Chapter 2

The Ricci’s insisted that I spend another week just to cool off from work, but I really needed to leave Italy. I was tired of the traumatic memories replaying on a loop and explained that I should probably check myself in for a bit of counseling for what had happened regarding Rio. That seemed to quell them immediately, and I was so taken aback by their understanding and kindness. It must’ve given them the wrong impression when I announced I was heading back right after my talk with Guasparre. They convinced me to have dinner at the Moretti’s place before accompanying me to the airport.
“You have a place here with us, Lilith,” Mrs. Ricci said, holding my hands in her warm grasp as the speakers announced the boarding for my flight, “Once Guasparre is ready again, please come back.”
“I certainly will,” I gripped her hands in reassurance. She moved away to let Bellona engulf me in a hug. She still looked apologetic. I patted her arm, “Thank you for taking care of me. I’m so glad I got to visit here. I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
“We’ll miss you so much,” she sighed and placed a small velvet box in my hands, “It’s a small gift from me. I hope you like it.”
I looked at the box curiously and opened it, spotting a beautiful sapphire teardrop necklace. To say I was awestruck was an understatement. It was simple yet so beautiful in design, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.
“Bellona,” I breathed softly, “I’ve never seen something so beautiful.”
“Really?” she sounded flattered and I looked at her, knowing she was the one who had designed it.
“You’re an artistic genius. I’ll never take this off.”
She beamed at me and helped me put the necklace on. My heart felt so warm from the gesture, and I almost changed my mind about leaving. But I knew I needed to get back to New York and confront Blair. Our tensions weren’t over just yet.
Lyra waited for me, anxiously seated in a chair nearby as her eyes carefully scanned over each person that came into the waiting area. She shot up immediately upon seeing me and rushed over to take my suitcase.
“Am I to take you home?”
“No,” I sighed. “we’re heading straight to Helvig’s.”
“Let me take care of this one, Lilith…”
“There’s only so much I can let slide,” I insisted. “I’m threatening her with a defamation case.”
“LILITH!” she demanded, grabbing my arm and turning me around, “When has the law ever worked in your favor? She’s the daughter of a billionaire!”
“What other option do I have?” I asked, tired and frustrated.
“We could bite her back,” Lyra challenged. “We have the emails from last time. Hold the evidence over her head and threaten to have it released if she doesn’t comply. She’s already under scrutiny by Helvig.”
“And yet the tabloids still happened,” I sighed and checked my phone for any more scandalous headlines. I was tempted to go through the comments on the articles, but there was nothing to read when the search engine pulled up the results. I looked at her in confusion as she gave me a smug look, holding up an envelope.
“I took care of it,” she said confidently as we neared the car. “All we need to do is corner her.”
I opened the trunk for her to load the suitcase into, “You’re asking me to threaten her.”
“Yes.”
I shut the door and gave her an incredulous look.
“You’re acting like you never did such a thing before.”
Rolling my eyes, I got into the car and let Lyra drive us away. She placed the brown file in my lap and I stared at it, wondering if this was a good idea. Touching the flap carefully, I lifted it and pulled out the papers and started to go through them. Pages and pages of emails.
“I got together a small PR team for your defense and a lawyer,” she explained. “This is defamation, Lilith. You won’t have to worry about what happens behind the scenes from now on, but this is necessary. You’re practically a celebrity thanks to Blair.”
“Are you serious?”
“Check our Instagram if you don’t believe me.”
I sighed as she handed me her phone with the application already open. Our page was purely promotional, but I was seeing a lot of comments asking to post about me and tell them more about what it was like to be a billionaire matchmaker.
“This is insane…” I breathed.
“Ha!” Lyra laughed, “I’ve been getting calls all night from media houses for a short TV series on your work.”
“My clients would NEVER agree to it!”
“We’ll see about that.”
I stared straight ahead in shock and awe, not understanding how everything had managed to change so drastically overnight. What was going on? What was going to happen?
Things were never going to be the same again, were they?
 
Getting to Helvig’s wasn’t difficult, but going inside was. Suddenly I didn’t want to confront Blair, no matter how much I knew I needed to. Strangely, it wasn’t even about defacing her image to Cristo, it was about myself. I needed her to stop trying to sabotage me because not only was it amusingly backfiring, but because it hurt me to see my personal incidents out there for popping up in my face at any given moment. What happened between Rio and I was traumatizing and scary. I needed to heal without this bitch getting in the way!
The receptionist stopped me on the way in.
“Who are you looking for?”
“Blair Halls.”
“Have you an appointment?”
“I don’t need one,” I snapped. “Call her up and tell her I’m here.”
“You can’t–”
“I can,” I cut off curtly, “and I will.”
The look of unsettlement in her eyes was palpable, and she reached out hesitantly for the phone and dialed in quickly.
It wasn’t long before I was in Blair’s office, staring her down. She looked nervous, twisting one of the many rings on her fingers as she sat up straight behind her desk.
“If this is about the tabloids then it wasn’t me,” she lied blatantly. I slapped down the file on her desk.
“You’d think a person would get smarter after being caught once already.” I shook my head. “What are you trying to do, Blair? What is this really about?”
“What do you mean?” she laughed haughtily. The nerve. “What could I ever want from someone like you, Lilith?”
“If there truly isn’t a reason for all of this, then it’s just really sad,” I tutted. “You really don’t have a life of your own to worry about. Perhaps this is about Cristo.”
She scoffed. I smirked. “So it is, huh?”
“Cristo’s relationship with me is none of your business, Lilith.”
“You know this is exactly why he dumped you, right?” I shook my head. “And now I have proper evidence against you because Marcus isn’t even in the picture this time.”
“You have nothing.”
“Oh, really?” I challenged back.
“I have something.”
The deep voice was so sudden that it made us both jump. I turned around to see Cristo step out from behind the glass, looking annoyed and…quite terrifying.
I’d never seen him so angry. A man who was usually so happy and carefree.
“Cristo…” I breathed, turning fully around to look at him properly. The dark circles under his eyes stood out against his dull brown skin and he had a healthy five o’clock shadow going on.
“What are you talking about?” Blair sounded panicked.
“I talked to Rio.”
Blair’s face paled so fast I thought she would pass out there and then. I hoped she would, but I was feeling pretty numb and unfazed. Blair and Cristo stared at each other lost in their own world that did not seem very peaceful in that moment. I decided to sit down and watch the drama unfold because Cristo was acting like I wasn’t even there.
“You know he’s a liar, Cristo.”
“And so are you,” he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I just…I know we were on a break and working things out but you slept with him? Blair, that guys a fucking sleaze!”
“That was way before I saw you again.”
“No, you slept with him a few weeks ago before he went back to Italy.”
“He lied!”
“His men didn’t,” Cristo seethed with a venomous look in his eyes as he pulled his phone out, tapping away at it and walking to the desk, sliding it to her. Her eyes dropped down to the small screen as a look of defeat came over her face. “I know you made Rio stage the whole kidnapping situation. You were the one who asked him to have his men take pictures. And that at the Moretti’s of all people? Fucking hell, Blair! They’re my most loyal clients! If they find out you had any part in this fiasco, they’ll come for me!”
“B-but it’s not like they can find out, right?”
Cristo froze and stared her down in shock, and so did I. Did she really just shamelessly admit to her participation in the whole thing. And honestly, I wasn’t even surprised Blair was behind Rio’s scheme to kidnap me.
“Do you have any idea what a fucked-up guy Rio is?” he spat out. “God knows what he could’ve done to Lilith if he’d gotten away!”
“Now you’re exaggerating,” she rolled her eyes patronizingly. It surprised me to see her treat him like such a child, scolding like a mother would.
No…gaslighting.
Cristo, although tired and sunken, slowly stood up straighter and taller. Somehow, in some way, he suddenly looked much bigger than he already was. There was frustration in his eyes. No, it was anger. He was angry.
Very angry.
 And I had no idea how to calm him down. I’d never seen Cristo this upset to the point where veins were popping out of his neck. If this was a silly romance, the protagonist would find this hot.
But this wasn’t hot. It was downright terrifying.
Cristo was terrifying and I wished to know what line had Blair crossed to bring this upon us all. I watched in awe and alarm as he marched around the desk to Blair and towered over her. The woman was as white as a ghost, trembling before him as she held onto the desk for dear life, cowering away from him. Instinctively, my legs forced me to stand and back away from the two of them as my heart thundered up into my throat. The scene looked familiar. Rather…it felt familiar.
Is that how I looked when Mark came to hurt me?
No, I reminded myself, Blair isn’t hurt, Cristo is.
“I’m not a violent person, Blair,” he growled. “But a man’s most honest hour is at death’s door. And that was Rio.” His fists clenched so hard they drew blood from his palms. My eyes caught each droplet that bounced and splattered against the cold marble, entranced and horrified.
I wanted him to stop.
“So, you listen to me,” he started, dangerously calm, with a tick in his jaw, “I have the FBI outside with justified warrants to search not just your office, but your house as well. Anything that connects you to Rio will be investigated. Unless you pull down everything related to Lilith off of all forums, I won’t rest until I destroy everything you worked for down to the rubble. Trust me, I don’t mind going down with you.”
“My father would never let you.” Her voice trembled.
“oh, yeah?” a dangerous smirk graced his once angelic face. “You think I didn’t prepare a good case for him to deal with before I came over here?”
“Ha!” she scoffed nervously. “All of that overnight? I call bluff.”
“Then I’ll let the FBI take care of it all.”
It was a tap on his phone and the doors banged open, the room swarming with people clad in black. Like flies swarming a corpse. Boots marched onto the pristine floors and trampled over brand new rugs, wearing them out into age-old antiques in a matter of seconds. There were guns, batons, handcuffs, walkie-talkies, and hard stares penetrating the three of us.
My whole body froze up in fear as memories from the past assaulted my mind. Memories that I thought I had forgotten. Memories of Mark in his police uniform. Other policemen, breaking into our house when my screams got too loud. And them talking to Mark like they were all old friends who understood why he did what he did.
Why was Mark such a monster? What justice could be served for me? Would it ever?
There was none for me and there never would be. This was all just a show where Cristo and Blair get to play hero and villain. I was still the victim.
I would always be the victim, wouldn’t I?