Chapter 2

I was led down a dimly lit hallway and into a lavishly decorated office.

Massimo was sitting in a massive leather chair, a wall-to-wall liquor cabinet behind him.

"Well, look who's come crawling back."

The chair swiveled around slowly, revealing his face.

Massimo didn't stand, nor did he invite me to sit.

"I'm dying," I said, getting straight to the point. "I need your help one last time."

He smirked as if he'd heard a joke. "You're only dying now?"

"As far as I'm concerned, you should have been in hell years ago."

He was mocking me, humiliating me.

But I was a woman who no longer feared death, so why would I care about his taunts?

"I know you've always wanted me dead. But this time, I really won't last three months. I figured you'd want a front-row seat to watch me go."

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime offer."

I tried to persuade him, desperate for him to agree.

Massimo suddenly burst into a low, wild laugh that echoed through the office.

"Chiara, you'll really stop at nothing to get your claws back into me, won't you?"

His voice dripped with vicious pleasure.

"I know things haven't been going well for you these past few years."

"Your father ate a bullet in his office, your mother ran off with the family's last dime and some casino dealer, and you? The Thornes tossed you out like yesterday's trash."

"What, no one wants you now, so you came running back to me?"

"Trying to win my sympathy with this dying act?"

"You think I still have any feelings for a shallow, materialistic woman like you?"

He walked over to me and seized my chin. "I would never want a woman like you."

"If you really were to die in front of me, I'd just sink your corpse in the Hudson River, with a tombstone tied to your feet, bearing the name of your filthy family. You and your father can be reunited at the bottom of the river!"

I gave it some serious thought.

A watery grave in the Hudson sounded miserable.

But it was probably better than rotting in public and becoming a tabloid headline, right?

I looked up at him and said in earnest.

"Fine. But don't use granite. The veining in marble would better suit my complexion."

"You…"

My words silenced him, the expression on his face freezing.

He must have thought I was trying to provoke him.

I didn't move, unwilling to give up just yet.

"Massimo, I'm serious…"

"Get out!" he roared.

I turned to leave. As I reached the door, I glanced back at him.

"I'll find a fixer in Chinatown. I won't bother you again."

Just as my hand touched the doorknob, a chair crashed to the floor behind me.

"You're not going anywhere."

Massimo's voice came from behind me, laced with a strange possessiveness.

"Your 'corpse'? I'm claiming it."

The crash of the overturned chair shattered the silence in the office.

I didn't look back, pushing the door open and walking out.

Even the bodyguards in the hallway looked at me with pity.

They must have heard the whole conversation.

Secrets don't stay buried for long in the underworld. No different from the world outside.

I stepped out of the club, and the cold wind made me sneeze.

That was a good thing, I supposed.

Soon, I probably wouldn't even have the strength to sneeze.

Urgent footsteps approached from behind.

"Get in the car," Massimo's voice sounded behind me.

I turned to see him standing beside a black Rolls-Royce.

"I told you, if you're not willing, I'll handle it myself."

"You think I'd just let you walk away?" He opened the car door. "I said get in the car, Chiara."

"We're not finished talking."

In seven years, our positions had been completely reversed.

Now, he held all the power, and I no longer had the right to refuse.

The car drove slowly.

Massimo sat across from me, his eyes occasionally flicking to me in the rearview mirror.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled up in front of my dilapidated apartment building.

It suddenly occurred to me that he knew where I lived without even having to ask.

"You don't have to come up," I said, pushing the door open.

"Not welcoming me in?" He got out after me. "I want to see how the Ricci princess is living these days."

I bit my lip. "Suit yourself."