Riccardo POV:The shooting downstairs finally stopped. I guessed my men and the De Luca's men had managed to control the Rossi. Leonardo finally showed up on the upper floor and rushed to me instantly. He sighed when he saw Cristian's body and me doing nothing and just embraced Cassie's body like I had lost my mind. I did feel that way right now. I didn't know what to do."Put her down. Step aside a bit," Leo told me and I just slowly lay her back on the floor. He checked her pulse, something that I was afraid to do because I couldn't accept it if she is dead."She's still alive, but her pulse is weak. We need to send her to the hospital now," Leo said but I just stared at him emptily. How? She was chained to the floor, I just couldn't think of any way right now to free her.Leo grasped my head between his hands and made me look him right in the eyes."Snap out of it! We need to take her out of here fast!" He yelled at me and just pushed me aside. He noticed the chains that bound Cass
Riccardo POV:I felt like an idiot. I couldn't explain the agony that I felt right now. It was just killing me inside as I knew this was all my fault. If only I have listened to Cassie, if only I have trusted her hunch a little and reinvestigated Nicola's death again, maybe none of this would have happened. I was just too late to see through who Carina really was and Cassie had to face the consequences of my mistake.Slowly, what Cassie said to me before came rolling back into my mind. 'Are you waiting for me to die before you could believe me?' Things just happened precisely how she predicted it. She almost died today and I just stupidly found out about Carina's wicked scheme, even worse from Leo, the man that I had disregarded all this time.A while later, some nurses came out of the ICU while pushing Cassie who lay on a bed stretcher. They were about to transfer her to a normal patient ward but I requested them to let her have a VIP patient room instead so she could recover in priv
Riccardo POV: 'CEO of RX Corp, Riccardo Xavier committed domestic violence over his mistress.' It was truly bizarre and unthinkable. Who would have come up with such rumours within a few hours? Now everything suddenly made sense to me. No wonder the nurses and the doctors were staring at me as I left the hospital before. They probably had read this shitty news. "This is bad, Ricky. RX Corp's stock value had gone down tremendously. A few investors called me up this morning and they wanted to withdraw from investing with us. But they did give you forty-eight hours to clear your reputation again. There's also this sudden boycotting movement on the internet toward our products. Your divorce process was still trending news and hasn't been resolved yet. Now, these rumours about you beating up your mistress are taking a toll on your reputation too. Some of these people even claimed that you're a misogynist," Sergio explained the situation as we both take a seat on the two-seater sofa. I
Lydia POV: "Let her in," I heard Ricky from inside the wardroom. Dome finally allowed me to step in and I went straight to the patient's bed only to see Cassie's unmoving body. Needles were pushed at the back of her hands and she seemed like in a vegetative state. She didn't seem like she was awake, but when I held her hand, her fingers moved a bit as if she tried to squeeze my hand. "What happened to her?" I asked as I looked straight at Ricky and another man wearing glasses. He seemed like a lawyer and he didn't act like he wanted to get involved in the conversation. He took a step back and just went to Dome, standing by the door, watching like a loyal spectator. "What happened to her?!" I raised my voice and marched to Ricky. My hand just reflexly slapped his face as I was so annoyed by his silence. Ricky sighed heavily as he fixed his composure again. He seemed angry but held in his emotion and looked at me with a calm expression. "I had to f*cking know that she's found from
Sergio POV: I saw Ricky's hands turn into fists. Any second now, he might hit this woman out of anger. So before that happened, I stepped in to get this woman out of Cassandra's wardroom. Ricky had it enough. He was not stupid to not know that he was to be blamed for what happened to Cassandra. He didn't need people to tell that right to his face. "Get off me! You nerd glasses-wearing man!" Lydia yelled as we got to the hallway outside of the wardroom. I chuckled at her insult, a bit embarrassed actually as a few nurses started looking at me when she said that. We stopped and I took a deep breath before introducing myself. I didn't think I ever met her in person, but I did know about Lydia's existence since she was the one who told Ricky when Cassandra went missing. "My name is Sergio Moretti. I'm a lawyer. Mr Xavier's private lawyer and the formal advisor of the Xavier family. Yes, I'm wearing glasses but I'm not a nerd. I only wore this to read documents," I said to her as I took
Riccardo POV:I knew it was my fault. Why did Lydia have to say it to my face? As if my heart was not wounded enough by what happened, she really needed to rub more salt on it and made it worse. Thankfully, Sergio could read me well. He grabbed that woman out before I lose my shit.I went to Cassie and just stood by her bed, staring at her face and the patch that covered her wounded cheek.'Did you give her a scar on the face too now? Like the scars on her neck from the necklace you forced her to wear weren't enough.' Slowly what Lydia said before haunted the back of my mind again.The memory of Cassie breaking the emerald necklace when she left my mansion flashed back in my head too. These words, this memory, were so bitter and I couldn't just skip them out of my brain as the trace of them was clear on Cassie. Her wound, her scars, they were showing all over her body.I felt terrible and the feeling when I found her at the factory began conquering my heart again. The guilt was too ov
Riccardo POV:Strange how two weeks went by so fast. Last night Dr Claus met me again inside Cassie's wardroom. He explained how their medical team had removed the needle behind her hand, the one that put sedation liquid into her body."The effect is estimated to wear off by tomorrow. We can't really confirm what time she would be waking up, but definitely be tomorrow. If she continues sleeping until evening, the nurse would wake her up for sure," the doctor said before leaving.So, this morning, I just had a sudden nervous breakdown. I was excited, yet worried at the same time. I just realized I had been concerned too much about having her wake up but I hadn't even thought about how I could have a conversation with her after.How should I ask for forgiveness from her? Did she even want to see my face again after my mistake regarding Carina? How would she react to the horrible scar on her face? If she asks about the unborn baby she used to carry, how should I tell her that we had lost
Cassandra POV:I still remembered what happened at the factory, each moment of it was a picture clear in my head. But the last thing that I remembered was the worst one because I saw Cristian's head explode right before I closed my eyes.I was sure that I was dying when I went blacked out because my body hurt everywhere and I didn't think I would be able to stand those pain. But when I woke up today, it was strange how the pain had gone away. The only obvious thing was that my body was still weak.'Where am I?' That was the first thing I thought when my eyes finally opened again. I honestly didn't think this was even possible. I even started thinking that maybe I was in heaven right now. But how could I be so sure about that anyway? I am not really an entirely good person when I was alive and I made so many horrible choices back then. I couldn't be in heaven, that made more sense to me.I slowly forced my body to be in a sitting position. Then my eyes scanned around, noticing that I w