Chasing Sandro: A Dangerous Obsession

Chapter 50: A Desperate Plea

The door slammed behind him, and for a moment, the only sound that filled the air was Bella's ragged breathing. Sandro's words echoed in her mind—sharp, unforgiving, final. He had turned his back on her, his anger a wall she couldn't scale. But as the silence grew heavier, Bella couldn't let him go, not like this. Not without making him understand why.

"Wait!" she cried, her voice strained and desperate.

Sandro paused at the threshold, his hand hovering over the doorknob. For a split second, he considered leaving her there, drowning in her guilt and regret. But something held him back. Maybe it was the lingering curiosity, the need to understand how she could justify everything she had done. Or maybe, beneath his anger, he still needed closure. Slowly, reluctantly, he turned to face her again.

Bella was on her knees, her tear-streaked face turned upward toward him, her eyes wide and pleading. She looked broken—so different from the composed, confident woman who had pulled the strings behind his life. And yet, even in her desperation, there was something unyielding in her gaze.

"Please, Sandro," she begged, her voice trembling. "I need you to hear me. I need you to know why."

Sandro's jaw clenched. "Why? Why you had me kidnapped? Why you destroyed my life? What could possibly justify that?"

Bella took a deep breath, wiping her tears with shaking hands. Her chest heaved as she tried to steady herself, to find the right words to make him see what she had carried inside her for so long.

"You've never seen me, Sandro," she whispered, her voice fragile. "I've been invisible to you for so long. I've stood by, watched from the sidelines as you lived your life, hoping—praying—that one day, you'd notice me. But you never did."

Sandro's gaze hardened. "And that gives you the right to—"

"No!" Bella interrupted, her voice breaking with emotion. "No, it doesn't. But I need you to understand—I loved you, Sandro. I've loved you for as long as I can remember. From the moment I first saw you, I knew you were everything I wanted. But I was always just...there. Always the shadow, always the admirer from afar."

Sandro's heart pounded in his chest, his anger swirling with a confusing mixture of emotions as he listened to her. There was something haunting in her words, something that stirred a faint memory of the events that had passed, moments where he'd seen her at his speeches, dinners, and charity events—always present, always unnoticed.

"I gave everything to you," Bella continued, her voice quieter now, filled with anguish. "I funded your projects, I made sure your career kept rising. I was there when no one else was. And still, you never saw me. Do you know how it feels to love someone so deeply and be completely invisible to them?"

Sandro's expression remained cold, but he couldn't help but feel the weight of her words. He had ignored her. He had taken her for granted, used her admiration when it was convenient, never realizing the depth of her feelings—or how far she had fallen into her obsession.

"I didn't just love you," Bella continued, her voice growing more frantic. "I *needed* you to see me. To realize that I was the one who was always there for you. That I could give you everything you wanted, everything you needed. I thought if I could just show you how much I cared, you'd finally understand. You'd finally love me back."

Sandro's voice was tight with frustration. "So, your solution was to have me kidnapped? To trap me, to force me into loving you?"

Bella shook her head violently, tears spilling down her cheeks again. "No, it wasn't supposed to be like this! I—I never meant for it to go this far. I thought—" She swallowed hard, her voice breaking. "I thought if I could make you see how much I've done for you, if I could get you away from everything else, you'd realize I was the one who really cared."

Sandro's gaze softened slightly, but his anger was still there, simmering beneath the surface. "You can't force love, Bella. What you did—what you're doing—it's not love. It's control."

Bella flinched at the word, her breath catching in her throat. "I didn't want to control you," she whispered. "I just wanted you to see me. To *finally* see me."

The silence that followed was suffocating. Sandro's mind raced, grappling with the weight of her confession. He had always known Bella was infatuated with him, but he had never realized the depths of her obsession. He had been blind to the love she had twisted into something dark, something dangerous.

"I thought if I could show you everything I'd done for you, everything I'd given up for you, you'd finally love me back," Bella continued, her voice barely audible. "But I was wrong. I see that now."

Her eyes met his, and for the first time, Sandro saw something he hadn't seen before: shame. Bella, in all her manipulations, had been driven by a love that had spiraled out of control. And now, in the wake of her actions, she was left standing in the wreckage of her own heart.

"I don't expect you to forgive me," she said, her voice hoarse. "I don't deserve it. But I need you to understand that everything I did, I did because I loved you. And I know that love was wrong. I know it's broken. But it's all I had."

Sandro stared at her, his emotions a tangled mess. He felt anger, betrayal, but also a faint sense of pity—pity for the woman who had loved him so deeply and destructively that she had lost herself in the process.

"I don't know what to say," Sandro admitted, his voice softer now. "You've hurt me in ways I can't even begin to describe. You took away my freedom, my trust. And even now, I don't know if I can ever forgive you."

Bella nodded slowly, her head bowed in defeat. "I understand," she whispered. "I never wanted to hurt you. I just... I wanted you to know I existed."

Sandro exhaled, feeling the weight of the conversation settle on his chest. For the first time, he saw Bella not as the villain, but as someone who had lost herself in a misguided attempt to be loved. It didn't excuse her actions, but it gave him some clarity on the darkness she had been trapped in.

He took a step toward the door, his heart heavy. "I see you now, Bella. But it's too late."

Bella's breath hitched as she watched him walk away, his words slicing through her like a knife. She had spent so long trying to make him see her, but now that he finally did, it was in the worst possible way.

As the door closed behind Sandro, Bella collapsed to the floor, her sobs echoing in the empty room. She had given everything for love, and now, all that remained was the shattered pieces of a heart that would never be whole again.