Chapter 172

Giovanni's Perspective

I stood at the window of my office, gazing through the cold moonlight at the lit room across the street—the Luna Suite where Fern was staying.

She had been silent for days since that night, never uttering a single sound of pleading or resentment. This silence troubled me. I could feel the bond that once was so strong between us crumbling bit by bit. The bond that had once given me boundless strength was now the source of my deepest pain. I never imagined it would come to this.

Fern, the woman who had made my heart race and driven me to distraction—the woman I had once viewed as a tool for revenge—had rejected me so decisively. I closed my eyes and recalled that moment—her icy words cutting through my heart like a sharp blade: "I'm going to REJECT you." Those words echoed in my mind, piercing every nerve and filling me with a storm of rage, stripping away her freedom altogether.

It was the first time I truly felt a connection between us, and her refusal felt like