LOGINShare
Chapter 4: Prove It
publish date:
2026-07-23 21:16:30Morning arrived with clear skies.
For the first time in three years, Elena stood before the mirror wearing a tailored black business suit instead of the elegant dresses Damian had preferred.
She looked at her reflection.
The woman staring back at her was no longer Mrs. Cross.
She was Elena Marchetti.
She took a deep breath before walking downstairs.
Marco was already waiting in the dining room.
"You look exactly like your mother," he said with a proud smile.
Elena smiled faintly.
"I hope that's a compliment."
"It is."
He handed her a folder.
"Your first day back."
She opened it.
Inside were reports, project updates, and a schedule packed with meetings.
"So much work?"
Marco chuckled.
"The company has been waiting for its Vice President."
Elena closed the folder.
"Then let's not keep them waiting."
Marchetti Group Headquarters...
The moment Elena stepped into the lobby, conversations stopped.
Employees stood respectfully.
"Good morning, Miss Marchetti."
"Welcome back, Miss Marchetti."
She smiled politely.
"Good morning."
She entered the executive elevator.
Inside, she looked at her reflection in the polished steel doors.
Three years ago...
She had left this building to become someone's wife.
Today...
She returned as a leader.
The elevator doors opened.
The entire executive team was already waiting.
Marco stepped forward.
"I'd like everyone to officially welcome our new Vice President."
Applause filled the conference room.
One by one, the department heads introduced themselves.
Finally, the HR Director spoke.
"We've been waiting for this day, Miss Marchetti."
Elena nodded.
"Thank you."
She looked around the room.
"I know many of you have questions."
"Yes, I went through a divorce."
"Yes, it was painful."
She paused.
"But my personal life will never affect this company's future."
"I came here to work."
"And I expect results."
The room fell silent.
Every executive straightened in their seat.
Marco smiled proudly.
His daughter had returned.
Stronger than ever.
Meanwhile...
Cross Group.
Vivian walked into Damian's office carrying breakfast.
"You skipped dinner last night."
"I'm busy."
She placed the tray on his desk.
"You've been thinking about Elena."
Damian didn't even look up.
"I don't think about people who are no longer important."
Before Vivian could reply, Priya knocked.
"Mr. Cross."
"What?"
"The Marchetti Group just announced Miss Elena Marchetti as their new Vice President."
Vivian laughed.
"So what?"
"It's just a title."
Priya hesitated.
"They also announced several new international partnerships."
"The company's stock has already started rising."
Damian finally looked up.
"So fast?"
"Yes, sir."
Priya quietly left.
Vivian crossed her arms.
"She's only trying to prove something."
Damian remained silent.
For some reason...
He remembered how confidently Elena had handled business meetings years ago.
He had almost forgotten...
She had never been weak.
Back at Marchetti Group...
The morning meeting ended.
As everyone prepared to leave, Elena stopped them.
"One more thing."
The room became quiet again.
"I've reviewed every report."
"There are three projects losing money."
"We'll shut them down."
Several executives exchanged surprised looks.
"Miss Marchetti..."
"Those projects belong to our oldest clients."
"I know."
Her voice remained calm.
"But business isn't built on emotions."
"It's built on decisions."
Marco smiled.
No one argued again.
Later that afternoon...
Elena stood alone in her new office.
Everything still smelled fresh.
A knock interrupted her thoughts.
"Come in."
Her assistant entered.
"Miss Marchetti, someone sent flowers."
She frowned.
"I didn't order any."
The assistant placed the bouquet on the desk.
There was no name.
Only a small white card.
Elena opened it.
Her smile disappeared.
Congratulations on your promotion.
Don't forget...
You'll always be second choice.
She read the message twice.
Then calmly folded the card.
"Throw the flowers away."
The assistant blinked.
"Miss?"
"I said..."
"Throw them away."
"They smell rotten."
The assistant immediately carried them out.
Elena looked through the glass wall toward the city.
"So..."
She whispered.
"The games have already begun."
Across town...
Vivian smiled as she looked at another bouquet waiting beside her chair.
"Did she receive it?"
A man on the phone answered quietly,
"Yes, Miss Vivian."
"And?"
"He said she threw the flowers away."
Vivian's smile slowly faded.
Instead of looking hurt...
Elena hadn't reacted at all.
Vivian tightened her grip on the phone.
"Interesting."
"So she's learned not to cry."
She smiled coldly.
"Let's see..."
"How long that lasts."
Far away...
Elena picked up another file and continued working as if nothing had happened.
She had finally understood one truth.
The best revenge...
Was becoming someone her enemies could never defeat.
Latest chapter
Too Late to Want Me Back Chapter 67: The Name Nobody Wrote Down
He answered on the second ring."Elena.""You knew it was me.""I've had this number saved for two years and you've never used it." A car went past on his end. "Say what you've rung to say.""I'm not accusing you of anything."Alexander was quiet for a moment."That's new.""I want to ask you about 1994. That's all. You can put the phone down whenever you like.""Ask.""Gerardo Tomassi."The pause was different this time. Not careful. Something else."Who gave you that name?""Piero Faranda. An hour ago, on tape.""Then Piero is braver than I gave him credit for," Alexander said. "And he'll be frightened tonight.""He is.""He's right to be."Elena leaned back against the tree."Tell me what he was.""He was the man you rang." Alexander said it without any weight at all. "Not a director, nothing you'd find on a filing. He came in under your grandfather and he stayed because everybody was used to him.""You worked for him.""Everybody worked for him. That's the part nobody understands
Too Late to Want Me Back Chapter 66: The Man He Was Afraid Of
"Sit down, Piero.""I've asked you to go.""You have. And I'm still here." Elena hadn't moved from her chair. "Sit down."He came back from the window and sat, and he was smaller in the chair than he had been an hour ago."I moved it on the Friday.""You've said that.""I want it said again because it's the only part I'm proud of." His hands were on his knees and they weren't still. "A yard with a hole in the fence and a girl of nine in the house. I moved it. That was me and I'd do it again tomorrow.""And the Monday?""No.""You knew there was a Monday. You said the house was shut.""Because I was told the house would be shut." It came out too fast. "That's not the same thing. Somebody said to me, the place will be empty from Monday, don't go near it, and I didn't go near it. I sat at home with my wife.""Who said it to you?"Piero looked at the carpet."Signor Faranda," David said, and put his phone on the table, screen up, red dot showing. "You've seen me do this before.""Yes.""I
Too Late to Want Me Back Chapter 65: Sunday Coffee, Again
"I'm outside.""How do you feel?""Cold hands.""Then put your gloves on before you knock," Damian said. "Ring me when you're back in the car."Elena looked at the gate for a second longer."All right," she said, and hung up, and her hands had stopped shaking.Piero opened the door in the cardigan."Elena. Three times now.""I know. You must be sick of me.""Never." He stood back. "Come in, come in. And your man there.""David.""I remember David." He was already turning for the kitchen. "Coffee?""That would be lovely."He stopped.It was very small, half a step, the sort of thing you'd miss if you weren't watching. Then he carried on."Two, isn't it?""You remembered.""I remember everything about that week," Piero said. "That's the trouble with me."They sat. He took the good chair."So," he said. "What is it this time?""The Friday.""Which Friday?""Three days after the crash." Elena wrapped her hands around the cup and didn't drink. "You drove her car to the house on Via delle F
Too Late to Want Me Back Chapter 64: The Night After
"You said the funeral.""The funeral was the Monday." Nella sat down carefully. "I opened the house the next morning, the Tuesday, at nine. The drive was empty.""Empty.""The car. The tape. The glass off the gravel. All of it, gone in the night."Elena sat down."You never told anybody.""Who?" Nella's hands went out. "Nobody ever asked me what was on that drive. If nobody asks you what was there, how do you tell them it isn't there any more?""You said on the phone you heard it.""I did. I was in the house.""At night?""Yes." Nella's chin came up a little. "And before you ask me why, it's nothing clever. I'd left my glasses."Damian looked up."I'd been there in the afternoon getting it ready, because the family said people might come back after the funeral. Nobody did." She smoothed the cloth. "I got home and I couldn't read the television guide and I was too proud to sit there squinting, so I got the bus back at half nine like an idiot.""What time?""I let myself in about ten pa
Too Late to Want Me Back Chapter 63: Ten Past Seven
They were at the stop at four minutes past."You're early again," Elena said."I'm always early.""You were early for our wedding. Forty minutes. My father thought something had gone wrong."Damian put his hands in his pockets and didn't answer that.Ten past came. The four didn't."He's never late," Damian said."You've done this once.""He told me he'd missed three visits in fourteen years and two of them were exams."At quarter past, Luca came round the corner at a run with his coat half on and a plastic bag swinging off one wrist."Don't," he said."I haven't said anything.""You're standing there being early at me.""What happened?""The biscuits." Luca held up the bag, breathing hard. "The ones she likes. The shop by the flat's shut on a Sunday and I forgot, so I went to the one by the station, and there was a queue, and a woman in front of me was arguing about a lottery ticket."Elena laughed out loud, and it startled all three of them, because none of them had heard her do tha
Too Late to Want Me Back Chapter 62: Lights Off
"Say it again.""A car at the bottom of the drive," Elena said. "Lights off. She walked down and got in and it drove away with both of them."Ruggeri didn't answer.She could hear him breathing on the line, and then something that might have been a chair."Signor Ruggeri.""Twenty-six years old," he said."What?""I wrote glass at twenty-six metres and a car facing the wrong way and I took it up the stairs myself." His voice had gone rough. "And a man behind a desk told me that a bend does what a bend does.""You were right.""I know I was right. I've known since I paced it twice." Something scraped again. "That isn't the part. The part is that I have sat in this house for thirty years being a man who might have been wrong, and I did that to myself because they wouldn't let me say it out loud.""I'm sorry.""Don't." He stopped for a second. "Get the timing done. That's what I'd do. Get the timing done and ring me back."David did the timing that night, on the kitchen table, with a roa
You May Also Like
Billionaire's Ex-wife is Mommy of Twins
Lami274667.9K viewsShe Accepted Divorce, He Panicked
Nyx Rai778.6K viewsOnce a Doormat, Now Untouchable
Lean1.6M viewsAddicted to Loving You: The Paranoid and Domineering Boss's Convicted Wife
Gu family's Little Bamboo693.3K viewsChristmas With Mr Grumpy.
Estrella Writesss122 viewsI AM YOUR MATE
Sophie Barton72 viewsDumped Wife Becomes the Tyrant's Beloved
Jennison103 viewsROOM 2808: The Billionaire's Twin Heirs Are My Vendetta
DanicaWrites 77 views
