CHAPTER 42
Amara’s POV
“Is this what freedom feels like?” I murmured under my breath, running my fingers over the soft fabric of a designer dress. It was the first time in weeks that I
felt remotely normal. No hospital walls, not lingering aches from my wounds. Just me, alone in a boutique, surrounded by luxuries and indulgence.
Well, not entirely alone. Matteo‘ s guards were outside, providing me a little privacy but their eyes never strayed far from me. I could feel their presence like a shadow, but I welcomed the small illusion of
independence since I understood why I had to have them. The last time I had been too stubborn insisting that I did not need a guard following me around, I ended up in the hospital, fighting for my life.
I was led to a private VIP room to fit some. clothes and took my time flipping through
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racks of delicate silks and embroidered dresses. I thought I should at least treat myself to something now that I have already reclaimed all my assets from The
Obsidian.
I had already made peace with Luca when I talked to Matteo about letting him visit me so I could end everything with Luca, amicably. We had already met our goal, the Obsidian was gradually dismantled, and Luca had taken huge losses, with only his private personal equity remaining in his wealth. I made him understand that the
love we once had was no longer there, and it would be impossible to have it back again, because I knew for sure that I already have someone else in my heart- Matteo Vitale. Our relationship may have started from a business arrangement – at least on my part–though according to Matteo, he had deliberately approached me, offering the proposal after learning about Luca Moretti’s infidelity, because he had wanted me. He confessed, that everything was not a business strategy,
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instead, he used the arrangement to have
me, to trap me in this marriage which I was
now willing to be trapped in.
neto
Luca understood, although it was difficult for him to accept it. He couldn’t do anything about it anyway. He had limited resources to bargain with Matteo- not that Matteo would bargain me with anything- or to take down the Vitalus Circle. His once business partners had switched to us, and his men began to gradually go on their own separate ways seeing that the Obsidian Syndicate was losing its connections and funding. Now, Luca had moved to another country to start a new life, but he promised to still help in searching for Casey Tartt with whatever wealth and men he still had. I appreciated it, and I knew that Casey was still out there, on the loose, but I would not let my fear
fear stop me from reclaiming my
freedom.
I turned to the mirror after putting on an emerald off shoulder dress and smiled, admiring the silk and how it perfectly fits
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my body.
But then my gaze caught a figure behind the curtain, reflected on the mirror, I thought it was just a mannequin, or something else, but when I turned to see it clearly, I was frozen when the click of a gun seemed to have resonated in the room.
Casey.
She looked nothing like the polished woman I once knew. Her disheveled hair hung limply around her pale face, and dark circles framed her wild, bloodshot eyes. The gun in her trembling hand was aimed directly at me.
“Don’t make a sound, or I’ll blow your head off,” she spat, her lips curling into a
sneer.
My breath hitched, and my mind raced. I could not afford to panic. Not now. But the memory of the things she had done to me, cutting my skin, breaking my bones, they all flashed before my eyes, making me
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shiver in fear as I stepped back, only to hit the mirror attached to the wall.
“Casey,” I started carefully, keeping my hands visible to show I was not a threat.
“You don’t have to do this.”
Her laugh was sharp and unhinged. “Oh, but I do. You think you’ve won, don’t you? Parading around like you‘ re now untouchable… But you‘ re not. Not to
me.”
I swallowed hard, glancing at the boutique door behind her. There was no escape, not without drawing her ire. “What do you
want?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she took a step closer. “I want you gone. For good this time. You should‘ ve stayed away, Amara. Dead. But no, you just had to come back, ruin everything, and take him from me. Now he’s gone, far, far away.”
“Him?” I echoed, feigning ignorance to buy time.
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“Don” I play dumb!” she snapped, the gun shaking in her hand. “Larca. He was mine. Do you hear me? Mine! And you ruined that. You ruin everything!”
I flinched at her outburst. But behind her fury, I saw desperation, a woman unraveling, grasping at the last threads of her sanity, and when I glanced at her belly, the tiny bump that was once in there was
now gone.
“You don’t need to do this,” Luttered. softly, inching to the side toward the rack of dresses. “Luca made his choices, and you fooled him, Casey. It was not his child, and yet…” Luca told me everything when. we spoke when he begged me to return, to fix what we once had, and admitted his mistakes. I forgave him, but I couldn’t return to him anymore. I now gladly belong to Matteo Vitale.
“No!” Casey shrieked. “It’s always been about you. Even when you weren’t there, he never let you go. Do you know
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what that’s like? To love someone who
only sees you as a placeholder?”
Casey stepped closer, the barrel of the gun leveling with my chest. “You are going to pay for what you have done. You don’t get to live happily ever after, Amara. Not when I’ve lost everything.”
“Casey,” I began, but my voice trembled despite my efforts to stay calm. “If you pull that trigger, there is no coming back from this. You will lose whatever chance you have left to-”
“Shut up!” she screamed, her finger twitching on the trigger. “You think I care about redemption? About second chances? I want revenge, Amara. And I am going to take it.”
My heart pounded as I calculated my options. The room was too small to run, and any sudden movement could set her off. But I could not just stand here and let her dictate my fate.
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“I know you are angry,” I said, trying a different tactic. “But killing me won’t fix what you’ve lost. It will not bring back the life you had. You can still walk away from this.”
She laughed bitterly, a hollow sound that sent chills down my spine. “Walk away? From you? No, Amara. You don’t get to win. Not this time.”
Her hand steadied, and I saw the resolve harden in her eyes. My pulse thundered in my ears as I realized she wasn‘ t bluffing.
“Say goodbye,” she whispered, and I wanted to run, to hide, to cover, but any movement would be futile against the bullet. I breathed out, shaking, and I closed my eyes accepting my fate.
Bang!
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