispers of his financial instability slithering through the underworld like a disease. I had watched, listened, waited. Now, it was time for the next blow.
I lifted the small wooden box, fingers brushing over the worn edges. Inside lay the ghosts of a past he chose to bury–a tiny pink dress, a stuffed bear with a missing eye, a silver bracelet engraved with Amara De Luca.
Lorenzo’s only heir. His real heir.
I traced the bracelet with my thumb, memories clawing at my throat. Her laughter, soft like morning light. The way her tiny fingers gripped mine as if I was her entire world. Lorenzo had promised to protect her. Then he chose another child over her lifeless body.
I exhaled slowly, suppressing the fire in my chest. This was not grief. This
was vengeance.
Sealing the box, I attached a small note.
“Did you forget her already?”
Then I called for delivery.
***
Lorenzo was watching the skylight.
The office was tense.
Riccardo paced near the window, his usual arrogance absent. “Another shipment blocked. Investors are pulling out, again. This isn’t a coincidence,
boss.”
Lorenzo sat behind his desk, swirling whiskey in his glass. “It’s sabotage.”
“No shit,” Riccardo muttered. “Someone’s inside our network. Someone
smart.”
Lorenzo’s grip tightened. It wasn’t just business falling apart. The headlines already screamed: De Luca Holdings at Risk–Is the Empire Crumbling? A decade of power, unraveling like a thread.
The whiskey burned, but it didn’t numb. Nothing did.
The world around him blurred–figures in suits, voices murmuring about stocks, investments, damage control. He couldn’t focus.
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her. Hadn’t he?
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Then his secretary entered, placing a package on the desk. “This just arrived, sir. No return address.”
Lorenzo frowned. He never received anonymous deliveries. Not without security checks. Something felt… wrong.
He peeled back the lid. And the world stopped. A child’s dress. A stuffed bear. A bracelet. Amara’s. His breath left him in a slow, brutal exhale.
Riccardo’s pacing halted. “Boss?”
Lorenzo didn’t answer. His fingers traced the tiny bracelet, the name carved into silver like a cruel taunt. A sharp pang in his chest–something long buried, long ignored.
Then his gaze landed on the note.
“Did you forget her already?”
His blood turned to ice.
Memories crashed into him. Amara’s tiny fingers gripping his. Her laughter echoing through the halls. Her lifeless body in Valeria’s arms.
Valeria.
His jaw clenched so tight it ached. His hands curled into fists, veins straining. This wasn’t random. Someone wanted him to remember. Someone
wanted him to suffer.
Lorenzo slammed the box shut. His whiskey glass slipped from his grip, shattering across the desk.
Who was playing with him?
His mind flashed to the woman at the gala.
Her eyes.
The way she looked at him.
Riccardo stepped forward. “What the fuck is that?”
Lorenzo’s voice was low, dangerous. “Find out where this came from.
Now.”
Riccardo nodded and left.
Lorenzo exhaled harshly, rubbing his temples. His mind was a storm of rage and something else–something far more dangerous. A feeling he refused
to name.
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to name.
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Because for the first time in years, he felt like a man standing at the edge of something terrifying.
Something he couldn’t control.
And he fucking hated it.
****
I watched from a distance, hidden in the shadows, as Lorenzo stormed out of his office, his face pale, his expression haunted. He was unraveling. Drinking. Losing control.
And Isabella? She was suffocating him.
“Lorenzo, where are you going?” Her voice was sharp as she followed him down the hall.
He ignored her, jaw clenched, shoulders stiff. Her panic was showing. She was losing her grip. I smirked.
Good.
She reached for his arm. “Talk to me! You’ve been distant, distracted! Ever since her-” She caught herself, but it was too late.
Lorenzo’s head snapped toward her. “Since who, Isabella?”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
He stepped closer, voice low, threatening. “Who the hell do you think I’ve been distracted by?”
Isabella swallowed, her grip tightening on his sleeve. “I just… I know something’s wrong, Lorenzo.”
He yanked his arm free. “Stay out of my head, Isabella.”
She flinched. I almost laughed. She feels it. She knows I’m coming. I slipped back into the night, my heart steady, my mind sharp.
This was only the beginning. And soon- Lorenzo De Luca would lose everything.
Ronan let out a sharp laugh as he started the car, the engine roaring to life. “Damn, Victoria. You really don’t hold back, do you?”
I smirked, sliding into the passenger seat, crossing my legs. “Why should
1?”
He shifted gears, glancing at me. “So, what’s next?”
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He shifted gears, glancing at me. “So, what’s next?”
I tilted my head, running my fingers along the edge of my dress. “I will apply as his secretary and make Lorenzo fall in love with me.”
His brows lifted. “Your ex–husband?”
I nodded, a wicked smile forming. “I want to turn him into a fool for me. Make him crave me, need me, lose himself in me–until he forgets why he ever let me go.”
Ronan whistled. “Damn. And Isabella?”
I leaned back against the seat, eyes gleaming. “She’ll go insane watching him fall for me. She fought so hard to steal him from me, so let’s see how she handles losing him.”
Ronan chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re really going to ruin their lives.”
I turned to him, voice cold, unwavering. “They ruined mine first.” His grip tightened on the wheel. “And the doctor?”
I exhaled slowly, eyes darkening. “Dr. Romano. The one she paid to lie, to say her bastard son had Amara’s disease.” I scoffed, shaking my head. “That lie solidified her place in Lorenzo’s life. She used my daughter’s death to chain him to her.”
Ronan glanced at me, a glimmer of something unreadable in his expression. “And what do you want to do with him?”
I met his gaze, my voice like steel.
“I want him to suffer.”
Silence filled the car for a moment before Ronan grinned. “Alright, Queen. Let’s drag them all down. But before that, let’s block any investigations that might lead to you. It’s too soon for him to find out right away.”
I smirked, my pulse thrumming with adrenaline.
This was only the beginning.
Chapter 9
