Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

“THANK YOU,” Chiara spoke while shaking hands firmly with the businesswoman in front of her.

Ms. Coppola smiled at her. “It’s my pleasure. You are a great businesswoman, Chiara. No wonder Mr. Vitali is head over heels for you.”

Chiara couldn’t help but to blush on Ms. Coppola’s words. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she responded while her eyes are beaming. “I will make sure that your investment will grow in this company.”

“I do not doubt that,” the woman said. “With your skills and your husband’s connection, I’m sure the Vitali Empire will prosper more in the coming years.”

Their conversation was interrupted with a knock on the door. After a few moments, one lady entered carrying a tray with two mugs and a small kettle.

“I would like to invite you for an afternoon tea, if you wouldn’t mind,” Chiara spoke.

“I wouldn’t mind,” she answered. “I have all day. I’m just afraid you might have some things to do.”

Chiara shook her head slowly with motioning the helper to put the tray on the table. “I have finished my paper works for today. We can talk over a cup of tea.”

The two newly-met ladies struck up their conversation. Despite having almost ten years gap, they became comfortable with each other’s presence.

From their conversation, Chiara found out that Ms. Coppola was a single mother, until tuberculosis ended her daughter’s life.

“I can’t imagine the pain you went through,” Chiara spoke gently after Ms. Coppola narrated her life.

“It’s difficult to bear, but I need go move forward,” she responded with a sad smile. “After that, I didn’t try to date any man or create my own family. I decided to live with myself.”

They talked about random things like their favorites, their past experiences. Until their topic shifted to Chiara’s married life.

“I didn’t experience being married. How does it feel like?” Ms. Coppola asked with curiosity.

Chiara put down her cup before answering. “I felt like my life became easier when I married him,” she spoke with a contented smile. “The start of our relationship didn’t go well. It was my fault, actually. But Ezio didn’t give up on me.”

“He showed me how he loves me. He gave me everything I need, everything I want. He knew me more than I knew myself,” she added. “He might look like a scary guy, but he is loving and caring. I can’t thank him enough for everything he did for me.”

“To find a love like that, is rare,” Ms. Coppola commented. “I hope Mr. Vitali will recover soon. I can see how sad you are when we talked about the incident.”

“Yeah, I wish of that too,” Chiara said without telling her that Ezio is comatose.

It’s been days since she saw his finger move while unconscious. The doctor said that it is s good sign: a sign that his brain is starting to work.

Hours passed before Ms. Coppola bid goodbye in the office. Since Chiara doesn’t have anything to do, she decided to end her work minutes after the female investor left.

It was then she was about to leave the office with Luigi knocked and entered.

“What is it, Luigi? Is there any problem?” she asked while putting back her things in her shoulder bag.

Luigi shook his head. “No, signora,” he answered. “You have a visitor.”

“Who?” she asked while looking at the door. She does not have any guest go expect today. Her parents went back to their house and Nick did not tell her anything.

“It’s Sir Dante, one of Boss Ezio’s friends,” he responded.

Chiara’s eyebrows furrowed. She have heard that name before, but she is not familiar with his face. Hesitant because she doesn’t know him, Chiara told Luigi to let him in since he is her husband’s friend.

“Good afternoon, Signora Chiara,” Dante spoke with a grin that is trying hard to look like a formal smile.

Chiara motioned her hand to the visitor’s chair. “Please take a seat.”

Dante made himself comfortable. When Chiara sat down, she immediately went straight to the point.

“So,” she started talking. “What brings you here, Mr. Dante?”

The visitor made a fake shiver on her words. “Signora, no need to call me Mister. Just call me Dante.”

Chiara nodded. “Okay, Dante it is. So what brings you here? Are you looking for my husband?”

Hearing that, Dante faced softened and a sad smile appeared on his face. “Chiara, I know what happened to my friend. Even if I look for him right now, I still wouldn’t be able to talk to him.”

Chiara’s eyes almost widen at Dante’s words. By his statement, it is obvious that he already know about her husband’s situation. She is sure that she told no one about it. Only his men, Fara, and Luigi know about it.

“What do you mean?” she asked, feigning ignorance.

“You know what I mean,” he answered. “I know that you kept his situation hidden. That’s for his safety.”

Chiara didn’t speak and waited for him for tell her more. He is her husband’s friend, but she does not know him. She can’t trust him right now.

“I know that you are wary of me, but I’m here to help,” he spoke and gave her the brown envelope he is holding.

Chiara slowly grabbed it from him. She looked at the enveloped and noticed that nothing is written on the outside.

“What is this for?” she asked while opening the sealed flap of the envelope.

“Information-” he answered. “-about Giovanni.”

Chiara’s head turned up to the man in front of him. She looked at him with wide eyes. Dante adjusted his body on his seat before explaining.

“My friend and Giovanni have been business rivals for so long,” he started talking. “I witnessed how these two attacked and retaliated against each other. Giovanni is a wicked man. He will use every connection that he has to make sure that Ezio will lose in the end. And shooting him in the airport is one of those things.”

While listening to Dante’s talking, Chiara scanned the papers inside the envelope through her eyes. Everything is detailed, from the basic information up go the current events in his life.

The document have more than 10 pages. From scanning it, the document looks like an autobiography of Giovanni. It includes very personal information that only the closest person can know.

The last pages of the document contains various names of those people connected to him and what things made them acquainted. But that is not what caught Chaira’s attention.

A single page that contains certain information etched into her memory. She memorized every detail. She will use this to bring him down.

“Why did you bring this to me?” she asked after putting back the papers except the one page she deemed important. She put it in a xerox machine and created several copies.

“You’re Ezio’s wife,” Dante answered. “He trusts you so much, so I know that I can trust you too.”

Chiara slightly felt guilty. This person in front of her has a huge trust on her to give those information, yet, she is thinking bad things and doubting him.

“These are a lot of information. I won’t ask how you find this,” she responded while hiding the papers. “But why now? Why not before when Ezio is still fine?”

Dante took a deep sigh. “I have skills in finding confidential information, but I’m not that good. Giovanni is too good in hiding his trails that Ezio and I cannot follow him,” he explained. “He leaves nothing of everything he did, and it made it difficult for me to find these information.”

“It just so happened that someone with god skills in this field left these information public-” he quoted the word public in the air, “- and that made me access these.”

Chiara thought that the person Dante might be talking about it Nick. He is the only person he knows that is also working on getting Giovanni’s information.

“It’s up to you how you will use these info,” Dante added while tapping his fingers on the table. “I am sure you will make smart choices. Avenge my friend, Chiara. I’ll be supporting you ”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Chiara gave him a smile. “Thank you so much for this, Dante. I’ll tell you if I will be needing more of your help. As of now, we were still looking on those guards who shot my husband,” she spoke. “We already have their identities. It’s just that they are good at hiding.”

Chiara gave him a photocopy of the pictures of those guards, as well as the information given by Nick. “If you have time, please try looking for these people.”

“No need to say please. Ezio will choke me if he heard you saying that to me,” he let out a chuckle before getting the pictures. “Besides, I will really do it without you asking.”

When he took a look at the photos, he saw a familiar face. He laid the paper flat on the table and pointed at it.

“Do you recognize this guy?” he asked Chiara.

She titled her head to take a good look. Chiara tried to look for the familiarity of the man’s face, but she doesn’t remember him.

She shook her head. “No, I don’t recognize him.”

“Remember when you went to Luminosa to buy dress for Marco Leon’s birthday party?” he gave her another question to remember.

“Yeah,” she answered because that is still fresh in her mind. It was the first day that Ezio and her went out as husband and wife. That is also the day she met Giovanni.

“Ezio asked me to guard you that day. You didn’t see me but I monitor your moves and the things around you,” Dante explained. “And this man, is the waiter that almost served you your juice that day.”

Chiara’s eyes squinted a little. “I do remember that happening. I was with my friend that time. I remember the waiter, but not his face.”

“I am sure that you don’t know about this, but the juice that he was supposed to serve to you was poisoned.”

Her hands flew to her mouth because of shock. She remembered that her juice spilled that day, that’s why she wasn’t able to drink it.

“My lover is the one who bumped this man. I told Ezio about it. We tried looking for this man, but he disappeared like a bubble,” Dante finished his explanation.

She couldn’t believe it. She was too comfortable in her friend’s presence and was naive by the fact that someone tried to poison her. Without Ezio and Dante, she would have been dead that day.

“Giovanni is the one behind it, isn’t he?” she asked, clenching her fist and gritting her teeth afterwards.

Dante nodded. It was the only confirmation she needed.

“Dante,” she called him with a firm voice. “I’ll bring that bastard Giovanni down. I have a plan in mind,” she looked at him. “Will you help me?”

“Of course, signora,” Dante answered. “I’m always at your service.”