Chapter 3 - The Price of ArroganceMatteo Moretti walked over to the massive velvet drapes lining the ballroom wall and pulled them shut, blocking out the moonlight and locking fifty horrified socialites inside the dark, golden-lit room.
Adrian backed away until his heels hit the champagne tower. "Stay back! Don't touch me! I'll pay you! Whatever Elena wants, she can have it! The divorce, the money, the house!"
"Money?" Luca laughed softly, pulling a stack of legal documents from his folder. "Mr. Cole, you seem to misunderstand the situation. You don't have money anymore. Ten minutes ago, my team filed a court petition detailing your systematic embezzlement from the Cole Family Trust, as well as secret offshore accounts you used to buy Miss Hart's penthouse in Manhattan."
Richard Cole turned on his son, his eyes wild with betrayal. "You did WHAT?!"
"Father, he's lying!" Adrian stammered, sweating profusely.
"I don't lie, Mr. Cole," Luca said smoothly, tossing the printed wire transfers onto a table. "Your son signed those transfers using your digital signature. As of this moment, the IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission are seizing all assets tied to the Cole name."
Margaret Cole fell to her knees, sobbing hysterical tears into her silk dress. "Please! We didn't know! We didn't touch her! It was Adrian! It was all Adrian!"
"You laughed, Margaret," I said, stepping out from behind Dominic. "When he tied my hands to the beam, you told the entire room I came from nothing and should be grateful."
Margaret looked up at me, her eyes filled with desperate, pathetic begging. "Elena, please... I was wrong! You're a Cole! You're part of our family!"
"I was never a Cole," I replied coldness coating every word. "I am Elena Moretti."
Dominic walked slowly toward Adrian. Adrian panicked, grabbed a crystal champagne bottle from the table, and held it up like a club.
"Don't come near me!" Adrian screamed.
Dominic didn't even flinch. He closed the distance in a split second, grabbing Adrian’s wrist with a grip that shattered the crystal bottle instantly. Glass exploded across the floor. Before Adrian could scream, Dominic drove a heavy fist straight into Adrian's abdomen, throwing him to his knees on the hard marble floor.
Adrian gasped for air, clutching his stomach, tears and sweat pouring down his pale face.
Dominic leaned down, grabbing Adrian by the back of his expensive tuxedo collar, dragging him across the room until he was kneeling directly at my feet.
"Apologize to my sister," Dominic growled into his ear.
Adrian looked up at me, coughing, his pride completely shattered into dust. The man who twenty minutes ago had commanded fifty people to watch my humiliation was now begging on his knees in front of the very woman he had called a nobody.
"Elena... please," Adrian sobbed, blood dripping from his cut lip. "I'm sorry. I was stupid. I was wrong. Please... tell them to stop..."
I looked down at him. There was no hatred in my heart—only a deep, clean feeling of finality.
"I told you earlier, Adrian," I said, my voice cold as ice. "I'm sorry you thought this ends here."
I turned my back on him and looked at Luca. "Seal the estate. Transfer all properties under my name by midnight. Leave them with nothing."
"Consider it done, sister," Luca replied with a sharp nod.
As I walked toward the entrance of the ballroom, Dominic cleared his throat and addressed the fifty high-society guests still standing frozen against the walls.
"If a single detail of what happened to my sister in this room leaves this house," Dominic said, his voice carrying lethal authority, "I will personally buy every company, bank, and media outlet you own, and destroy your lives piece by piece. Do you understand?"
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Every single guest in the room nodded frantically, terrified for their lives.
I walked out through the heavy double doors into the crisp night air, stepping into the back seat of Dominic’s armored SUV. The nightmare was finally over, but the restoration of my life was just beginning.
