Chasing Sandro: A Dangerous Obsession

Chapter 53: Confronting the Darkness

Sandro stood at the threshold of the room, his eyes fixed on Bella, who sat quietly on the edge of the bed, her hands folded in her lap. Her face was pale, drained of the defiance and resolve that had kept her going for so long. She looked small, fragile, as if the weight of her obsession had finally broken her.

But that didn't make her any less dangerous.

He took a step forward, his voice low and steady, though inside, his emotions were in turmoil. "I need you to explain something to me," he began, locking eyes with her. "Why? Why did you do all of this? What did you think was going to happen? That I'd just... fall in love with you?"

Bella's eyes flickered with pain as she looked down at her hands, her fingers twisting nervously. "I didn't expect you to fall in love with me right away," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I thought... if I could just show you how much I cared, how much I was willing to do for you, you'd see me. You'd see that I'm the only one who truly loves you."

Sandro's heart tightened, a bitter mixture of anger and pity swirling in his chest. "And you thought kidnapping me was the way to do that? Keeping me locked away, controlling every aspect of my life... that's not love, Bella. That's control. That's manipulation."

"I know it sounds wrong," she said quickly, her voice rising with desperation. "But you didn't see how they treated you, Sandro. Everyone around you—those people, the politicians, even the media—they didn't care about you. They just wanted to use you. I was the only one who really cared."

Sandro shook his head, the disbelief etched in his expression. "And how did you figure that out, Bella? By watching from the shadows? By funding my career without telling me? You made decisions for me without my knowledge. You took my life and turned it into something I didn't even recognize."

Bella's eyes filled with tears, and she stood up, taking a step toward him. "I did it because I love you!" she cried, her voice cracking under the weight of her emotions. "I did it because I wanted to protect you! You've always been so strong, so confident, but I saw the cracks. I saw how vulnerable you were, and I couldn't stand by and watch you be destroyed."

Sandro felt a lump forming in his throat, but he forced it down. "You didn't protect me," he said firmly. "You broke me. You took away everything that made me who I am—my freedom, my choices, my life."

Bella flinched at his words, her tears spilling over her cheeks as she tried to speak, but her voice failed her. She reached for him, her hands trembling, but Sandro stepped back, keeping the distance between them.

"You've crossed lines that can't be uncrossed, Bella," he said, his voice soft but filled with a quiet anger. "You've destroyed everything I thought I knew about you, about myself. You used me, and you hid behind this idea that it was for my own good."

"I never meant to hurt you," Bella whispered, her face crumpling as she broke down, her sobs shaking her small frame. "I just... I didn't know what else to do. You never saw me, Sandro. You never noticed me, no matter how much I did for you. I thought... I thought if I could just be the one who made you successful, you'd finally understand how much I love you."

Sandro's heart twisted painfully at her words. He could see it now—how twisted and broken her perception of love had become. But that didn't make what she had done any less wrong. She had manipulated him, forced him into a life he hadn't chosen, and now, even after everything, she couldn't see the full extent of the damage she had caused.

"What you call love," he said slowly, "isn't love, Bella. It's possession. You didn't want me to succeed because you cared about me—you wanted to control me, to own me. You thought if you could pull all the strings, I'd be yours. But love doesn't work like that."

Bella's sobs grew louder, her knees buckling as she sank to the floor. "I'm sorry," she cried, her voice breaking. "I'm so sorry, Sandro. I just... I wanted you to see me. I wanted to be enough for you."

Sandro's heart clenched at the sight of her on the ground, broken and weeping, but he didn't move to comfort her. He couldn't. Not after everything. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to.

He knelt down, looking into her tear-streaked face, his own eyes filled with the weight of the pain she had caused. "I saw you," he said quietly. "But I never saw this. I never saw how far you were willing to go. And now... now I don't know if I can ever forget it."

Bella's sobs quieted as she looked up at him, her eyes pleading, desperate. "Please," she whispered. "Please, just give me a chance. I'll do anything. I'll fix this."

But Sandro shook his head, the finality of it sinking into the air between them. "You can't fix this, Bella. Some things... some things are too broken to fix."

The silence that followed was thick with sorrow, with the realization that there was no going back. Bella's dangerous love had destroyed any hope of redemption, and as Sandro stood up, leaving her crumpled on the floor, he knew that whatever connection they had once had—whatever chance she thought they might have—was gone.

He walked toward the door, his footsteps heavy, his heart aching with the weight of the truth. Bella had shown him the darkest side of love, a side he had never wanted to see. And as the door clicked shut behind him, the only sound that remained was the soft, broken sobs of a woman who had lost everything in her misguided attempt to keep the one thing she couldn't have.