"That’s..."
"Yup, your husband, Nikolas Bastiani."
She blinked. The man in the picture was of course Nikolas, but still, she had no clue what was going on. "I don’t...understand."
"One second." Sabrina picked up one of the photos and handed it to her. "Take a look at that."
Viviana did, and almost instantly, her pupils shrunk. "That’s..."
"Tasso Aceto? Yes." Sabrina nodded.
"W-what are you trying to say?" Viviana shot a look at her. "What is the aning of this?"
Sabrina swallowed down the spoon of dessert she’d ate. She stared at Viviana, and slowly breathed out. "Viviana—"
"Just get to the point!"
"Your husband is Nikolas Bastiani."
Viviana blinked. "What...?"
"Yes." Sabrina nodded at her. "Just like we’d suspected back then, your husband is the real Nikolas Bastiani, the multi billionaire boss of Bratva and the man who owns Maison de Vasta, the penthouse you lived in. See that man the world knows as him is nothing but a proxy. That rumour was true. That man, his real na is Elio Romano, and your husband is the real Nikolas Bastiani."
She tapped the photo.
"What do you think he’s doing at the Bratva company? Do you see how the workers bowed to him? Even the proxy himself did. Look at Tasso Aceto, at the gleeful smile on his face like he’d won a lottery. This is Nikolas Bastiani, a man that not even your father could get an audience with, but sohow, Tasso Aceto managed to. Why do you think that was possible?"
Viviana’s eyes flickered.
Her thoughts raced.
Let’s make a bet.
You’re underestimating .
I may not look it, but I really can give you anything you desire.
I can grant you that witch.
She felt nauseated.
"That’s not true. This...this all has to be a misunderstanding. I an..." She chuckled nervously. "If he really is that Bastiani, why would he lie to ? Why would he..."
"That’s what I don’t get."
Sabrina shook her head.
"Why is he hiding his identity? Why does he have a proxy?"
She stroked her chin. "When I brought up the idea of him being Nikolas Bastiani, even I had my doubts because... It’s just insane. What are the chances that the very first ti you decided on a blind date, you ended up eting him. It also makes it more crazy that a man like him agreed to be used by you as if he was nothing. I don’t understand..."
She shook her head, confused. "A man like him could have hundreds of won if he wanted. He has the looks and he’s wealthy. Why in the world would he say yes to you and your conditions? Hmm, I would have said that maybe it’s because you’re Viviana Di-grassi, but he’s Nikolas Bastiani. Not even your father is on thesa level as him. So what was his motive?"
Viviana swallowed. Motive...
Motive...
Motiive...
Motive...
The word resounded over and over in her head like a chant. Motive.. His moti—
"Unless..."
She snapped her gaze up to Sabrina. "Unless what?"
"Hmm."Sabrina hissed. "Ever heard of soone looking for amusent?"
"Huh?"
"I hate to think about it, but what if he’s just been using you to pass ti for amusent. I an, he could have thought it’d be funny to toy around with Amadeo Di-grassi’s trophy daughter."
Viviana quickly shook her head. "That’s not true. H-he wouldn’t do that. That’s not true."
"I’m not saying it’s true Viviana. This is just guessing what his motives might have been." Sabrina offered an apologetic look. "Think about it, your family drama and everything, it might have made his life less boring. But then again, there is nothing to grow so grim about, Viviana. You told this wasn’t even real between the two of you right? So I don’t think it matters. It’s not like you’re in love with him or anything..."
The rest of her words trailed off.
The Viviana she was staring at right now looked as pale as a ghost. Every speck of glint in her eyes was filled with so much grimness, it looked like she was losing her mind little by little.
And Sabrina was worried. She knew Viviana was as weak as a glass no matter how tough she proved to be. Her heart...
"Please..tell you didn’t end up falling in love with ..."
Viviana suddenly rose to her feet. "I have to go."
"Viviana!—"
She stord out of the shop, the door rattling as she closed it. Yanking the door of her car open, she got in ands sped off down the road, and the further she drove, the more her head felt chaotic, so jumbled she couldn’t form a thought.
Amusent? ?
? An amusent?
Viviana shook her head.
Nikolas wouldn’t. It was just impossible. The way he looked at her, the words he said to her, the way he held her, the way he...
She stopped the car abruptly, her forehead slamming into the steering wheel.
All that couldn’t possibly be a lie! It was just not possible. "He wouldn’t...he wouldn’t..."
But did she even believe her own words?
———
Nikolas hurried out of his car, racing over to the apartnt. He pushed the door open, stopping imdiately with dilated pupils.
Viviana. She wasn’t in the house. She was nowhere to be seen at all. He plucked out his phone and tried calling her number so many tis, but it stated she couldn’t be reached.
"Fuck! Fuck!" He was losing his mind, not knowing where to begin looking for her.
Where was she? Or was it just that she’d yet to get ho? Yeah, that was probably it. Looking around, he saw that her things were still here, so she hadn’t left him.
She would co back. He was sure of it.
It’s been two days now. There had been no sight of Viviana. She hadn’t co back to him, nowhere to be seen.
And no matter how many tis he tried to get her, she wouldn’t answer her calls. At so points, her phone had been switched off, and Nikolas was more than sure that she saw his missed calls.
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