Chapter 13
1600 Words
Alessandro's POV
"Adrian!"
My voice echoed through the villa. I was already halfway up the stairs to the third floor and I barely kept it in check.
I was about to leave for work when I realized it my work flash drive was missing.
The one with all my files. The ongoing contracts. The Blackstones shipment routes. The encryption keys.
I could not afford to lose it.
Adrian had been with me in the study last night. Maybe he moved it. Maybe he was messing with me.
I was already late. I took the stairs two at a time and reached his room in seconds.
Knock. Knock.
“Adrian.”
There was shuffling inside.
The door opened.
“Big bro, do you need anything?”
He was only wearing a towel, hair still wet from the shower.
I didn’t care.
“Did you take my work flash drive?”
“My work flash drive? No. I don’t have any of your flash drives.”
I frowned. That didn’t make sense.
“Wait. You were with me in the study last night. How come you don’t have it?”
Adrian glanced down both sides of the hallway, like he was checking if anyone was listening.
“Bro, why are you looking for your flash drive this early? Since when do you start losing things?”
He looked genuinely shocked.
I turned and headed back down.
“Assemble everyone downstairs,” I ordered. “Every single person in this villa. Be quick.”
I walked away in long strides.
About five minutes later, June, Zain, Adrian, all the guards, servants, maids, and workers had been assembled in the ballroom.
They whispered among themselves, wondering why there was a meeting so early.
I stepped in. The room went silent instantly.
My eyes swept over them.
I saw Alice and Nena standing in the corner. Adrian and Zain shifted out of the crowd. June was with Maria and Ann, whispering like the witches they were.
I didn’t care.
“I woke up this morning to find that my work flash drive is missing,” I said, my voice low and even. “I will ask this only twice. The second time I ask, if no one answers, you don’t want to know what happens next.”
The hall fell into deafening silence again.
“Who took my work flash drive?”
I caught June and a few servants glancing toward Alice.
My attention shifted.
Why is everyone looking at her? Could she have it?
“I ask again. Who took...”
“Boss.”
A guard named Lucas stepped forward and bowed.
“Boss, I know who has it.”
“Who.”
God help that person.
The last time someone stole my flash drive, it was Natasha. One of my own employees. I had trusted her with everything. Turned out she was a mole sent by one of our media rivals to get information.
The betrayal turned my heart to stone. No love. No emotion. No one to share anything with.
That pain taught me a lesson.
God help the fool who has it now, because I will show no mercy.
“Who has it?” I asked again, rage thick in my voice.
Lucas pointed, afraid to even say the name.
“Speak!” I snapped. I already knew who he was pointing at, but I needed to hear it.
“Alice. She threatened me not to tell anyone, or she’d kill me.”
The guard couldn’t even meet Alice’s eyes.
I looked over at her.
She stood there in shock.
She looked at Nena, who was also stunned, and then at me.
“Come here,” I said calmly. Too calmly. I was trying not to lose control and hit her right there.
She didn’t move.
“I said, come here,” I repeated.
She glanced at Nena, who looked utterly confused.
Then she stepped forward.
Her face looked innocent. Too innocent. But I wasn’t falling for it. That kind of innocence wouldn’t save her now.
She walked forward, shaking. Her hands twisted the hem of her uniform. She looked fragile. But who would’ve thought she was a green snake hiding in green grass?
She stopped in front of me.
“Where is it?” I asked.
“Sir… I’m being wrongly accused. I don’t have anything..”
“Silence!!”
Her eyes flew wide at my outburst. Now she was scared. Good.
“Where. Is. The. Flash. Drive.” I said slowly, stepping closer. She stepped back.
“Stop. One more step back and you won’t walk again.”
She looked terrified.
“Sir, I’m telling the truth. I’m not with the flash drive, I’m not...Argh!”
I landed a heavy slap across her face.
The workers gasped.
“Alice!” Nena cried out, unable to watch her friend in pain.
Alice sobbed. She tried to explain but June cut her off.
“Brother, I told you this girl is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Alice looked at June, then Maria, then Ann, and finally back at me.
“Sir, please, you have to believe me… I didn’t...Argh!”
I slapped her again.
“To think I almost trusted you. Who sent you?”
Her eyes widened. “Sir, I don’t understand.”
I wasn’t listening to her excuses. I signaled Zain to dismiss the crowd.
But Nena rushed forward, bowing deeply.
“Sir, please. Alice is innocent. She must have been wrongly accused.”
We’d find out if that was true when the guard I sent to search her room came back.
“Sir, I found it.”
Dimitri came forward, holding my flash drive.
I took it from him.
Alice stared at it in disbelief.
Yes. Disbelief that she’d been caught. Disbelief that she wouldn’t leave here in one piece.
“Sir, please. I didn’t take this. I don’t know how it got into my room. Please, I’m innocent.”
I ignored her hypocritical, crocodile tears.
“Sir, please, I was with Alice all day yesterday. She didn’t steal your flash drive,” Nena begged.
“You’re dismissed,” I said coldly. “If you don’t leave now, you lose your job.”
I looked down at Alice and leaned in to whisper.
“Now you’ll find out how I treat people who try to go against me. Who betray me.”
“Take her away,” I ordered the guards.
They grabbed her arms and started dragging her to the punishment room. Not the one downstairs. The one in the North wing, first floor.
“No, sir! I’m sorry, I didn’t take it! I’m being framed, sir, please!”
I didn’t listen.
I pulled out my phone and called the office. It was picked up on the first ring.
“Cancel all my appointments for today. I have something to handle.”
I hung up before they could argue.
With long strides, I went to the North wing.
She was already there.
Tied up.
The rope ran from a hook in the ceiling, her hands bound above her head. Her face was wet with tears. Her cheeks were red and hot from the slaps.
Her blouse clung to her because of how her arms were raised. Her shape was outlined perfectly. She wasn’t wearing a bra.
For half a second, something in me stirred. Then I killed it.
I’d almost fallen for a pretty face before. And the prettiest women were usually the most wicked.
“Sir… please. I didn’t take it. I was framed.”
I stepped closer and slapped her again.
“Argh!” She cried out. Her lip split open. Blood trickled down her jaw.
“I hate lies,” I said quietly. “You know why? Because lies give birth to betrayal.”
I stared into her eyes.
“Alice. How could you? I thought you were innocent. I thought I could trust you. But it looks like you’re about to see a side of me you’ll never forget.”
Her body trembled. Tears kept falling.
“Sir, please… I swear on my life. I didn’t touch it. Someone put it there.”
“Who?” I asked, voice like ice.
“I don’t know! I swear I don’t!”
I circled her slowly. The room was cold. Only her ragged breathing filled the space.
“Do you know what happens to people who steal from me, Alice?”
She shook her head.
“They disappear.”
She whimpered.
“But I’m not going to make you disappear. Not yet. First, you’re going to tell me the truth.”
“I am telling the truth!”
I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me. Her eyes were glassy, red, terrified.
“Then why was it in your room? Why did Lucas say you threatened him? Why is everyone looking at you?”
“Because they hate me! Because June hates me! Sir, you have to believe me!”
June.
That name made my jaw clench.
Could this be her? Was this another one of her games to get Alice out of the house?
But the flash drive was real. It was in my hand.
And if Alice was innocent, then someone was very good at framing her.
I dropped my hand and stepped back.
“You’ll stay here until I decide what to do with you,” I said. “No food. No water. No visitors. Except me.”
“Sir, please...”
“Enough.”
I turned and walked out, closing the heavy door behind me.
The sound
- Writer
