Chapter 3

“Ms. Mancini, your leg!” A server exclaimed.

It wasn’t until then that Vincent noticed that my leg was bleeding.

As his eyes widened in shock, he released Sophia and drew close. “How did that happen?”

Pushing myself off the ground, I straightened my back.

I met his anxious gaze.

My lips curled slightly.

I had to wonder how many pieces Vincent’s heart had been carved into.

In each piece, how much of it was true?

“All the best with the engagement,” I uttered with composure.

Vincent stared at me, hard and long, before loosening his collar in frustration.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Evelyn.”

Vincent shifted his gaze to Sophia, who was crying her eyes out in distress.

He snapped at the people nearby, “Escort Ms. Bilotti back! Get her a doctor!”

Vincent then turned his attention back to me. “Come with me.”

“It’s just a minor injury. There’s no need to trouble you.”

“Evelyn! Stop being so stubborn!” He raised his voice.

I was taken to a lounge room on the floor above.

“Stay put for the time being. Don’t wander around or start any drama.” He slapped a quick band-aid on my wound before turning away.

Silence fell over the room.

I sauntered to the window and watched his car drive away with Sophia inside.

It was just a superficial wound.

‘Enjoy your last moments of peace, Vincent.

‘I will be sending you an engagement gift that you’ll never forget for the rest of your life.’

The media gathered at the pier where a super yacht was anchored.

A red carpet was rolled out from the shore right up onto the deck of the Pearl.

No one spared a second glance at the cleaner I was disguised as.

Pushing the cleaning cart, I brushed past Vincent.

The delicate trim of his engagement attire grazed my cart as we crossed paths.

His face beamed with pride.

Next to him, Sophia looked dazzling in her white gown.

Before boarding the yacht, Vincent murmured to his men, “Secure all entries and exits. Don’t just let anybody come through.”

“Understood, Don Colleo.”

Little did Vincent know, the Pearl would become the end of his ambition.

We would never meet again.

The pier erupted in clamor as champagne-colored bubbles rose into the air.

I backed into the utility room and locked the door behind me.

That was when I turned on my microcomputer.

Without a doubt in my mind, I pressed the button to engage execution.

A command was issued.

A stream of data burst through to the agencies’ databases.

On deck, the ceremony had reached the part where the couple raised their glasses.

Every device on board blew up with breaking news alerts.

The commotion escalated fast.

“Don Colleo! The ledgers… the deals… They are all leaked to the public. The media and the cops…” A pale-faced subordinate rushed to Vincent.

The piercing wail of police sirens blared from the pier, growing louder by the second.

The noise tore through the celebratory music and chatter.

Standing on the platform, Sophia was horrified, staring at her mobile screen.

Vincent clenched his fists, veins on the back of his hands bulging.

He hissed through clenched teeth furiously, “Where did the leak come from?”

On the opposite end of the deck, Gray’s operative articulated the well-rehearsed response, “It’s Evelyn.”

Color drained from Vincent’s face.

The entire city was engulfed in the storm of the sudden scandal.

The flashing police lights bounced off the waters, casting the sea in an unsettling glow.

My mind and body were overcome with a sense of detachment and fatigue when I hit the final key and watched everything unfold.

It felt like a part of me was taken away when I sent out the evidence.

I figured it was the lingering obsession I had carried with me in those seven years.

With a leap, I dove from the yacht’s eighteenth story.

Faint, frantic cries echoed from somewhere.

I slowly shut my eyes.