Chapter 3: The Quiet Between Storms
219 Words
Jessica returned to Paris, to the same cold apartment where silence screamed. Her revenge had been simple: Make the son fall in love. Break his heart. Leave him wondering why.
It wasn’t enough.
She remembered the night her father sat with a gun on the kitchen table, his hands shaking after he lost everything to the Morettis. How his voice cracked saying, “They steal dreams, Jess. Be careful with yours.”
So she became a ghost in designer heels, seducing power, studying enemies. But Luca… he hadn’t been the same.
She’d seen him abandon privilege for poetry, trade steel deals for symphonies with her. The man who once played life like chess had surrendered to her like a song.
And yet, revenge demanded loyalty.
Still, her heart ached. She read his messages. “I need to talk.” “Was any of it real?”
She never replied.
Instead, she used what she learned. Luca had a secret bank account—one used to finance offshore projects. Jessica forwarded it anonymously to Italian regulators. It would bring scrutiny to Silvio Moretti, just like he brought shame to her father.
But justice felt cold.
At night, she played piano with the lights off, each note a confession she couldn’t say aloud.
She missed Luca.
And hated herself for it.
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