/-Piper-/I returned home to find Dante waiting for me. “What happened?” I asked worriedly, hurrying to him. “I talked to Gianna and…”“This isn't about Gianna, Piper! It's about my business! My company. My manager called me this morning, he found the mole. You won't believe who has been behind the downfall of my company!” He gritted. “Maxmillan?” I guessed. “No, if it were Maxmillan, it would have been better but he doesn't have the time to go around scheming how to bring people down. It's fucking Eric North!” I was dumbfounded. Of course the man I was fucking cheating on my husband with was the orchestrator of his downfall. How the hell did I not see that coming?My jaw was literally on the floor. “I am going to have a fucking long talk with that bastard! He will pay for everything he has done to me! I was going him deceiving you slide for a while but it's obvious that he wants war!” I stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “Dante, wait. You can’t just go after him like
Chapter 110/-Eric-/“What?!” I gasped. “How could he have been stupid enough to get caught? Did he give names?”I was already on my feet, pacing the floor of my penthouse office. Jasper stood a few feet away, stiff as a soldier, eyes fixed on the floor. He didn’t answer fast enough, and I turned on him.“Well?”He cleared his throat. “No names, sir. But the Zurich server was accessed, just before the wipe was completed. Someone pulled the backup files remotely.”I cursed under my breath and shoved a stack of papers off the desk. They scattered like snow.So that was how they were doing it.Dante and that woman… Piper. I should’ve known she wasn’t just going to disappear quietly. She looked like the kind to break, not bite. I had misjudged her, and now she was back with Dante, sharpening his sword.“They know,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone. “They have enough to trace the money. The foundations. The shell companies. That’s why they’re being so damn quiet.”Jasper flinched at
/-Maxmillian-/My phone rang and I was surprised to see Doctor Ellie calling. She was the one in charge of the autopsy on the Matriarch’s corpse.Her call was the very thing I had been waiting for, for days now. This could change everything.If I could prove that the Matriarch didn’t die from a terminal disease, then the Council would be forced to investigate her death. And God help Eric if he was responsible for it. He would see a different side of hell, one he never knew existed.I swiped the answer button.“Good day, Doctor Ellie. Are the autopsy results out?” I asked. Melody, who was seated beside me, turned to look, her eyes narrowing with concern.“Yes, the results are out,” Ellie said, her voice serious but low. “Could you stop by the hospital when you’re chanced? There’s something important I’d like you to see… in person.”I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there in ten.”Whatever Declan needed could wait. This was what it had all come down to.“Alright. I’ll be waiting,” she said an
/-Gianna-/Maxmillan came home with a grim expression lacing on his face and just that was already a turn off. As he walked in, my eyes hovered around his legs as they moved and then to his waist, they stayed firm and calling. I groaned in frustration as these days, I barely get any time with him—he was always chasing ghosts or more deadlier, mostly in the form of his brother.I bit my lips as I pressed my gaze just to his face when our eyes locked unto each other and in that spiraling moment, the world seemed to still and wait for our cue.I didn’t break contact, I held up as the tension reduced and there, I saw something in his body shift. His body was no longer rigid or shoulder tensed like he had come in earlier, they dropped and he softened as every peak of his eyes seemed to lit up like some crying toddler whose mom just gave in to his demand.And the way he stared — it was heaven as it suddenly made the room look magical. His gaze fell and while I tried to meet it, it felt like
/-Gianna-/I went to the kitchen to make something for him to eat. I was certain that he hadn't eaten all day.As I prepped the ingredients to cook, Melody walked into the kitchen. I groaned inwardly. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with her tantrums.“Need help?” She asked suddenly, surprising me. I blinked. I didn't expect her to ask that question out of the blue.“Why?” I blurted.“Do you need help or not?” She frowned. I nodded because I did help. I could manage on my own but an extra hand would make things faster for me.“Good! Then I'll help you!” She said.I was too stunned to speak. There has to be something wrong. Melody didn't like me for any reason. I thought with her mother's death, she might have changed especially since Maxmillian was housing her now but she proved to be nothing but a snake.Acting harmless in his face and turned to a jar of spikes when he was gone. So this… this was indeed shocking.“What do you need help with?” She asked but I couldn't even answer
Melody-/She must be a big fool to think that I actually wanted peace. It was all my idea to play nice inorder for my plan to work.And it was quite simple.Poison Gianna. Make her lose that stupid baby she was using to tie Max down.As I assisted with the basic things for cooking, I searched desperately for an opportunity for her to leave but she wouldn't leave. She was right there till she finished cooking.Even Max joined us.I knew then that I had only one shot left. Serve the food. Which was why I insisted on serving the food. Just so that she could leave.I returned to the kitchen and opened the top cabinet slowly, careful not to make noise. Hidden behind the neatly stacked bowls was a small vial I had tucked away days ago. It wasn’t lethal, no, that would be too obvious. Just strong enough to cause cramping, pain, and hopefully a miscarriage.I poured a few drops into one of the plates while my hand trembled slightly, not from guilt, but from adrenaline. Timing was everything.
Melody-/Maxmillian rushed Gianna to the hospital with me in the car. It was a struggle to keep my smirk hidden. I wasn't bothered about getting caught because the poison I used was completely undetectable. No matter what kind of tests the doctors ran, they would never know what caused it.Which meant they would only say it was stress and all that nonsense they usually said to assure their patients.Maxmillian and I were waiting in the lobby and I could see the way he paraded the place. I felt a little bad seeing him so worried but there was nothing I could do about it.I tried to tell him countless times that Gianna was not good for him. My mother died trying to prove that to him and I wasn't going to let it go to waste like that.Even if it was the last thing I did, I would make sure that Maxmillian doesn't end up with that golddigger.“You need to calm down, Max. You are going to develop high blood pressure if you continue like this,” I said bit my words seemed to fall on deaf ea
GIANA POV “Sign the divorce papers now Giana, we don’t have time to waste” Dante threw the papers in my face, with no remorse. “What if I don’t want to?” I ask my hands shaking as I reach the papers from the floor, “I wanted to be done with Dante for good but I owed him my life, I was married to him for five years and I've been loyal, like a dog, like a stepping stool. “Then you will have to go to court and I don't think you have a dime to your name to pay any lawyers do you?” Piper my little step- sister said beside him. Both of them, Dante and Piper were the perfect couple to everyone, they played movie roles together, and she even attended his CEO parties with him like they were husband and wife but I was his wife, embarrassed by me and my curvy stature, and he kept me at home away from his family and friends. He only married me out of pity I know, he had saved me from a crime I had committed while we were in college and married me to keep me safe, leaving me with only my step
Melody-/Maxmillian rushed Gianna to the hospital with me in the car. It was a struggle to keep my smirk hidden. I wasn't bothered about getting caught because the poison I used was completely undetectable. No matter what kind of tests the doctors ran, they would never know what caused it.Which meant they would only say it was stress and all that nonsense they usually said to assure their patients.Maxmillian and I were waiting in the lobby and I could see the way he paraded the place. I felt a little bad seeing him so worried but there was nothing I could do about it.I tried to tell him countless times that Gianna was not good for him. My mother died trying to prove that to him and I wasn't going to let it go to waste like that.Even if it was the last thing I did, I would make sure that Maxmillian doesn't end up with that golddigger.“You need to calm down, Max. You are going to develop high blood pressure if you continue like this,” I said bit my words seemed to fall on deaf ea
Melody-/She must be a big fool to think that I actually wanted peace. It was all my idea to play nice inorder for my plan to work.And it was quite simple.Poison Gianna. Make her lose that stupid baby she was using to tie Max down.As I assisted with the basic things for cooking, I searched desperately for an opportunity for her to leave but she wouldn't leave. She was right there till she finished cooking.Even Max joined us.I knew then that I had only one shot left. Serve the food. Which was why I insisted on serving the food. Just so that she could leave.I returned to the kitchen and opened the top cabinet slowly, careful not to make noise. Hidden behind the neatly stacked bowls was a small vial I had tucked away days ago. It wasn’t lethal, no, that would be too obvious. Just strong enough to cause cramping, pain, and hopefully a miscarriage.I poured a few drops into one of the plates while my hand trembled slightly, not from guilt, but from adrenaline. Timing was everything.
/-Gianna-/I went to the kitchen to make something for him to eat. I was certain that he hadn't eaten all day.As I prepped the ingredients to cook, Melody walked into the kitchen. I groaned inwardly. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with her tantrums.“Need help?” She asked suddenly, surprising me. I blinked. I didn't expect her to ask that question out of the blue.“Why?” I blurted.“Do you need help or not?” She frowned. I nodded because I did help. I could manage on my own but an extra hand would make things faster for me.“Good! Then I'll help you!” She said.I was too stunned to speak. There has to be something wrong. Melody didn't like me for any reason. I thought with her mother's death, she might have changed especially since Maxmillian was housing her now but she proved to be nothing but a snake.Acting harmless in his face and turned to a jar of spikes when he was gone. So this… this was indeed shocking.“What do you need help with?” She asked but I couldn't even answer
/-Gianna-/Maxmillan came home with a grim expression lacing on his face and just that was already a turn off. As he walked in, my eyes hovered around his legs as they moved and then to his waist, they stayed firm and calling. I groaned in frustration as these days, I barely get any time with him—he was always chasing ghosts or more deadlier, mostly in the form of his brother.I bit my lips as I pressed my gaze just to his face when our eyes locked unto each other and in that spiraling moment, the world seemed to still and wait for our cue.I didn’t break contact, I held up as the tension reduced and there, I saw something in his body shift. His body was no longer rigid or shoulder tensed like he had come in earlier, they dropped and he softened as every peak of his eyes seemed to lit up like some crying toddler whose mom just gave in to his demand.And the way he stared — it was heaven as it suddenly made the room look magical. His gaze fell and while I tried to meet it, it felt like
/-Maxmillian-/My phone rang and I was surprised to see Doctor Ellie calling. She was the one in charge of the autopsy on the Matriarch’s corpse.Her call was the very thing I had been waiting for, for days now. This could change everything.If I could prove that the Matriarch didn’t die from a terminal disease, then the Council would be forced to investigate her death. And God help Eric if he was responsible for it. He would see a different side of hell, one he never knew existed.I swiped the answer button.“Good day, Doctor Ellie. Are the autopsy results out?” I asked. Melody, who was seated beside me, turned to look, her eyes narrowing with concern.“Yes, the results are out,” Ellie said, her voice serious but low. “Could you stop by the hospital when you’re chanced? There’s something important I’d like you to see… in person.”I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there in ten.”Whatever Declan needed could wait. This was what it had all come down to.“Alright. I’ll be waiting,” she said an
Chapter 110/-Eric-/“What?!” I gasped. “How could he have been stupid enough to get caught? Did he give names?”I was already on my feet, pacing the floor of my penthouse office. Jasper stood a few feet away, stiff as a soldier, eyes fixed on the floor. He didn’t answer fast enough, and I turned on him.“Well?”He cleared his throat. “No names, sir. But the Zurich server was accessed, just before the wipe was completed. Someone pulled the backup files remotely.”I cursed under my breath and shoved a stack of papers off the desk. They scattered like snow.So that was how they were doing it.Dante and that woman… Piper. I should’ve known she wasn’t just going to disappear quietly. She looked like the kind to break, not bite. I had misjudged her, and now she was back with Dante, sharpening his sword.“They know,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone. “They have enough to trace the money. The foundations. The shell companies. That’s why they’re being so damn quiet.”Jasper flinched at
/-Piper-/I returned home to find Dante waiting for me. “What happened?” I asked worriedly, hurrying to him. “I talked to Gianna and…”“This isn't about Gianna, Piper! It's about my business! My company. My manager called me this morning, he found the mole. You won't believe who has been behind the downfall of my company!” He gritted. “Maxmillan?” I guessed. “No, if it were Maxmillan, it would have been better but he doesn't have the time to go around scheming how to bring people down. It's fucking Eric North!” I was dumbfounded. Of course the man I was fucking cheating on my husband with was the orchestrator of his downfall. How the hell did I not see that coming?My jaw was literally on the floor. “I am going to have a fucking long talk with that bastard! He will pay for everything he has done to me! I was going him deceiving you slide for a while but it's obvious that he wants war!” I stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “Dante, wait. You can’t just go after him like
/-Piper-/“So what do we do now?” I asked him. “Do about what?” Dante asked me. “If this is about Eric then forget…”“I am not talking about Eric,” i spat his name in disgust. The bastard's name simply irritated me now. Thinking of it now, I couldn't believe I stooped so low to allow myself to be fooled by him. “I'm talking about Maxmillan. Remember the case with Gianna's parents? He told us to tune ourselves in and we both know we can't do that,” I said and Dante let out a sigh. “Right! I almost forgot about that. A lot of things are just happening at once. It's hard to focus,” he said and I felt a little sad I was one of the reasons for that. “You were right. I should have gotten rid of her when I had the chance now she is back to bite us in the ass.” “I think we should try begging her,” I said and he frowned instantly. “Beg who?” He huffed. “That thing? She should be the one begging me!” “Now is not the time for arrogance, Dante. Don't forget she is Maxmillian's wife. He wil
/-Piper-/I stared at Dante’s message longer than I should have. The words were harsh, meant to make me cower, but deep down, I knew Dante. I knew that no matter how furious he was, no matter how many mistakes I’d made, he still loved me.The realization hit me like a weight to the chest. Maybe I didn’t deserve it, but I had to go back. I couldn’t let everything I had with him slip away because of my confusion.I wanted to believe that the mess I’d made could still be fixed. I thought that if I apologized, if I explained the pain, the fear I had been running from, Dante would listen. He always did before, right? He would hear me out. He would understand that I was lost, that I didn’t know where to turn.I kept replaying the conversation with Eric in my head. How he had looked at me, his eyes dark with irritation when I mentioned leaving Dante. How he had shrugged me off, his smile never quite reaching his eyes when I spoke of love.Eric wasn’t the answer. I had let him be a distractio