Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

AS SOON AS THE AUTHORITIES called Chiara, she hurriedly drove to the station. The search for the mastermind in the one-star review case has been ongoing for days, and it’s pissing Chiara off. It’s cutting her patience short.

She knew who is behind that scheme, but she doesn’t have the enough evidence to pin him. The authenticity of the files inside the memory card that Elisa gave her is still not verified.

“Mrs. Vitali,” one of the officers, a female with the name Madrigal in her tag, greeted her as she entered the station. “We have found the one behind the scheme.”

From the tone and statement of the officer, Chiara is sure that it is not Giovanni they were able to caught. Could it Sigmund? Or Alessandra? They were at her press conference that day. It could also be Simone. Or another stranger.

They followed Officer Madrigal towards outside of the interrogation room. Behind the two-way mirror is a thin man with glasses on, sitting on the right side, while another male officer is across him.

Officer Madrigal pointed the thin man. “That man is Rheland Cafaro. The investigative team traced all of the one star review came from his hideout not far from the Hotel di Vitali branch in the centerpoint,” she explained. “From our research, he is unemployed. However, we discovered high-end computers and devices in his hideouts.”

“So someone is financing him,” Chiara said with “as a matter of fact” tone. Her thumb is making small circles on her arm while staring at Rheland.

Just from looking at him, you can say that he is a nerdy and techy guy. Big eyeglasses, deep eyebags that maybe came from few hours of sleeping or long exposure to gadgets, big shirt, and a short that reached his knee.

“Yes,” Officer Madrigal answered. “We are looking at that possibility. My colleague will interrogate him. Hopefully, we can squeeze for some answers. His financer looks well-off after all.”

After a moment of silence, all of them listened to the conversation of the two people on the other side of the mirror. A conversation between a police and a suspect.

“Why did you do it?” the police spoke while leaning towards Rheland.

The man looked at him with a poker face. “Did what?”

“Giving thousands of fake reviews in Hotel di Vitali’s website. That’s defamation. That’s libel.”

Rheland looked unbothered. “I didn’t do it,” he said, refusing to admit his crime.

The officer remained composed despite the suspect’s denial. “The evidences say otherwise,” he opened the brown envelope and removed the contents, placing it in front of Rheland.

Chiara moved closer to the mirror to see what the officer gave clearly. From her end, those looks like pictures.

“These are the pictures taken in your hideout. Five of your computers operated for three weeks to give these fake reviews,” he pointed several pictures one by one while explaining.

Chiara thought to herself, “So the fake reviews started weeks ago. I haven’t even notice this,” she massaged her temple, getting headache because a lot of things are happening. “If not because of the report and the news, I wouldn’t even know it.”

After giving some thought on where she had her lapses, Chiara has a realization.

“The technical team is in-charge of of collaborating with the customer’s relation team with this. The tech team must have monitor the website. How come they didn’t notice this it was ongoing for weeks?”

Suddenly, she felt that there are a lot of mole inside their empire. If she cannot remove them as soon as possible, these moles will kill the company like a parasite.

“I didn’t do it,” Rheland repeated even if the evidences are pointing him. He kept a poker face. Giovanni must have given him a lot of money to be like this.

The officer looked at the clock on the left side of him. “Mr. Cafaro, we are not doing this interrogation for you to admit that it was you who did it. We are asking you why you did it,” he explained before leaning back on the chair. “Besides, your partner already admit the crime.”

Rheland made a smug face. “Partner? I don’t have a partner! I did those all by myself! Aren’t I awesome?”

The whole interrogation room fell silent after his boastful act. The moment that the silence covers him, Rheland realized what he just said.

“Thank you for admitting the crime, Mr. Cafaro. Let’s move to the next question,” the officer said calmly as he puts the pictures back to the folder.

“What?!” the suspect exclaimed. “I, I d-”

He stuttered while trying to take back what he said. When the officer looked at him with raised eyebrows, Rheland sat back with a defeated look.

“Who told you to do that? Did you do it on your own accord or did someone ask you to do it?” he asked.

Rheland was silent for a little bit before looking back at the officer again. “What’s the punishment for libel?”

“Up to one year of imprisonment,” he answered. “Or a fine up to 1, 032 euros.”

“How about for the mastermind?”

“More than the punishment I said earlier.”

A smirk showed on Rheland’s face. “I’m already caught. What’s the use of hiding his identity?” he laughed like a mad man.

Chiara was waiting for her husband’s rival’s name to emerge from his mouth. She is itching to add more cases on top of Giovanni. The current case on attempted murder is still not moving because of lack of witness, but maybe, this one will put him behind the bars permanently.

“Who is it?” the officer asked again.

“Sigmund Russo.”

Chiara doesn’t know what to react. Disappointment, because it was not Giovanni who was behind the scheme, or relief, because the mastermind is now unraveled.

The officer asked more question, but Chiara didn’t listen to any of them. She just have some reminders to Officer Madrigal before leaving.

She needs her husband’s presence.

“MY HEAD’S ACHING, mi tesoro,” Chiara spoke when she was left alone with her husband. Luigi and Fara just left to go back to the mansion and settle some things.

She rested her head beside her husband, just near his shoulder. Her pointing finger making series of spirals in his skin, sometimes making other shapes and figures like it was a canvas.

“I don’t know where to put my attention to,” she complained with a pout. “I haven’t been this stress in my entire life.”

She looked up at his peaceful sleeping face before touching his cheek. “Please wake up,” she spoke before planting a kiss on his lips.

As if on a cue, knocks where heard on the door. She stood up, expecting to see Elisa since she texted that she will visit her son again.

For the past week, Elisa visited her son twice. The first one during her check-up, and the second one during her visit to her friend who is also confined.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

However, Chiara was taken aback when she saw her parents, together with Elisa, standing as she opened the door.

“Mi figlia!” Celine exclaimed with open arms, ready to hug her daughter.

Chiara immediately hugged her parents and smiled at her mother-in-law. “I didn’t expect you to be here, mom, dad,” she spoke as they entered the room.

She was locking the door when her father spoke. “It was your mom’s idea. She wanted to surprise you,” he said while putting down the fruits that they have.

“I also didn’t expect to see Ezio’s mother here!” her mother squealed like a child while sitting beside Elisa, abandoning her husband who is on the other side of the bed.

“I happened to bump into them while leaving my friend’s room. Turns out they were going here, too,” Elisa explained.

Chiara nodded to them before going back on her husband’s side. As soon as she sat down, Celine touched her forehead.

“You’re kind of warm, mi figlia,” she spoke while touching it repeatedly, making sure that she felt it right.

Elisa also touched her neck, checking her temperature. “You’re burning up.”

“I’m fine,” Chiara answered. “Don’t worry. It’s just there are a lot of problems in the company and I tend to travel a lot to check the others. I’m not used to this amount of work, that’s why body is like this.”

Fabio gave her daughter a peeled orange. “Eat this, mi figlia. Have you drank a medicine yet?”

She received the fruits before answering. “I haven’t, dad. I didn’t feel sick, actually.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re in an air conditioned room. You won’t feel that your cold or burning,” Elisa spoke.

Celine nodded. “You have to rest from time to time, mi figlia. That’s not good for your health.”

From the flow of their conversation, Chiara guessed that her parents doesn’t know the recent events in the empire. The news about the fake reviews must have not reached them yet.

The parents talked about random things, from their everyday routine, their own love story, even their experience on raising a child. Her parents even encouraged her to listen because the know that Chiara and Ezio will also raise their own children soon.

“I’ll just go to the comfort room,” Chiara spoke before leaving. Her bladder is already full from the oranges and grapes she eat, as well as from the cold water she has been drinking since morning.

When she arrived at the comfort room, there was no one inside. It is not visiting hours, aside from those in the private facilities, so it’s not shocking to have few people around.

As she finished and fixed herself, she saw from her peripheral vision that Elisa is standing by the door.

“I heard what happened,” she spoke while wiping her hands with tissue.

Chiara turned off the faucet. “The fake reviews?”

Her mother-in-law nodded. “Did you find out who was behind it?”

“Yes,” Chiara also leaned on the closed door, facing Elisa. “It was Sigmund. My ex-boyfriend’s uncle.”

Silence covered them for a short time. Elisa was about to speak when Chiara asked something that she really wanted to asked since she got the memory card.

“Are those real?” she asked. “The files you gave me.”

“Yes,” Elisa answered without hesitation. “It’s up to you if you will believe me, or how you will use those files.”

She closed their distance and touched Chiara’s shoulder. “Let me remind you that like my son, Giovanni has a lot of connections too,” she said with a warning tone. “You have to be wary of to whom you will give those files. You cannot trust anyone in the authorities. You don’t know who among them has the connection to him.”

Chiara gathered her thoughts, thinking of ways on how she can use those in her advantage without Giovanni knowing that it came from her.

Giovanni can get away from everything if she did one wring move. One mistake, and all the advantage she has will be gone. Their rival has been attacking them several times and all that she did is defense. She needs to move. The key is already in her hand, she just needs to know what door she must open.

After talking, the two left the comfort room. They spoke about various things about the company. Elisa even gave her tips on how to handle those people.

The other side of Chiara’s brain is still doubting Elisa, maybe because on how she treated her husband not just on their wedding but also on several occasions. But another part of her wants to give her a chance. She did a lot for Chiara and Ezio. She gave information that will really help us pin Giovanni down.

While Chiara was talking, Elisa suddenly pulled her towards the alley. Surprised by her mother-in-law’s action, Chiara tried to remove her hand from her grip.

“Shh,” Elisa spoke, silencing her, before looking at the other end.

Chiara moved towards her to look what she’s looking at. Her eyes couldn’t focus at first, but after staring at the familiar woman walking towards one of the hospital room, Chiara’s whole body was filled with fear.

“What is she doing here?” she asked her mother-in-law.

“I don’t know,” Elisa whispered while eyeing the woman. “Hurry, go back to my son’s room and prepare to take him out. Find a place of him where no one can see you and transfer him. He’s not safe here anymore.”

After that, Chiara ran back to her husband’s room while her heart is pounding loud and fast.

Isabella, Giovanni’s mistress, just entered their private hospital. They might have known where her husband is. She needs to transfer Ezio to somewhere safe.