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Home / He Lied, So I Took Back Everything / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of He Lied, So I Took Back Everything: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

11 Chapters

Chapter 1

I had been waiting for Nico at Blackwater Docks for six hours. By the time someone finally came for me, my shoulder was out of its socket and my palm needed seven stitches. Nico was at the council with my best friend.That morning, I'd slipped his father's old pin into my coat. I'd planned to give it to him the next day.Six years ago, Nico had been accused of leaking the Berlandi family's financial records. The evidence against him looked airtight. I refused to believe it. I went through years of my father's accounts until one suspicious transfer caught my eye. Someone had changed the date. That was the break I needed. I proved Nico had been framed. But clearing his name wasn't enough. The Berlandi family refused to give him back his job. So I mortgaged the restaurant my mother had left me and risked everything I had to help Nico start over. Six years later, he was running Saint Vito's port.His father had given me the pin shortly before he died."Give it back to him when he's ready,"

Chapter 2

The next morning, Matteo brought the official rescue report to the clinic. It was short and factual. Distress signal received at 10:47 p.m. Rescue completed at 11:03 p.m. Injuries: dislocated left shoulder and deep cut to right palm. No escort arrived at the scene. Every time stamp was exact to the minute.By morning, Nico's promise to visit me still had not been kept.While the nurse changed my dressing, the council photos had already spread through the family network. People recognized my pin. Plenty of them assumed Bianca was sitting next to Nico and wearing that pin with my approval.At nine that morning, Bianca received her first invitation to an exclusive tasting. By ten, two businessmen who had previously refused to work with the Velvet Club were already offering her new deals. One invitation included a blunt note, "Backed by Alessia Moretti. Give her priority access."She was using my name to open doors and make money.At eleven, Bianca called me. She had already removed the pi

Chapter 3

With thirty-eight hours left before our marriage was officially dissolved, I went back to the safe house to pack the last of my things.The house wasn't tied to any family. Seven years ago, I had been held captive. The official report said I'd escaped without serious injuries and hadn't given up any family secrets, so everyone said I'd been lucky. For a long time after that, whenever a door locked behind me, I had to check every window to make sure I could still get out.Nico never locked a bedroom door when I was inside. When we chose this safe house, he tore out the sealed rear window himself and replaced it with a hidden door leading from the kitchen to the garage. Back then, I truly believed there was at least one person in the world who understood what I'd been through and would make sure I never felt trapped again.This house existed because I'd trusted Nico with the most broken part of me. It was a secret we shared. He knew the whole story, and we even made our own secret knocks

Chapter 4

At 6:07 p.m. on the day our marriage was set to end, Nico called. Two hours remained before the final review."I'll be there." His voice sounded exhausted. He wasn't asking me to cancel the divorce review anymore. He wasn't accusing me of forcing his hand either. "Alessia, whatever happens, the least we can do is end it face to face."My fingers brushed over my half of the seal as I stared at the silver box. This was the first time Nico had truly accepted that I was leaving."The review starts at eight. They won't wait for you.""I know."Less than half an hour after we hung up, Nico called again. I could hear hurried footsteps behind him."Bianca has severe stomach pain. I'm taking her to the doctor.""All right."My calm seemed to catch him off guard. After a brief pause, he added, "The moment the doctor is done, I'll come straight there.""The review waits for nobody," I said again."You have my word."At eight sharp, the chapel doors closed. Salvatore sat on the left. The neutral w

Chapter 5

Nico shoved the chapel doors open. The black wax in the silver dish had already burned away. His coat was still open, and he was breathing hard from the cold."Stop! I'm here!" he shouted at the registrar.The registrar didn't move."The divorce is final, Mr. Valenti. You can sign the paper. Your marriage cannot be restored."Nico turned to me as if he'd only just understood what that meant."Alessia, let's talk.""Everything that needed saying has been said.""A phone call doesn't count.""You admitted the child is yours, and you admitted you slept with her more than once. What exactly would saying it to my face change?"His face went white."I didn't come here to deny what I did. I'll take responsibility for my child, and I'll deal with Bianca's guarantee. I only asked you to extend it because the doctor said she shouldn't be under any stress right now. I wasn't asking you to do it forever—""I won't change my mind."The Marseille convoy was waiting outside the chapel. I took my copy

Chapter 6

The first expired guarantee was tied to a freight line at Berth Three in Marseille.At seven that morning, Julian and I arrived at the berth just as the crane was loading the last of the containers. The workers had no idea the guarantee had expired. The freighter was due to leave at nine. Any delay would cut into the workers' pay and throw off every shift that followed.A foreman stepped in front of me. "Word is the new consultant wants to shut us down? We've been at it for ten hours straight.""Cargo already loaded stays on board. We're only stopping anything else from being loaded.""Two hours down is still two hours down. Why should the dock workers pay for one missing signature?"He wasn't wrong. If the rules protected only the people with the power to sign while dumping the losses on the workers below them, that wasn't fair either. I told finance to pay the workers in full. Any delay wages and contract penalties would be handled separately once we knew who was responsible.Julian

Chapter 7

For three years, Bianca had barely looked at the guarantee renewal notices. I always took care of the paperwork before the reminders even reached her.This time, three days passed, and the status still read: Awaiting guarantor confirmation.Bianca assumed there was a problem with the system. She forwarded the notice to the club manager and told him to contact the registrar. The registrar confirmed there was no problem. The system was simply waiting for the guarantor to approve the renewal.Bianca then approached the wine supplier she'd worked with for years. He was happy to keep doing business with the club, but he wouldn't guarantee it himself."We've worked together for four years," Bianca said."Four years with Alessia taking the risk. If you want me to take that risk now, I need to see your books. Every page."The books showed two overdue debts and a fire safety violation. I'd always dealt with problems like those before they reached a deadline. None of them was enough to sink the

Chapter 8

Twenty-two days after Marseille introduced its new confirmation system, the Blackwater Docks rescue report was selected as a reference case for new cross-port procedures. The technical team needed the original terminal Nico had used that night. They wanted to find out why the distress call had been muted and why the system had failed to escalate it automatically. That gave Nico a legitimate reason to enter Marseille's neutral port.It did not give him the right to see me. Nico arrived with the terminal and a formal letter of introduction from the Berlandi family. He was allowed no farther than the lobby. The rules were posted clearly at the entrance. Applicants may not cross the white line. Staff may not deliver personal messages. Past relationships do not qualify for emergency access.In the past, whenever Nico visited a port, the person in charge would come out to greet him personally. This time, he surrendered his weapon, handed over his papers and letter, and sat down on a plain wo

Chapter 9

Bianca approached seven potential guarantors in a row. The first read through the operating report and immediately asked whether I would back her. The second agreed on one condition: half of Velvet Club's profits and full control of the business. The third was willing to guarantee the club for three months if Nico put his reputation on the line. But Nico had already lost command of the core docks. He had nothing left to offer.For the first time, Bianca began to understand what a guarantee actually meant. It wasn't a favor from a friend or a signature on a piece of paper. A guarantor was putting their own money, reputation, and credit on the line for someone else's business. I'd been willing to do that for her once. That didn't mean it had ever cost me nothing.Those business owners who had once showered her with tasting invitations quickly lost interest when they realized they'd have to take on the risk themselves. Some were willing to keep supplying drinks and booking the regular roo

Chapter 10

The termination review wasn't held behind closed doors at some Berlandi family estate.Salvatore had suggested letting the family deal with Nico themselves while Marseille investigated only the forged documents. I ran my fingers over the stack of files and refused. The evidence needed to stay together. I wasn't going to let any one family decide which parts of the truth mattered.The records were already scattered across four different places. The Moranos had the distress logs from Blackwater Docks. The rescue crew had its report. The Berlandi family had the records for my Black Rose pin. And Marseille had the forged renewal papers. No single family controlled all the evidence. That was exactly how I wanted it.In the end, all four sides sent representatives to review the evidence together. Every finding was recorded in all four systems, so no one could quietly change the story later.The point wasn't to make a show of the investigation. It was to make sure no one had enough power to b

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