All Chapters of To Be By His Side : Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

I jolted awake in bed and immediately rushed down the corridor.The door to the archive room was thrown wide open, and the heavy smell of gunpowder lingered in the air.Scarlett stood before the display case, pale-faced, a smoking gun still clutched in her hand.My father's scale model ship, the one he had left behind for me, had been shot straight through. The bullet had struck the very center of the hull, causing the wooden keel to explode from the impact, scattering shards of glass all across the floor.I froze at the threshold, my mind instantly going blank.That ship was a replica of the very first freighter my father had navigated through the Mediterranean in his youth, back when he was still establishing himself in the family business. Years later, when the real vessel was decommissioned, he spent a whole year meticulously crafting this model by hand. On the stern, my name was carved into the wood, placed there when I was seven.Now, it lay broken in two."Why did you s

Two documents lay flat on the mahogany table. Dario didn't bother beating around the bush."Sign them."I flipped through the pages. The moment my signature went on those lines, the accident would be officially classified as a minor rear-end collision. The family elders would never learn that Scarlett had intentionally ambushed the donna's car, allowing her to retain her seat as an official representative at the Five Families Summit.I slid the papers back across the table. "I'm not signing."Scarlett's eyes instantly welled up with tears as she stared at me. "Eliana, I know I ruined San Luca. But I've waited eight years for that seat! If word of this reaches the elders, they will never let me step inside that conference room again."Dario spoke up, too. "San Luca is already lost. Ruining the seat she spent eight years waiting for won't bring your project back. Besides, I will compensate you. South Port's shipping routes, two main warehouses, and a fully legitimate logistics fir

There were no cameras inside the east wing archive room itself, but the hallway camera had captured everything.At 5.42 a.m., Scarlett had walked out of the room. There wasn't a single trace of panic on her face, and her steps were calm and steady.Dario stared at the screen, all color draining from his face.Mike placed the estate's security log for that night onto the desk. "Before and after the gunshot, no strangers entered the east wing, and none of the perimeter alarms were triggered."Dario remained completely silent. Sitting across from him, Scarlett's eyes slowly welled up with tears. "I've already explained this to you, Dario. My apartment was targeted that night, and my nerves were completely shot."Dario lifted his eyes to meet hers. "You've been with me for eight years. You can hit a moving target from twenty meters away. That ship model was less than three meters away from you. Are you honestly telling me your shot strayed by accident?"Scarlett's face stiffened. "

Over the following days, he managed the family's business remotely while trying every possible way to get me to sit down and talk with him.Every day, gifts arrived for me ranging from exquisite, rare Ecuadorian roses to priceless handcrafted art pieces. Later on, I began receiving small trinkets and toys I had loved as a child, a continuous stream that went on for an entire month.Eventually, I officially secured a legal shipping partnership route running from Quebec to Northern Europe.On the day of the contract signing, the partner hosted a celebratory dinner. As I stepped out of the hotel, I spotted Dario once again. He stood at the back of the crowd, waiting until everyone else had dispersed before walking over."Congratulations."I gave a nod. "Thank you."He handed me a large envelope.Inside lay the permanent title deeds to the old shipyard, the ownership certificates for all of my father's private archives, and an official statement of liability issued by the Falcone fa