Revenge Is Mine

8: Point Of No Return

Chiara Moretti

Alesia stood in the middle of my office, her chest heaving as she glared at me. Her face was red with anger, and her hands were curled into tight fists at her sides.

I looked at her calmly, my hands folded neatly on my desk. "Can I help you?" I asked again, my voice perfectly smooth.

That calm tone only made her angrier. Alesia stepped closer to my desk, leaning over it like a wild animal ready to attack. "Don't play dumb with me, Viviana," she spat, her voice shaking with rage. "I know exactly who you are and what you are trying to do. You think you are so smart, coming into town with your money and your fancy dresses. But I know women like you. You are just a slut using a fake business deal as a cover-up to steal my man!"

I didn't blink or move. I just watched her unravel.

"You think fifty million euros gives you a free pass?" Alesia screamed, her voice echoing off the glass walls of my office. "If you were really such a great businesswoman, your name would be everywhere! But nobody knows you! You are a fraud. All you do is look for rich men to steal from. But you are not taking Marco from me!"

I let out a soft, amused sigh. It was pathetic, she sounded so incredibly insecure. "Is that right?" I murmured.

"Yes!" Alesia slammed her hand on my desk. "And let me tell you something else, since you clearly don't know anything! That company you want to invest in? It doesn't even belong to Marco! It belongs to my family! My dead sister was the CEO. You have no right to touch it!"

My heart stopped for a fraction of a second, and the air in my lungs turned to ice.

My dead sister? The audacity of her words felt like a slap to the face. Alesia, the woman who slept with my husband in my own bed. Alesia, the woman who helped Marco steal everything I owned. Alesia, who left me to burn alive in a car crash. She was standing in front of me right now, using my death, using my name, to mark her territory.

Anger ripped through my chest, but I forced it down. I pushed it so deep inside that my face didn't show a single drop of emotion. "Are you quite finished?" I asked.

Alesia blinked, clearly shocked that I wasn't yelling back. "What?"

I uncrossed my hands and leaned forward slightly, looking at her like she was a piece of trash stuck to the bottom of my shoe.

"I don't know how things work in your little world, Alesia," I said slowly, making sure she heard every single word. "But in my world, I don't chase men. I don't need to steal them. Men beg for my attention. If your man was so easily distracted by a simple business meeting, then maybe you should question your own worth, not mine."

Alesia's mouth fell open. "You bitch..."

Before she could finish her sentence, I pressed the small button under my desk. "I am running a multi-million euro empire," I continued, cutting her off. "I don't have time to deal with insecure, jealous women throwing tantrums in my office. The company belongs to Marco on paper, which means Marco is the one who answers to me, not you."

The office doors opened behind her. Two large security guards rushed into the room, followed by my terrified receptionist, Clara. "Ms. Marino, I am so sorry," Clara said quickly.

"It's fine, Clara," I said without looking away from Alesia. "Please have security escort this woman out of the building. And make sure her face is left at the front desk. She is permanently banned from these premises."

"Don't you touch me!" Alesia shrieked as the guards grabbed her by the arms. She thrashed against them, kicking her legs like a child. "Marco is going to hear about this! You are not going to get away with this, Viviana! I will ruin you!"

"Have a nice day," I said smoothly, picking up a pen and looking down at my notepad.

The guards dragged her out of the room. She screamed the entire way down the hall until the elevator doors finally closed, cutting off her voice. The moment my office doors clicked shut, the pen slipped from my fingers, and my hands started to shake uncontrollably with pure, unadulterated rage.

I aggressively slammed my laptop shut. I grabbed my purse, my phone, and my coat. I walked out of the office, past Clara's worried face, and took the private elevator down to the parking garage.

"I am done for the day," I told my driver the moment I got into the car. "Take me home."

The drive back to Alessandro's estate was a blur. I couldn't stop bouncing my leg, my blood was boiling. When I arrived at the estate, I marched straight through the front doors, I threw my purse onto the entryway table and paced back and forth in the grand living room, my hands running through my hair in frustration.

"Chiara?"

I spun around. Alessandro was walking into the living room. He was wearing a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled up, looking relaxed, but the moment he saw my face, his posture stiffened. His dark eyes locked onto me, instantly sensing that something was very wrong.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice dropping low and serious. He closed the distance between us in a few long strides. "Why are you back so early? Did Marco figure it out?"

"No! Marco didn't figure out anything," I snapped, my voice raised. "But Alesia came to my office!"

Alessandro's jaw tightened. "She confronted you?"

"She barged in screaming like a madwoman," I said, "She called me a slut! She said I was using the fifty million euros as a cover-up to sleep with Marco. I stayed calm," my breathing heavy. "I insulted her, I made her feel small, and I had security drag her out. But God, Alessandro, I am so angry! Because before she even walked in, I was looking at the books. Marco sent the access codes, and I saw everything."

I stopped pacing and looked right into his eyes. "He is using my father's money as his personal piggy bank. Buying private jets, diamond jewelry, throwing millions away, Marco is sending millions of euros every single month to strange overseas management companies and weird consulting firms. None of it makes any sense."

"What did you just say?" Alessandro asked quietly. His voice was dangerously soft.

"I said he is spending millions on..."

"No," Alessandro interrupted, taking a step closer until he was towering over me. "The overseas consulting firms. Did you get the names of these companies?"

"A few of them, yes," I frowned, "One was called Blackwood Holdings. Another was Vertex Consulting. There were huge, monthly payouts going to accounts in Malta and Cyprus. Why? Do you know them?"

Alessandro stared at me for a long, silent moment. "Chiara," he said slowly, "Those are not real companies. And Marco is not just stealing your father's money to buy expensive things."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Blackwood Holdings is a shell company, I know exactly who owns it. Marco is funneling your company's clean money into those accounts to wash it. He is mixing his stolen money with illicit funds."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "Illicit funds?"

"He is laundering money," Alessandro said bluntly. "He is taking dirty money from the criminal underworld, running it through your father's real estate firm, and sending it out clean to those overseas accounts. He is washing money for the mafia."

I took a step back, my legs suddenly feeling weak. Alessandro watched my reaction closely. "Exposing a cheating husband who stole your money is one thing but uncovering a mafia money-laundering operation? That is war. The men Marco is working for do not care about courtrooms. If you threaten their money, they will kill you. And this time, they will make sure you don't survive."

I looked up at him. His dark eyes were searching my face, "I can protect you," Alessandro said softly, "But you have to know what you are walking into. If we proceed, you are stepping completely into the dark. You will be stepping into my world. And once you cross that line, there is no going back."

He paused, letting the weight of his words settle over me. "Are you truly ready for this, Chiara?"

I stood there in the quiet living room, looking into the eyes of the most dangerous man in Italy. I thought about the fear, the danger.

But then, I thought about Alesia's screaming face, Marco's greedy smile, my father's ruined company, and the innocent baby I never got to hold.

They took everything from me. Now, it was my turn.

I lifted my chin and looked right into Alessandro's dark eyes. "I don't care how dark it gets," I said, "I am ready. Let's burn their world to the ground."