Semua Bab The CEO's pawn : Bab 21 - Bab 30

The phone call came in the middle of a quiet afternoon.Rosalie had been lost in thoughts on the couch when her phone buzzed. She stared at the name flashing across the screen; Sant'Elena Private Hospital and felt the air still around her.She answered on the third ring, already holding her breath"Hello?"The voice on the other end was polite, too distant to carry bad news softlyMoretti Enterprises had officially withdrawn funding, there was no appeal, no reconsideration.Her mother would be allowed to continue treatment for one more month, no more. After that, unless full payment was made, she would be discharged.Rosalie didn’t cry, she didn’t shout. She sat very still on the couch and listened until the call ended.Then she placed the phone on the armrest beside her, stood up slowly and walked to the sink. She filled a glass with water and sipped it, staring out the window, trying not to crumble.Only one month.She should have seen it coming, she had typed the resignation her

The Moretti mansion was too quiet that morning, not the peaceful kind of silencebut the kind that felt heavy, like something important was missing. The sunlight got in through the large windows but it didn’t warm the house.In the kitchen, Emilia sat at the counter drawing quietly with a pink crayon, her small hands moved slowly and her tongue stuck out the way it always did when she focused but this time, her picture wasn’t of a castle or a princess or her favorite stuffed cat.It was of a house broken down the middle one side had two people holding hands the other side had only one.Vivianna stood by the stovestirring a pot of oatmeal even though she knew Emilia probably wouldn’t eat it , she watched her daughter from the corner of her eye, her chest tightened“Sweetheart” she said gently “do you want anything with your oatmeal?”Emilia shook her head, no.“When is Papa coming home?” she asked not looking up from her drawing.Vivianna hesitated. “Soon” she said forcing a smile.

The morning was too quiet.Alessandro sat on the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his knees, staring at the untouched coffee on the tray beside him The sun had risen hours ago yet the house felt like it was still asleepNo soft footsteps, no faint sounds of typing from the hall office. No Rosalie.He rubbed his hands together slowly, trying to ignore the tightness in his chest, the silence was nothing new. Vivianna had stopped speaking to him two days ago. Emilia barely looked at him. But this silence, this one was differentBecause now, Rosalie was gone and she hadn’t looked back He stood up and crossed the room, grabbing his phone from the nightstand 8:13am. He was late for nothing, technically. There were no meetings Rosalie had reminded him about. No briefings she had printed. No gentle knock on his office door with “They’re ready for you, sir.”He hated how quickly she had melted into his routine and how quickly he noticed her absenceHis phone buzzed.Unknown Number: Upda

Rosalie stretched under the weight of the morning, her arms sliding across thesheets of her bed, the sunlight streamed in, pale and drowsy, lighting the edges of the roomHer eyes blinked open slowly, staring up at the faint cracks in the ceilingAnother day.Another morning.For the first time in weeks, there was no dread dragging itself across her chest when she woke upJust a quiet sense of exhaustion and a fragile sense of relief, relief from the moretti enterpriseDario had made sure that her mother’s hospital bills for the next two months were covered.iThat gave her some breathing room, time to find another job ttime to figure out her next steps She wasn’t under Alessandro Moretti’s thumb anymore and while that was both a relief and a quiet ache she didn’t want to name, she was determined to move on.She sat up slowly, her hair tumbling over her shoulder. Her apartment was still, quietFor about three seconds.Then came the slam of a cupboard from the kitchen and the sou

Rosalie sat at the edge of her bed, staring blankly at the closet door, her fingers tugging at the hem of the oversized T shirt she wore. Beatrice's voicefrom a few minutes ago still echoed in her head: "Let's go out tonig, I'll find you something slutty to wear."Slutty.She hadn’t known how to respond then and even now, she wasn’t sure if Beatrice had been joking or serious. The way she'd said it, eyes wide, voice high and giddy, it almost felt manic. But Rosalie hadn’t questioned it, not after Beatrice had suddenly gone quiet, then apologized again for asking about whether she'd ever had sex with Alessandro."I'm sorry I was being a bitch" she'd said, curling her legs beneath her on the couch, her voice unusually soft. "I just wanted to understand"Rosalie had nodded, tight lipped, not wanting to go back into that swamp of memoryIt had been a long day, a loud oneDozens of messages, missed calls, mentions, and then, the video Alessandro's voice, sharp and venomous, filled t