Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

WHILE LISTENING to the speaker of the meeting, Ezio spotted a bag of white powder just under one of the drawers inside the conference room. If a person wouldn’t focus their eyesight on that area, it cannot be noticed.

He didn’t mind the bag of powder and turned his attention to the meeting. From time to time, he would look at the bag of powder and observe the people inside the room if they also noticed the same thing.

After almost two hours, the meeting was over and Ezio was the last one to leave the meeting room together with Luigi.

“Lock the room, ” he gave a pair of gloves to Luigi and a transparent plastic that contains a strand of hair. “You know what to do with that thing. Make sure you won’t leave a trace.”

Luigi nodded before going back inside the conference room to do his task. On the other hand, Ezio went back to his office and prepared to live. His wife hasn’t sent an update since their meeting started. The last message she sent was when she arrived in the police station.

He was about to call his wife when Victor came rushing to the office. He was on a rush that he forgot to knock on the wooden door.

Ezio was about to scold him for impudence when Victor spoke, making his heart thump faster and for his sweats to turn cold.

“Signor! Signora Chiara was shot!”

Those whete just a few words, but it almost made Ezio faint. He didn’t waste any second and ran the distance from the office to the private parking lot. His men who are patrolling around the building also rushed towards their cars to follow their boss.

Victor hasn’t even buckled his seatbelt when Ezio stepped furiously on the pedal, making him fell down from the backseat.

“Fuck! Can’t this car move faster?!” Ezio cussed while driving fast on the highway. He had overtaken several cars, and it felt like their flying.

Victor felt that they’re going to die from the speed of the car. His heart almost stopped beating when Ezio overtook a van, and they were greeted by a truck coming on their way. He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact, just to found out that they swerved back on the lane safely.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the hospital where Chiara was admitted. They were informed that Chiara was undergoing a small surgery to remove the bullet from her leg.

Ezio waited outside the surgery room, his neck extending as he tried to look from what’s happening inside the room. His palms were sweating so much that he had to wipe from time to time.

“Signor, they’re here,” Victor spoke upon arriving after looking for the people that Ezio requested.

Ezio straightened his back and looked back at the body guards who were supposed to protect Chiara. He was emitting an aura that’s so dangerous, that it can swallow a person’s energy.

His eyes were full of hatred and disappointment. He was gritting his jaw as he looked at them one by one, memorizing the faces of the guards who failed to protect his wife.

“Am I paying you so much money just to slack on your job?” he asked them. The guards remained looking down while kneeling shaking their head.

“Then explain this!” Ezio roared while pointing at the door of the surgery room. “Why did my wife got shot while all of you are unscathed?!”

“It’s our fault, signor,” one of them responded. “We were careless. We will accept any punishment.”

Ezio grabbed the collar of one of the men and threw him to the wall. The force was too much that the man let out a groan because of pain.

“I’m paying you to protect my wife,” he spoke to them. “That includes being near to her all the time, checking her surroundings, and even catching a bullet for her.”

He turned his back to them to look back to the surgery room. “Pray that my wife will be fine. Because if something happened to her, you won’t be able to leave this hospital,” he spoke with a cold voice. “Leave. I’m sick of seeing your faces.”

Footsteps echoed in the hall. Victor walked towards his signor to report. “The crime happened just outside the police station. The chief was shot in his vital organ while protecting Signora Chiara,” he spoke. “Policemen from that same station tried to arrest the shooters, but they’re already dead.”

Ezio turned his head to the assistant. “Did they found out the cause of their deaths?”

“One of the shooters was shot in the head. The driver’s head was pierced with a glass due to the impact of hitting a wall, ” he responded before giving a paper. “The other two shooters drank cyanide, poisoning themselves.”

Ezio massaged his temple. He has a strong hunch that it was Giovanni who sent those men. Probably because they’re moving the case against him. What he can’t understand is why those men chose to kill themselves rather than surrendering to the police.

He asked Victor to ask the help of Dante in looking for the background of those men. He looked backed and saw the surgery room opened. A doctor emerged from the door with a relieved reaction on her face.

“Are you a relative of the patient, Mrs. Chiara Beatrice Vitali?” the doctor asked while walking towards them.From NôvelDrama.Org.

Ezio nodded. “I’m her husband, ” he answered while looking at the room. “How’s my wife? Please tell me that she’s fine.”

“We were able to remove the bullet,” the doctor smiled. “Fortunately, the bullet didn’t hit any bone, just her muscles. She just need to rest and let her wound recover.”

After a few minutes, Chiara was transferred to a private suite. She still unconscious by the time they arrive. Her left leg has a bandage. Aside from that, she doesn’t have any wound or scratches.

It didn’t take long for Chiara to wake up. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes is her husband’s mismatched orbs. She smiled even though Ezio’s face was full of worry.

“Cara,” Ezio cupped her face and kissed her forehead with tender. His lips are shaking while kissing her, and he let out a sigh of relief afterwards.

“Are you okay?” Chiara asked upon feeling her husband’s palm. “You feel so cold. Did something happen to you?”

“You happened, cara,” Ezio replied. “I’m so worried, fuck. Good thing it was only your leg that was shot.”

Chiara smiled to comfort her husband. “Chief Bruno protected me. If not for him, I wouldn’t bern fatally shot,” she responded. “I will thank him once I recovered.”

Fara arrived at the hospital, bringing fruits and lunch for Chiara and Ezio. After she left, Ezio fed his wife. At first, they were just talking about the updates of the case, until a question popped into Ezio’s mind.

“This wasn’t the first time that Giovanni’s men chose to kill themselves rather than cooperating with us,” Ezio spoke. “I wonder what Giovanni has on her sleeves for them to be that loyal to him.”

Chiara was silent for a moment, thinking about the question. “Giovanni doesn’t have a lot of resources, especially now that his company is in a brink of collapse,” she stated.

These past months, various nees emerged about Giovanni’s investors pulling out from his company and his workers resigning. The company’s stock went down a lot.

“Besides, Giovanni didn’t resort to this extent before,” Ezio added. “We had our fair share of battle, but it doesn’t include lives of other people.”

Chiara turned to her husband and took a bite on the apple on his hand. “What if someone more powerful is backing him? I can’t remove that possibility.”

AFTER A FEW DAYS, while Chiara was focusing on recovering, a huge news about the Vitali Empire reached their ears.

“A bag of methamphetamine?” Chiara asked the policeman who entered her ward.

The policeman nodded. “A bag of methamphetamine was found inside the conference room. And based on the CCTV footages, the last people to use the room are the board members. That includes Mr. Vitali,” he explained.

Ezio, who was sitting beside his wife, looked calm and collected. He looked like the news that a bag of illegal drug was found in his own building wasn’t a big deal.

“I swear to the law that I am not included in any illegal deeds,” Ezio spoke with confidence. “I’ll be willing to cooperate with the authorities. But I suggest to look at that drug and check for fingerprints or traces.”

He stood up, elluding an aura of authority. “I can also give the list of people who entered the room before us, if that will help in the investigation.”

The policeman looked delighted that Ezio was willing to cooperate with them. “Then we will ask for your statement and a permission to do the same to your board members who were present that day.”

Ezio nodded. “Sure. As long as it will help in unveiling the case.”

Just before the policeman left the room, another uniformed personnel knocked at the door. He was carrying a laptop in his hand. “Sir!” he gave a salute to his superior before reporting.

“We found a strand of hair on the bag. It was stucked between the tapes, sir,” he reported. “They’re already checking the evidence, sir.”

He turned the laptop around so that the screen is facing the superior. “We also retrieved this footage, sir.”

Ezio grinned inwardly, knowing what’s about to come. When the video was played, a woman in a cleaner clothing entered the conference room. For the first minutes, she was cleaning the room thoroughly. However, before she left, she reached for a bag of powder in her bag and put it under one of the drawers. The video ended after that scene.

“Good,” the policeman nodded before looking back to Ezio and Chiara. “We will update you about the case. One of my men will get your statement later,” he spoke to them. “Now, please excuse me.”