Chapter 300: Chapter 300 What if she found out?
Her uncle.
A sharp knot formed in his chest, the thought of that man dragging his mood into darker waters. The bastard was still locked in the basement, broken, restrained, but alive. Leo had made sure of it. The doctor he had hired wasn’t even licensed, a man known for keeping his mouth shut and his methods clean enough to erase evidence. He visited once a week, checked that the man was breathing, and left without asking questions.
Leo didn’t regret it. Not once. The things that man had done to Bella, the fear, the scars, the innocence he had stolen, those weren’t sins that could ever be washed away with time. But still, as he looked at her now, sitting there in soft concentration, the light from the monitor tracing gold over her face, something uneasy twisted in him.
What if she found out?
What if her gentle heart, that same heart that saw beauty in broken things, turned away from him in horror? She was kind to everyone, to strangers, to servants, even to people who had wronged her. She didn’t believe in cruelty.
Would she understand the kind of man he had to become to protect her?
He doubted it. She was light and he had long accepted that he was made of darker things. Their worlds met only because she didn’t see what lived behind his calm eyes.
His jaw tightened. No. She can never know.
He would never let her see that part of him, the part that chained men in basements and called it justice, the part that smiled while they screamed. If she ever looked at him with those eyes, those soft trusting eyes, and saw a monster instead of her husband, it would destroy him far more than any bullet ever could.
So he buried the thought deep again, locking it away where her light couldn’t reach.
Never let Bella know about her uncle, he thought darkly, his fingers curling against his palm. Let her live believing the world is good, even if I have to burn in hell to make it so.
And when he looked at her again, typing with that quiet determination, his expression softened, the storm in his heart hidden behind his usual calm.
He would carry the darkness for both of them.
Always.
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Jessica was trembling with rage. She could hardly believe it. Stella had run away again.
Sam’s fist slammed against the edge of the table. "It’s your fault!" he barked, his face flushed with anger. "If you’d given her a proper lecture, maybe she wouldn’t have escaped this time! A daughter learns from her mother!"
Jessica’s eyes widened. "My fault? My fault?!" she cried, her voice breaking into disbelief. "She’s your daughter too, Sam! You think I told her to sneak out with that useless boy? You think I wanted this embarrassment?" Her hands shook as she gestured wildly. "Do you even realize what people will say? The press will have a feast tomorrow!"
Sam groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "She ran away with that Tom again! That broke fool doesn’t even have a car! I don’t have the resources to chase her down again!" He glared at Jessica like it was her job to fix the entire disaster.
Jessica’s lip trembled, not from guilt but fury. "Oh, of course," she snapped bitterly. "Blame me! Always me! As if you ever raised a finger for her! When she was acting spoiled, who was the one telling you to be strict? Me! And you said, ’She’s just young, Jessica, let her be!’ Now look what happened!"
Sam opened his mouth to reply but thought better of it, muttering curses instead as he stormed toward his office.
Jessica stood there for a long moment, her breath ragged, her eyes blazing. Then she turned sharply, her heels clicking against the floor as she stormed into their bedroom and slammed the door.
She pressed her back against it, breathing hard. Her reflection in the mirror stared back, pale, furious, and tired.
That useless girl, she thought bitterly. Always running away like a coward. After everything I’ve done to protect our name, she ruins it over and over again.
She paced the room, her mind already spinning with calculation. Fine. Let her go. She’ll come crawling back when that poor fool can’t feed her. But I can’t let everything fall apart because of her.
Her hands clenched tightly at her sides.
If Stella was gone for good, that meant only one thing.
She would have to melt Bella, win her over, use her, twist her if needed. Stella was weak, but Bella had value. Power. Connections.
Jessica’s mouth curled into a sharp, cold smile.
If one daughter won’t bring me fortune, the other will.
Meanwhile, Sam sat in his dimly lit office, rage boiling in his chest. The air inside the room felt suffocating, thick with the scent of old papers and unpaid bills. He slammed his fist on the desk, scattering a pile of overdue notices across the floor.
Another staff member gone. Fired. Because he couldn’t afford to pay their salary.
His company was collapsing piece by piece, like a sandcastle washed away by every wave of debt. The more he tried to save it, the faster it slipped from his grip.
He rubbed his forehead, veins pulsing in his temples. "Someone’s behind this," he muttered under his breath, his voice trembling with restrained fury. "Someone is deliberately pulling the strings."
His mind immediately drifted to one name, Leo Moretti.
Yes. It had to be him. That cold, dangerous man who had humiliated them, the one who had almost become his son-in-law before everything fell apart. Sam’s jaw clenched until it hurt. He could feel the anger rise like acid.
If only Stella hadn’t run away that day.
If she had gone through with that marriage, everything would have been different. Their debts would have been erased, their status restored, their lives lined with luxury and influence. Instead, she had ruined everything. She had thrown away their golden chance for some broke boy named Tom.
He kicked the table leg in frustration, his breath coming heavy and uneven.
Now, because of that foolish girl, they were back to begging for loans. His so-called partners had turned their backs, investors were retreating, and the whispers had started, whispers that the mighty Sam’s empire was cracking.