The CEO's pawn

Rosalie's POV:He hit me again.Not with his fist, not this time. Just a push, he shoved his hand at me hard, hard enough to knock me into the fridge door, hard enough, enough to bruise my hip, enough to remind me who I was to him. Nothing.“You never shut up, Rosalie. You're always whining, always looking at me like I’m the problem. You’re lucky I even stay in this dump,” Luca snapped, running his fingers through his messy hair like he was the one on edge. “Do you think anyone else would put up with you?” I stood there, stunned, heart racing. My lip stung from where he’d grabbed my face too hard earlier, I felt a trickle of blood drip down my nose. He hadn’t even apologized,just like always,I wasn't deserving of one I had been quiet for weeks, careful, avoiding fights. Saying thank you every time he transferred money for Mom’s pills, even if it came with a side of insults. I cooked, I cleaned, I made excuses. I begged him not to leave. And for what?“Don’t look at me like tha

Alessandro Moretti walked through the corridors of Sant'Elena Private Hospital with the confidence of a man who knew he owned half the city and probably would own the other half by the next year. The scent of disinfectant did little to distract his focusas his shoes clicked against the marble floor. He hated hospitals. Not for the sickness. No, he hated them because they were reminders that money couldn’t buy immortality. But money,at least, could buy everything else. And that was enough. He wasn’t here to cheer up the sick or check the children. He never was. He was here to finalize a deal with a biogenetics company. A new pharmaceutical section was being developed under Moretti Enterprises and if this deal went through, his empire would takea step into health care. With the right alliances, Moretti Enterprises would be more than just a leader in high end real estate, tech infrastructure, and hospitality, it would be the future. Alessandro wasn’t interested in saving lives.

The sun filtered through the grey-tinted windows of Moretti Enterprises as Rosalie stood in the elevator, her hands held tightly in front of her. Her reflection in the glass walls of the elevator stared back at her, brown curls coiled around her shoulders, wide, nervous eyes.But something was different now, she e was a stranger stepping into a palace she never asked to be part of. A palace owned by a king who wore ice for skin. Her heels clicked against the marble floors of the 23rd floor. The air was cold, her palms were sweaty.Her new desk was set in front of an enormous glass door engraved with gold letters: ALESSANDRO MORETTI. CEO. Her fingers trembled as she turned on the monitor. New employee introduction pamphlets were neatly stacked beside the keyboard. Her name printed in a fancy font across them made it feel like this was someone else's life. She swallowed the knot in her throat and sat the leather chair cradling her like it belonged to someone else, so

Alessandro's POV I watched her from behind the tinted glass of my office.Rosalie Bianco. She moved through the room like someone pretending. Controlled, quiet, almost too polite, the perfect face of submission. But it was a lie, I saw it in her eyes the first day she screamed at me. I admired the audacity.Most women fell over themselves to please me but not her.I leaned back in my chair, the morning sun burning through the sky of Laos, Italy. My coffee had gone cold, Ididn’t notice. My mind was occupied not with meetings or property acquisitions, but with the girl typing furiously at her desk, jaw tight, eyes tired.Rosalie had a mother who was dying, that gave her strength and weakness and I was going to test both."Rosalie" I said into the intercom watching her flinchthrough the glass "Come in."She entered quietly lips pressed together, a notepad in her hand "Yes, Mr. Moretti.""I need these contracts reviewed, translated into French, and summarized by five"Her eyes didn’