Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

INSIDE THEIR SAFE HOUSE, Chiara was scrolling through internet, searching about the details on the said brand named Armano Darte.

It wasn’t a famous brand, as she can notice from the links she opened. There are very few news that features the same brand. Most of the posts were created by Giovanni’s mall chains and company.

“Have you heard of this brand before, Victor?” Chiara asked the man who is busy picking home clothes for their unconscious signor.

Victor nodded. “Of course, signora. No clothing and jewelry brand can escape my ear, ” he answered with full confidence. “As far as I know, that Armano Darte was only established two years ago. It was Mr. Giovanni’s side who made noise about it. However… ”

He stopped talking and chuckled for a short span of time, as if he remembered something funny. “The debut of the brand was a flop.”

Chiara pursed her lips to stop herself from laughing. “Really? What makes you say it was a flop?”

“Well, according to the gossips inside the business circle, Giovanni spent millions of euros for the marketing of the brand. If I’m not mistaken, he also sent invitations to various antique collectors to attend the opening ceremony, ” he explained and typed something on his phone before showing pictures to Chiara.

“Only a few people attended the ceremony. Also, a lot of the reporters from media that he invited didn’t show up. Only two of those media covered the ceremony, and both were only starting medias, ” Victor added while mocking the rival in his head.

Chiara slide through the photos and she cannot help but to chuckle as she notice how the debut ceremony of Armano Darte became a laughing stock. There were a lot of soft, elegant chairs outsidd the first branch of Armano Darte in Giovanni’s mall. However, the attendees didn’t even reach one-fourth of the total.

The annoyance in Giovanni’s face is evident in each photo. Only in the close up ones she can him smiling forcefully.

“Why did the others failed to attend?” Chiara asked even though she already know the answer. “There are only a few antique stores in Italy. Having a new one must be a center of the crowd. What happened?”

“I assume it was because of Giovanni’s reputation, signora,” Victor responded. “That time, there are a lot of issues going on targeting him. Maybe the elites don’t want to have his dirt, too.”

“I see, ” she moved her head up and down as a recognition. “I’m starting to think that Giovanni built that store to redeem himself. Perhaps, he can’t control the issues on him that he have to resort to something that will divert people’s attention, or maybe, something that will put him in a good spotlight.”

Victor smiled at his signora’s assumption. “That may be right, signora. Unfortunately for him, it failed. That thing he hoped to save him from the dirty mud ended up throwing more mud at him.”

Chiara stood up and hummed as an answer. She walked towards the side of her unconscious husband and caressed his face.

The doctor said that his situation is improving. If that will continue, he might end up waking up after a few weeks. However, the doctor cannot guarantee that Ezio will wake with his memories intact. His body might also not move normally.

But Chiara doesn’t care about the negative things. All that matters to her is that her husband will woke up. If he will lose his memories, she can help him remember. If he can’t move anymore, she can help him go through physical therapy.

However, she still hopes that nothing bad will happend to him at the back of her mind.

“By the way, ” Chiara spoke, making Victor who is currently organizing the clothes by colors, types, and sizes. “How’s Caterina? Is there any update about her?”

Chiara asked Victor to look after Caterina. He will take note of what’s happenong in her life, especially if any person that is connected to Giovanni will interact with her.

Following her is not a difficult task since the only places Caterina go are her house and the nearby grocery store. However, since Victor is not used to this kind of task, following and watching her madr him feel like a criminal.

“Well, from my observation, there were no improvements in her life, ” he started explaining. “She doesn’t have any other human interaction aside from where she’s buying and her old neighbor who gives her food. ”

“Old neighbor?” she asked. “Did you run a background check about that certain neighbor?”

Victor nodded before grabbing a file from his case. “It was Luigi who did the background check, signora,” he extended his hand for Chiara to reach it.

“According to the report, that old lady is already living their before Caterina was even born. She was a close of friend of Caterina’s late grandmother, ” he stated. Chiara also saw the same thing on the report.

“Another thing, signora, ” Victor gave three printed pictures to her. “She was attacked by this woman whom she has a debt with. I wasn’t able to find out how much she owes her but from the reaction of that woman, it must have costs a lot. ”

The pictures show a woman in her 40s who has an angry look at her face. She was knocking on Caterina’s home in the first picture. On the second one, she was pointing hardly to Caterina while shouting. The latter has a tired and pleading look in her face. On the last picture, the woman slapped Caterina, making her cheeks red.

Chiara put the pictures aside. “How about Isabella? Why was she seen in the hospital that day?” she asked. Chiara has been worried about what happened that day. If Isabella knows that Ezio is in the hospital that time, Giovanni must have known it, too.

“She was given an hour to visit as a request to the authorities. We don’t know she managed to make them agree,” Victor spoke. “Also, Signora Elisa called earlier. She confirmed that Isabella was there to check who signora is visiting. She was brought back to prison afterwards.”

“I see,” Chiara let out a breath of relief. “Tell them we will push the case. I don’t want that woman lingering around.”

“Yes, signora, ” Victor responded. “By the way, Signora Elisa told me that she wouldn’t be able to reach out to us after this. She’s afraid that Giovanni’s men might have some doubts.”

“I understand,” she nodded. “Thank you for this, Victor. Please let me know if you need any assistance in your job.”

Victor bowed slightly. “It’s a pleasure, signora. I’m happy to be at your service,” he stood up after finishing his work. “I’ll get going now.”

When he was dismissed, Chiara picked up her phone from the table. It’s been weeks since she last called her friend Nick. It has come to her knowledge that he was investigating a huge case so she decided to not disturb him for a while.

She dialed her number and waited for him to answer. However, only the sound of a recording.

“The number you have dialed is out of coverage area. Please try again later.”

She called for several times but the same response can be heard on the other line. “Maybe he is busy, ” she thought and reminded herseld to dialed him again later.

“Mi figlia?” Celine’s voice echoed from the outside of their room. Her mother took a peek of Chiara sitting beside her sleeping husband.

Chiara smiled at her parents. “Mom, Dad, ” she greeted them. “Please come in.”

She stood up and offered the sofa to her parents. When they sat down, their eyes landed on their sleeping son-in-law.

It was Fabio who spoke first. “How are you, mi figlia? Is work getting better so far?”

“I can’t really say if I’m doing fine, Dad, ” she said truthfully. “I have to fix a lot of things in the company. The case we filed didn’t even reach the trial and the suspect is still free and unpunished. One of my husband’s investors is currently missing, ” her fingers ran through her hair because of frustration. “There’s so much things in my plate right now. I don’t know where to start.”

Celine caressed her daughter’s back. “I understand your frustration, mi figlia. Don’t worry, your Dad and I are here to help you. Just tell us what we can do, okay?”

“Your mom’s right, ” her father spoke. “Don’t be afraid to ask for our help. We take care of some those things so that you can focus with the most important one.”

Chiara nodded. She lay down on her mother’s lap while her hand reached for her father’s. “Thank you so much, mom, dad. I’ll let you know if I need help. For now, I’ll try to fix these on my own.”

The family of three spoke to each other, catching up with the past weeks where all of them became busy. It’s been a long time since Chiara last talked to her parents like this.

For the past weeks since they transferred in the safehouse, Chiara will left the house early and come home late. Sometimes, her parents are still waiting for her and helped her ready to sleep. But most of the time, it was Fara who is there when she got home.

“I saw Ezio’s toe move the other day, ” Fabio shared. “I asked the doctor about that and he told us that it was a good thing. It is a sign that Ezio’s brain is having some activity. ”

Chiara was delighted to hear that. She was only in their house for a long time during weekends, and it was once in a blue moon for her to see something like that.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Also, ” Celine spoke with a huge smile. “Yesterday while I was cleaning this room, I heard someone making a noise. When I checked it, the noise really came from Ezio!”

Hearing that, Chiara couldn’t help but to be in tears. She was happy, becauss finally, her husband is having observable improvements. However, at the same time, she was feeling disappointed at herself. She was too focused at work that she didn’t have the time to look after her husband.

When her parents left to sleep, the room fell silent. Only her breathing can be heard as well as the sound of the machine that helps her husband breathe.

“I’m glad that you’re having improvements, tesoro, ” she talked to the unconscious Ezio after she changed his clothes.

She transferred her movable bed beside his and lay down on it. Chiara touched her husband’s cheeks and pressed it in a playful but gentle way.

“I’m feeling tired and overwhelmed because of the work and things I have to accomplish, but all of those things are for you so I know that it’s worth it,” she whispered in his ear, hoping that he can hear her.

She planted three small kisses in his left cheek. “You look so handsome even while asleep, tesoro. You didn’t even changed a bit even after months of comatose, ” she giggled silently. “You’re really God’s favorite.”

Chiara scratched the facial hair that’s starting to grow on his chin. Even with those hair, Ezio still looked handsome. The beard even made him looked mature and better.

“I always pray to God that the first thing I will see is the morning is you waking up beside me,” she spoke with her whole heart. “And I won’t stop praying to Him the same thing.”

She gave him a one long kiss on his lips. “Te amo, tesoro.”

The whole room fell silent. The moon’s light reflected on the outsidd window as the cold wind blew the trees that surrounds them. Chiara closed her eyes right after saying those loving words that she failed to notice the single tear that feel from her husband’s eye.