HER REVENGE

33

  As Chiara finished her photoshoot, her phone started ringing.

📱"Hello?" she said, picking up the call.

📱"Hey, guess what?" a familiar voice said on the other end.

📱"What?"

📱"Luca asked me on a date!" Luica exclaimed. "But I don't have anything to wear!"

📱"Oh my gosh! That's so exciting! But don't worry, we'll find you something to wear. I'm sure you'll look amazing."

📱"And what about you? How are things with Alessandro?"

📱"He's changed, I swear! He actually kissed me, and we even...made a baby!"

📱"What?!" Luica said, her jaw dropping. "You're kidding! You're not still trying to get revenge on him, are you?"

📱"I'm serious about getting my revenge, And I'm already working on it."

Luica let out a puff of air. 📱"Working on it indeed, And you're kissing Alessandro? Please, just stop all this revenge nonsense and live happily with him."

📱"You don't understand, I have to do this.

📱"Why don't you just confront him and ask him why he did that?"

Chiara was silent for a moment, then she spoke, her voice breaking.📱 "I can't."

📱"But why not?" Lucia pressed. "He deserves to know how you feel."

📱"I can't, I just can't."

📱"Fine," Lucia said. "But we'll talk about this again later, okay?"

📱"Okay," Chiara said, and with that, she hung up.
★★★
Lillian was sitting with her legs crossed when Luca burst through the door. She rushed to him and threw her arms around him, but he didn't hug her back.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" Lillian asked

Luca's face was cold and expressionless. "Happy to see you? No, I'm not, Now, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here because we need to talk about our wedding, You know we can't just ignore what happened."

Luca's eyes were cold and hard. "You're out of your mind, You called off the wedding, and I'm not interested in starting over."

"But, babe," Lillian said, reaching out to touch his arm."That was then, and this is now.

Luca let out a sharp laugh. "Is that what I am to you? A toy, something you can play with and then discard when you're done? I thought we had something special. But I guess I was wrong. Why don't you go back to where you are coming from and leave me alone?"

Lillian's eyes filled with tears. "That's not what I think, Luca, I made a mistake, but I love you. I'm here to make things right."

"You made a mistake?"

"Don't you love me anymore "

"You're asking me if I still love you?" Luca said, his voice rising. "After everything you did, you think there's any love left between us?"

"I know you're hurt, Luca, But with time, we can work through this. We can get back to the way we were."

"I don't think so," Luca said, his face hard. "You destroyed us, Lillian.

"We can work this out," Lillian pleaded.

Luca shook his head. "There's nothing to work out, You've ruined everything, and there's no coming back from that."

"But I love you, We can find a way back to each other. Please."

"But I don't love you anymore," Luca said, his voice rising to a yell.

"Is it because you're in love with someone else?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Luca's eyes met hers, and he didn't say anything.

"Answer me, Luca," Lillian said "Is there someone else?"

Luca's silence was all the answer she needed.She took a deep breath and turned away. "Then she's in trouble, because you belong to me."
★★★

Sebastiano strode into Alessandro's office and sat down. "Aren't you going to get a new secretary?" Sebastiano asked.

"Francis is working on it," Alessandro said, his eyes fixed on his computer screen. "How is Elena doing?"

"She's fine, She's just... a bit shaken up."

Alessandro turned to look at him, his expression
unreadable. "That's understandable,"

"And what did you do to Massimo that made him want to destroy your company?"

"It's because of Claire, He thinks I killed her, and now he's out for revenge. But he won't stop until he realizes the truth."

"The truth?" Sebastiano asked. "What is the truth, Alessandro?"

"That I didn't kill her," Alessandro said.

Sebastiano's throat went dry. "So, what are you going to do?"

Alessandro's eyes flashed with a dangerous light. "I'm going to find the killer, And I'm going to kill him myself."

Sebastiano let out a nervous laugh. "You're joking, right?" he said, his heart racing. "You can't be serious."

"I've never been more serious,"

"So Matteo isn't the killer?"

"No, Matteo may be dangerous, but I trust him. He would never have killed Claire."

Sebastiano forced a smile. "I should probably get going now," he said, rising to his feet.

Alessandro gave him a dismissive nod. "You do that," he said, his attention already back on his computer.

★★★

Chiara paced the length of her room, her thoughts swirling like a tornado. She replayed the conversation with Lucia over and over again in her head.

"I don't love him," she said aloud "I can't love him."As Alessandro's car pulled into the driveway, Chiara ran out to meet him.

"Welcome home, hubby," she said, throwing her arms around him.

He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "You left early," he said

"I was tired, and I was done with all my shoots."

"I'm tired too," Alessandro said

"You may act like a baby inside," Chiara teased, "but outside, you're a totally different person."

Alessandro laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "You're not wrong there,"

"Let me get you a glass of wine," Chiara said, and she hurried to the kitchen.

She poured the wine into a glass, and then she pulled out a small bottle from her pocket."I have to do this,I am sorry Alessandro but you don't deserve my love you deserve to die" she said, unscrewing the cap and pouring the contents of the bottle into the glass.

..........................