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Chapter 9
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He Thought I’d Beg Until I Walked Away Chapter 9
On the drive home from the gala, Adrian glanced at me.“You stayed with him for three years?”I rested my head against the seat.“He wasn’t always like that.”“They rarely are.”I looked at him. “Is that your professional opinion?”“No. That one was free.”A laugh escaped me.Adrian smiled but did not ask anything else.That was another difference between him and Alessandro. Adrian understood that concern did not entitle him to every private part of me.After that night, Alessandro found new ways to reach me.Messages arrived from unfamiliar numbers.I know you’re angry.Lucia and I have never been together.She no longer works for the Moretti Foundation. I have ended all contact with her.I was wrong to use silence against you. If you need time, I’ll give it to you. But I will not give up on us.Flowers appeared at my office. Jewelry arrived at my apartment. One morning, I found the Moretti Emerald inside a velvet case on my desk.I sent everything back unopened.For years, Alessandro
He Thought I’d Beg Until I Walked Away Chapter 8
Alessandro spun around, fury flashing across his face. Two of his men immediately stepped forward from the hotel entrance.Adrian did not move.“She told you to let her go.”“Do you know who you’re touching?” Alessandro asked softly.“I know she said no.”The cold in Alessandro’s expression deepened.Before either of them could move, I stepped beside Adrian.“I’m fine.”His gaze searched my face.“Are you sure?”I nodded.Lucia hurried toward us and caught Alessandro’s arm.“You can’t put your hands on him like that.”Alessandro pulled away from her.“Stay out of this, Lucia.”Her face fell.He turned back to me.“You really meant it?”“Meant what?”“That we’re over.”I almost laughed.Only Alessandro could find my empty apartment, my returned ring, and my new life on another continent, then still believe none of it counted unless he accepted it.“Yes.”His expression hardened.“How dare you decide three years are over without even speaking to me?”“I tried to speak to you. You skipped
He Thought I’d Beg Until I Walked Away Chapter 7
Zurich gave me no time to mourn the life I had left behind.On my first morning at the Helvetia Institute, twelve department heads gathered around a glass conference table and waited for me to prove I deserved the title printed outside my office.Most were welcoming.Dr. Weber, the head of neural systems engineering, was not.“You want to begin human trials within six months,” he said. “That timeline is ambitious for someone who has not worked within our regulatory system.”“I’ve worked under three regulatory systems,” I replied. “And the adaptive interface has already completed two independent safety reviews.”“Neither was conducted here.”Before I could answer, the man seated to my right closed the file in front of him.“Her rejection rate is twelve percent lower than ours,” he said. “If we delay the trial simply because the protocol was developed in New York, we are protecting our pride, not our patients.”Dr. Adrian Keller was the institute’s Clinical Director.He was thirty-five,
He Thought I’d Beg Until I Walked Away Chapter 6
The police called Alessandro the following morning.He almost ignored the unfamiliar number.“Mr. Moretti?” a woman asked when he answered. “This is Officer Ramirez with the NYPD. Eva Laurent listed you as her emergency contact.”At the word police, every nerve in Alessandro’s body snapped taut.“What happened to Eva?”“We arrested two suspects in connection with the robbery she reported two weeks ago. We recovered her purse, identification, and apartment keys.”For several seconds, Alessandro said nothing.The robbery she reported.Not the story she invented.Not the scene she created to drag him away from Lucia’s birthday.A real robbery.“Was she hurt?”“She had a cut on her knee and some bruising. We advised her to seek medical attention.”The bandage beneath his hands flashed through Alessandro’s mind.So did Eva’s voice on the phone.Alessandro, I was attacked.He had not even let her finish.“Why are you calling me?”“She used our phone to contact you that night. We haven’t been
He Thought I’d Beg Until I Walked Away Chapter 5
Four days had passed since Eva’s award ceremony.Alessandro had not called her once.He had already sent the only message he intended to send. She knew what she needed to do.Yet his phone remained silent. That was unusual.Eva had resisted him before, sometimes for days. But she had always found a reason to reach out. A question about dinner. A reminder about an appointment. A photograph of something that made her think of him.This time, there was nothing.Alessandro stared at the dark screen until Lucia took the phone from his hand.“I’ve said your name three times.”They were seated in the back room of Belladonna with Nico and several members of his inner circle. Lucia wore a fitted ivory dress, but the emerald was gone.Alessandro had taken it from her before they left the hotel that night.She had worn it to make a point. It had never belonged to her.“Did Eva finally apologize?” Lucia asked.“Not yet.”Nico dropped into the chair opposite them.“I thought the emerald would have
He Thought I’d Beg Until I Walked Away Chapter 4
For the next few days, Alessandro waited for my apology.This time, however, he made sure I knew exactly what he was doing while he waited.Alessandro normally kept his private life away from cameras. Now photographs of him and Lucia appeared in every society column connected to the Moretti family.Lucia leaving a Fifth Avenue jeweler with his hand at her back.Lucia dining across from him at Le Bernardin.Lucia stepping out of his armored car wearing his coat.They were never intimate enough to prove anything.They were only public enough to provoke me.Alessandro wanted me to call, demand an explanation, and prove I still cared whom he touched and where he took her.What he didn’t realize was that every photograph made me more certain I was doing the right thing by leaving.His mother called two days before the Moretti Foundation gala.“Eva, you’ll arrive at the estate by noon on Sunday,” Mrs. Moretti said without greeting me. “The wives of our capos will expect the future Donna to r
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