Riccardo POV:The next morning, I took a day off from the office. Since I didn't go to work, Cassie did the same too. Surely after spending ten million dollars of my money yesterday, I did take something in return from Cassie. The lovemaking last night was so intense that she ended up glaring at me the whole time today.We were hanging out by the pool at the back of the mansion. Cassie was wearing a turquoise bikini she bought yesterday at the mall, having a sunbath while relaxing on a lounge chair. I called Sergio to come. I needed someone to hang out with and also to vent my frustration from yesterday."Wine right in the morning?" Sergio joshed. We were sitting at a patio table on one side of the pool, staring at Cassie from afar. She was on the other side of the pool. When she noticed our stares, she shot me an icy glare."She's such a headache," I replied slowly, pulling down my gaze, avoiding looking at that woman."I thought you said you could handle her," Sergio taunted me ligh
Cassandra POV:Marry him? He must be crazy enough to bring up that topic after just meeting me again like a week ago. As he said previously, seven years was a very long time. I was sure he was not the same Ricky as the one that became my boyfriend during college. And now he simply proposed to me casually at a dining table during lunch? He ruined my appetite.Honestly, it was not that I didn't want it. Who would be dumb enough to reject someone like Ricky? Certainly, not me. I got a deadly prank from his ex. That was enough proof that he was such a catch. His ex dared to go to that extent of trying to kill me, surely I won't just let Ricky go after getting such a threat. He was right. I won't be safe without him. But that was actually the big downside.If he make that proposal seven years ago, I would never hesitate to say yes. I would agree right away and happy ending for us. But now? I didn't even know him anymore. The Ricky now was different. I could sense something about him that I
Cassandra POV:The party reached its peak during the cake-cutting ceremony. Everyone clapped their hands as Don Luigi made the cutting. He made a short speech later, thanking everyone for coming to his birthday celebration. But the thing that caught my intention was how he made a special thanks to Ricky.Don Luigi said something about uniting the family, how he was a bit disappointed that it couldn't happen. But then he said that Ricky's choice was not bad either and it was understandable. Instantly, everyone glanced at Ricky and me after Don Luigi ended his speech and raised their wine glasses high as if honouring something that Ricky did.I didn't understand. When such a thing happened with all those people having their eyes on me, that made me feel like I was some kind of offering to be sacrificed later. You knew when you watched a horror movie and some evil guy kidnapped a virgin to be sacrificed to the devil? Well, right now this situation kind of giving me that vibe.Thankfully,
Cassandra POV:"No, no, no..." Nicola was still laughing, covering her mouth as if about to crack up loudly."I'm Leo's distance relative. Five times cousin actually. My parents were somewhat related to Don Luigi. They died in a car crash when I was just five. Don Luigi took me in and raised me like his own daughter. I knew I was one of the candidates for Don Xavier's future wife. But honestly, I don't really want it. We never connect in any way. Plus, I'm always in love with Leo. He is such a reliable man, the one that had been protecting me all this time. Leo and Don Xavier are close. So, Leo stepped away from having a relationship with me until Don Xavier made his choice. After Carina announced that she would be engaged with Don Xavier, Leo finally pursued me seriously. That's why he got panicked when the engagement was cancelled."How should I do this? My inside was too overwhelmed to have a conversation with Nicola. She was nice, but the type of topic we were discussing right now
Cassandra POV:"You're a woman too, so you got to understand my sister a little. It's not easy being in her position, wasted two years of her youth with Don Xavier only to be replaced that easily by some unworthy bitc..." Cristian deliberately didn't finish his words, but I knew well enough what he meant to say."They almost got engaged, you know... Funny how no one knows why Don Xavier cancelled the engagement back then. But tonight, he simply publicized the reason to everyone. Now... everyone knew it was because of you. Don't you feel scared, Miss Moore? Do you even know who Don Xavier was?" Again, another provocation from Cristian.This time, I felt like my heart almost burst in anger. My head slowly turned to face him, giving him my fearless expression. The way he addressed Ricky as Don Xavier spoke volumes. It was obvious that Cristian was scared of Ricky."My sister said that you're such a rotten bitch who tried to steal her man," Cristian didn't stop taunting me yet. He really
Riccardo POV: I didn't hit women or children unless they really deserved it. But most of the time, they didn't. I was different from my father. When I took over his secret organization, I made sure to put an end to any illegal activities that involved women and children. I even hindered drugs from being sold in my region. I didn't care about the other regions, I'm just going to make sure that my region was clean from any of those shit. Prostitution and organ selling, these two were the main activities that terrorized women and children as their sources. These were not my cup of tea, so none of Xavier's men was allowed to do these. For those who dared to do it behind my back, I won't hesitate to kill them without mercy. That was why despite Carina trying hard to seduce me in this room, I still remained calm. Honestly, it was disgusting. I felt like kicking her. If only she was a man, I would have done it without a second thought. "Cassandra is just a temporary thing. You'll get bore
Cassandra POV: "It's not what you think it is." He said it fast, probably because he already had that thing in mind, that he was about to do something wrong in there. My eyes rolled down to see his pants, checking if Carina managed to unbuckle them. And he followed my gaze. Five seconds later and we locked eyes again. He must have sensed my disappointment, his hand tried to reach my shoulder but I dodged my body quickly. I didn't want that filthy hand to touch me. My heart was racing and I glanced at Carina who was standing about three meters behind him. She gave me the look of a slut, licking her lips in such an abhorrent way. This was so disgusting. My face began to feel hot and my eyes were blurring with tears that weren't falling yet. I looked at Ricky again and he shook his head lightly as if telling me to calm down. "No... nothing happens. Don't make a scene, Cassie," he said with a low voice, yet sounded intimidating enough like an order. Don't make a scene? Really? Was th
Riccardo POV: I was a ruthless man for years, I didn't feel any sympathy anymore when I saw people crying in front of me. But when it was Cassandra, the rue suddenly hit me hard inside. I really wished she didn't have to see what happened inside that room. She might not believe me but I didn't intend to cheat on her. I simply wanted to see how far Carina would go to degrade herself in return for my love. I just wanted to mock that bitch later. But Cassie came at the wrong timing, seeing only the surface of the event without knowing what I intend inside. She probably didn't understand that the type of seductive provocation Carina showed to me was something normal in my underworld. It would be such a lie if I said I never encountered something like that during my reign in the underworld. I visited nightclubs and casinos quite a lot in the past for business purposes and each time, there were always women throwing themselves on me. It was normal, at least for me. It was not like I'm sl
Cassandra POV:Seven years of heartbreak and hell, and now seven years of heaven later. I gave birth to my son safely and he was six now. We named him Rafael. I knew not really a cute name. But it brought great meaning, which was, healed by God. I hoped his life would be much better than the one that I and Ricky had.Oddly, there was nothing much I should do after taking over the Rossi region. As I requested, Ricky took down the Rossi's mansion to the ground and built my very first art gallery on the land. Because of my anonymous identity in my painting business, I was able to continue it even after the cathedral case. So, I lived by making my own million dollars selling paintings til today. Certainly, a lot more companies began offering me collaborations too.News about my parents and Christopher? Well, nothing much. My father found out that he had stage four lung cancer and Christopher got a woman who was way older than him pregnant, forced to be married to her and now he was doing
Riccardo POV:If that was what she wished for then I won't stop her. She deserved to have all the happiness she could get now. No more Carina to shadow her from living her life to the fullest. Cassie can now finally live the life she deserved. I would make sure it stayed that way as long as I lived.The next day, I returned to the company again after a long break. Today was important because all the Mafia Dons along with some of their future successors would be having a meeting with me inside my office room. With the whole Rossi family gone, the Rossi region was left without any leader now.Everyone expected the leadership to fall into my hands. But I just didn't feel right taking power over half of the country's region. I just didn't feel like being in that much power. Carina's effort to overthrow me before had left a trace of sense in me that people would start envying you if you had too much power. But then again, the whole Rossi family members were dead now. Giving their land to o
Riccardo POV:I never would have expected that Cassie's relationship with her family was this bad. I got it that they weren't talking anymore but I never had the idea that they were treating her this disrespectfully.She just got out of jail after shooting Carina, had her dream wedding turned into a tragic incident of bloody red event and instead of comforting her, her parents just chose to annoy her even more. Not to mention the extreme entitlement her younger brother had over her, demanding a job from me because I married Cassie without their consent. The audacity."Leave... And stop bothering my wife again. If I see anyone of you try to step foot on my property again, I won't hesitate to sue for invasion of privacy and have the police take you all away. Don't even try to test me. Ernesto, tell Dome and Marco to escort them out. Put them on the blacklist. Don't let them enter my mansion again."Cruel? I bet Cassie would want it to be worse. I'm being kind enough that I let them leav
Cassandra POV:I didn't know what my family was trying to do by coming here to meet me after my court case had ended. It seemed like they were waiting to see if I was really innocent about it or not. They started showing how they cared about me. So for once, I thought maybe they were being real this time. I invited them to sit in the living room and I told Verona to go serve some drinks for them. My parents just started looking around the mansion and checking out every stuff their eyes could see."I have some work to do upstairs. Why don't you just have some private talk with your family first," Ricky said and I just nodded in agreement.Honestly, I could sense that they were having some ulterior motives to come here. But I tried to think positively and went to sit together with them in the living room. Maybe it would be different this time. Maybe they really wanted the four of us to be a real family now. The thought of my mother admitted that she never loved me when I had the phone c
Riccardo POV: When I woke up again, the doctor told me that I had been out for three days. Sergio, Dome, Leo and Franco were all around my bed. But Cassie was nowhere to be seen. "Where is my wife?" I asked firmly to them. I really thought that I was going to die but now that I'm wide awake and felt strong again, my heart just instantly searched for that one woman I loved the most. I turned to Sergio as he was the one responsible for everything if I ever was not fit to be in power. He looked down to avoid my gaze and started apologizing. "She's in jail. Convicted with first-degree murder of Carina at the cathedral," Sergio said timidly. That just instantly made me angry. "What do you mean she's in jail?! It was self-defence. You all saw it. Carina shot at us first. How long had she been in there?!" I asked fast and Leo told me it was ever since I was hospitalized. I sighed hard in frustration and my chest started feeling hurt, the effect of the gunshot wounds I got. They all star
Cassandra POV: When we arrived at the hospital, Ricky was pushed to the ICU instantly. I, Leo, Sergio and Dome were asked to wait outside. We waited for hours before the doctor came out and told us that Ricky was fine. The bullets had been taken out from his body and lucky enough none of them hit his internal organ. He just lost a lot of blood but was estimated to be in full recovery within two weeks. I finally could breathe normally again when the doctor said that. Everyone looked glad and maybe this was indeed going to be my happy ending, right? But who was I kidding? Not even a day passed but a few policemen had arrived at the hospital to take me in. "I'm sorry. Are you Miss Cassandra Moore or should I call you Mrs Xavier instead?" A police officer talked to me. "I'm her lawyer. Don't say anything," Sergio came forward and warned me to shut my mouth. He was ready to deal with the police in order to protect me. "We received multiple reports stating that a murder had happened ins
Cassandra POV: I couldn't believe that this was happening. Of all the days she could have come and attacked me, she chose to do it on the most important day of my life. My heart just shattered entirely the moment Ricky chose to use his body to shield me from the gunshot Carina fired at us. He instantly fell to the floor and I could only see death was coming to get him. My mind went insane at once and I could feel my whole life would be over if Ricky died. But I no longer wanted to live in fear if Carina was able to escape again. She must die today no matter what happened. With all my logical thinking going disarray, I just did whatever crossed my mind. I knew Ricky had a gun right now, so I went to get it. "I killed the Godfather! I killed the Godfather!" I heard how Carina was screaming happily to celebrate her success in shooting down Ricky. It enraged me so badly that I lost my sense of humanity for that split moment. "You're a f*cking monster! I'm going to kill you! I'm going t
Riccardo POV:"Do you take Cassandra Moore as your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?" The priest's voice echoed all over the cathedral as he spoke on the microphone."I do," I replied solemnly without a single hesitation. I had been waiting to say those two words my whole life for Cassie."Do you take Riccardo Xavier as your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?" The priest repeated the same to Cassie."I do," she too seemed to be confident saying those two words for me.Then came the time for both of us to exchange wedding rings. We faced each other, looking dear as soon enough, we would be officially husband and wife for good. Actually, in legal law, we were already married as I had registered our
Riccardo POV:Cassie just automatically turned sad at the mention of Nicola. Now that she saw the heels Nicola made for her wedding, she just couldn't help whimpering at them. Maybe the memory was too horrible for her. I remembered how she was there too when we found pieces of Nicola's remains on the hill where her car was bombed by Carina. Cassie fainted that day and she was so taken aback to lose Nicola that way.How she had convinced me so much about Carina's wicked intention. If only I had trusted her that time. This memory just reminded me how stupid I was in the past. Now, it hit my feeling hard too. I quickly held Cassie tightly in my arms and kissed her forehead a few times."I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." I couldn't stop apologizing as the memory flashed in the back of my mind. It suddenly made me realize how lucky I was that I managed to make things right again with Cassie. To be able to come to this point again with her, it was somewhat amazing how the universe worked his mi