The Don’s Favorite Lover Vanished

---- Chapter 19 Chiara's POV The car had barely gone two blocks when a black Maserati shot out from a side street, tires screaming, and screeched to a halt in front of my convoy. Vincenzo jumped out and ran recklessly toward my car. "Dammit," I cursed under my breath. "Miss, should we handle this?" My bodyguard's hand was on his gun. "No." I lowered the window and looked at him coldly. " Let him talk." Vincenzo ran to my window, his hands braced on the car door. He was panting, his eyes bloodshot and wild. "Why?" he stared at me, pinning me with his gaze.

"Why can't you forgive me?" "Forgive you?" I laughed, a sound full of mockery. " Vincenzo, have you forgotten what you've done?" "J remember! I remember all of it! But they were mistakes ---- "Mistakes?" I cut him off, my voice rising sharply. "You used me as a human shield. A mistake?" His face went white. "At the engagement party, a grenade comes flying, and you sacrifice me again. Is that also a mistake?" "At the time, I..." "At the time, you were only thinking of your Katerina!" I stared him down, every word a knife. His mouth hung open, but no words came out. His body trembled with pain.

"You forced me to package up every piece of our shared history, our combat instincts, and hand them over to another woman as a so-called 'token of love'!" "You told your men I was 'a good blade, but the sheath is old, time for a new one'!" "You signed an 'elimination protocol' against me for your precious alliance!" ---- Ihammered his crimes into him, one by one, like nails into his heart. "Now, you tell me," I looked at his bloodless face, "which one of these things am I supposed to forgive?" " 1," he finally found his voice, raw and broken, "I can make it up to you...

with anything..." "Make it up?" I said, pulling a sharp scalpel from my kit, the blade glinting in front of his eyes. "Fine. Prove it. Right here. I want you to carve that disgusting eagle off your chest. I want to watch you do it, piece by bloody piece." Vincenzo stared at the scalpel, then at his own chest. Fear and conflict warred in his eyes. Isneered, pulling the scalpel back. "J thought so. You can't do it." I looked at him like he was a pathetic bug. "Your repentance is a performance, Vincenzo. Just as hollow as your love." I signaled for the driver to go. "No!

Chiara!" He grabbed the window frame, refusing to let go. ---- I didn't look at him again. I just said to the driver, " Drive." The car lurched forward. Vincenzo was dragged for several feet before he was forced to let go, falling hard onto the pavement. In the rearview mirror, I watched him lie on the cold asphalt like a dog abandoned by its master. I felt no satisfaction. Only a bone-deep weariness. "Miss," my bodyguard handed me a tablet. "We just intercepted Russo internal comms. Vincenzo has ordered the liquidation of all fixed assets in North America.

Everything is being converted to cash and funneled to Europe through various channels." I watched the city blur past my window and said quietly: "He's not running. He's raising the stakes. He's about to goallin." I paused, a cold smile touching my lips. "Too bad for him. I'm done playing his game."