A Twisted Tale

Path to Destruction

Mystery Man POV

I took my time gathering information about the woman who was with Valerio Moretti on the night of Leah's wedding. Turns out, she was his employee. However, the conversation between them didn't sound anything professional so I asked my PI to dig deeper. The information he provided was pure gold. She was his girlfriend until six months ago. She publicly assaulted a woman at a restaurant and on doing further research I found out that Aurora Rossi was her real name. Her file looked very interesting and absolutely promising for what I had in mind for the Webbs.

I hated them with every fiber of my being and I was going to show them what destroying a family does to a person. I vowed to not spare anyone, including Meera. Though she officially wasn't a Webb, hurting her would hurt them all. With a smile on my face, I knocked on the door.

Aurora looked nothing like in the photo. Her appearance was completely disheveled. It looked like she was expecting someone else at the door because her eyes searched around wildly before landing on me. She was disappointed and irritated at the same time. Before she could slam the door shut, I wedged my foot between the door and said "Miss Rossi, I am here to discuss something important with you." She looked irritated and asked me to go away. I insisted that this was very important and that she had to listen to me before making a decision. She reluctantly opened the door and allowed me into the apartment.

My eyes went wide at the sight in front of me. The smell of alcohol, rotting food and puke hit me and made my stomach lurch. I turned around to face her and said "I'm staying at this address. If you want to discuss your future with Valerio, or rather, if you want to be a part of his future, clean up and get to this address. Say you don't turn up tonight, you will be missing your only opportunity to win back your love Miss Rossi." I said and handed her the address. I gave her one last look before running out of the place.

I was growing impatient by the minute. She was supposed to be here by now. An hour should be enough for her to pull herself together and get to the hotel. Just as I was pondering about my current situation, I heard a soft knock on the door. I opened it and found Aurora standing in front of me. I smiled at her and asked her to come in. She looked at me doubtfully and walked into the house. "Firstly, I'm assuming you haven't eaten anything so I ordered dinner for the two of us. I hope that's okay with you?" I asked. She nodded her head and said "Why am I here? And what do you mean by getting back with Valerio? Can you really make that happen?" She asked desperately. I looked at her with pity and said "I will do my best assuming that you are willing to cooperate with me Miss Rossi. There is so much that you know nothing about. You have been kept in the dark for far too long and that ends tonight." She looked at me surprisedly and said "What are you talking about?" I motioned her to take a seat and sat right beside her. I took her delicate hand in mine and said "Miss Rossi, I know you have been blaming yourself for all that has happened between you and Valerio. What if I told you that you were played all along? What if I told you that everything was a set up?" She looked shocked at first but composed herself and said irritatedly "Again. Stop beating around the bushes. Who are you and what the hell are you talking about?" I pulled out the file from the cabinet and showed it to her. " I will tell you all about myself once I am certain that I can trust you. For now, here are the call records which clearly show that Luigi Renato and Valerio Moretti knew each other even before Mr. Renato knew you. Though I don't have the exact telephonic conversations, I have in here a confession by Mr. Renato. After a bit of persuasion, he told me that he was hired by Mr. Moretti to pursue you and get you to fall in love with him. I know how blindly you love him, so I'll give you a moment to listen to the recording and know that you were wronged." I said and left her alone to get us both a glass of wine. I took my sweet time to fill the glasses because she had to hear to every single word without any interruption. One thing was certain though, she wasn't going to do Valerio any harm. For now, that was alright by me. By the time I got back, she sat there looking untrusting. "Why do I have to believe a thing you say? What if you're setting me up for your personal gain? I know Valerio. He's a lot of things but he isn't the kind to stoop this low. He loves me and that is why he was hurt when I cheated on him." She said.

I gently put down the glasses and cleared my throat. I handed her another voice recording. This time it was Valerio's voice. "Hello Papa. It's done. Aurora is finally out if the picture. She wasn't easy to lure but fell into the trap nevertheless. Luigi is going to pursue her for a week more before giving up. That way, she will doubt nothing. I will be going to the office tomorrow in order to meet Meera and finish the meeting. Bye." The recorder went static and she satred sobbing loudly. I put a hand on her shoulder and said "There there, he doesn't deserve your tears." She sniffed loudly and said "Why? All that I ever wanted was his love! He is the only one for me. He made me believe that he loved me and now he went to do this behind my back. What have ever done to him? And I am mad at myself for willing to forgive him despite what he has done to me! And before anything else, I will make Luigi pay for this. Do you know what happened to me the night the photos were taken?" She asked crying. I nodded and said "Yes. I know what happened to you. Your drink was spiked and when you went home you were unconscious. Luigi didn't do anything other than taking a few pictures of the two of you in an intimate state. It was all as per Valerio's instructions."

She wiped her eyes and said "Tell me something. Why exactly are you telling me all this? Why does it matter to you?" I took a seat right in front of her and said "I will be perfectly honest with you. I am not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. I need your help with something. You see, you love Valerio and are willing to do anything for him. But I on the other hand hate the Webbs and want to see them in ruins. Meera is the one I am going to start with. And I am approaching you because you are hurting because of her. She took Valerio away from you. If she is out of the picture then Valerio will realize your true value and come back to you. Trust me, Meera doesn't stand a chance against your love but Valerio is too naive to realize that. I know Meera personally and she is a vile creature. I won't be surprised if she was the one to convince Valerio to hurt you and to get rid of you. I'm glad that she didn't cross the line and get you killed. She is capable of it. Your Valerio is stupid to believe that she is beautiful both inside and out."

She listened to everything patiently and said "Will you really help me get back with Valerio? If yes then I will help you ruin her. I have said this before and I will say this yet again. I will destroy anyone who tries to steal him away from me. He is mine and mine alone. Tell me what needs to be done and I'll do it. But remember this, anything that puts Valerio in harm's way is out of question. If it comes down to choosing him or you, you already know whom I will be choosing. The only reason I'm thinking of helping you is because you said you will unite us again. I'm holding you on to that because you know that's all I want."

"Trust me. I have no interest in your man. I'm only interested in Meera. Your enemy is my enemy and that's why you are a friend I am willing to trust. Now, here is my card. Pack your things because you will be coming with me to London. Before you protest, Valerio will be staying in London for a while now. The partnership is being finalized and I'm certain that he will want to stay back in London to be as close to Meera as possible. After you get to London, we will discuss the plan. But I want you to do me a favour before getting to London. Ditch your current look. Valerio should know what he's missing the very minute he lays his eyes on you."

She nodded and looked down at the card. She looked at me with a mixture of pure disbelief and shock and said " How ironic that you are the one set on destroying the whole family. Are you sure you want to burn the Webbs to ashes? After all-.." I didn't let her finish. "Trust me. I want them all dead but I want it to be slow and painful. I want them to suffer the way I suffered." I said vehemently and proceeded to open the door. The food was here and I silently laughed looking at the warm food. They say revenge is a dish best served cold and I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer and thus, laughed loudly while a confused Aurora sat watching me.