Chapter 173
ISABELLA
Mr. Antonio’s expression didn’t change. Cold. Controlled. Absolute. He turned his head to the road ahead. “You have caused me enough sleepless nights,” he said, voice low, precise. “The one problem I thought too lowly to soil my hands with… now I see your interference is spreading. Your presence is seeping where it shouldn’t. I know now time isn’t doing anything; I have to deal with you myself.”
He turned sharply, eyes flashing with fury. “Do you have any idea who Jenna’s father is?” His words hit like ice. “They offered to give us half their factory in China—half! That would have made us untouchable in Europe, America, Asia. Levi had opportunities there you could never understand. I know you are the reason he broke it off with Jenna. From the night he came home asking questions about a past he had forgotten, I caught your smell. I knew you would once again ruin what he had going on.”
I swallowed, my chest tight. “Levi did not end things with Jenna because of me,” I whispered, almost breathless. “I would never ruin what he has.”
Antonio’s lips curled, sharp and cruel. “Of course you would. You’ve done nothing but threaten everything we’ve built. The first time your involvement with Levi became known years ago, we lost billions. It took you disappearing completely and his accident to garner enough pity for us to recover what you stole—and more.” He paused. “Investors don’t trust a man who stoops low to get a wife. Marriage is business, and you are bad business. You’re a liability. A distraction. Nothing more. All you will leave behind is loss and shame—a stain on our name.”
My stomach twisted as his words sank. “Even the mere suggestion of you in that engagement—acting like some Ferrari girl parading into our world—disgusted me.”
My heart clenched painfully. I knew he had done it all with purpose, every move calculated—the paparazzi, the change of venue, maybe even my encounter with Julian.
“I know about the contract.” His words cut through the room, sudden and cold. “I will give you the million,” he continued, each syllable measured. “You will take it—and vanish. But if you defy me, if you try to stay, I will make certain you—and anyone you love—pay.”
Tears stung my eyes. I turned toward Franco, trembling. “I… I thought… I thought you cared for me,” I whispered. “I thought you were dead. I…”
Franco reached toward me slowly. I recoiled, instinct flaring. His eyes were unreadable, cold as steel. “Your only move… is obedience. Forget Levi. That is all. You can come to me—we can…”
Antonio inhaled, savoring the control. “I let you go before. I enjoyed the game—watching you, thinking Levi would have sense not to make the same mistake. I was wrong. And now… I’ve taken matters into my own hands. No more games.”
Franco closed the distance suddenly. My heart skipped. His grip was iron, and a knife appeared at my throat—biting cold, sharp, dangerous.
“I WILL KILL YOU,” Mr. Antonio’s voice turned cold. “I will burn everything down before I let you marry my son.”
The SUV’s interior seemed to shrink around me. My breaths came in short, panicked bursts. And yet, even as terror threatened to consume me, a small part of me—the stubborn, unbroken part—burned inside.
The world outside—the streets, the city, the life I had once known—faded into a blur. The only thing that existed in that moment was the knife, the menacing power pressing down, and the stark, unbearable reality: one wrong move, and everything I loved, everything I had fought for, would be obliterated.
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