Chapter 150: I’ve Been Waiting For You
Still, the screen had done her no justice.
In person, Bianca was sothing else entirely.
The woman was a walking nace.
Tall. Elegant.
Her hair fell perfectly around her shoulders.
If she hadn’t settled to be a wife, Lord knows she would have made it as a model breaking millions of hearts.
There was a cold sort of perfection about her that made Veronica suddenly aware of every crease in her clothes and every strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail during the long workday.
Bianca looked like she had stepped out of a magazine.
Veronica looked exactly like she had stepped out of a pizza kitchen.
"I’ve been waiting for you." Her accented voice cut through the silence.
The Italian in it was unmistakable—carrying the quiet authority of soone who expected to be listened to.
Veronica forced her feet to move again.
Of all the things she had imagined happening tonight, running into Luca’s wife in her living room had not been one of them.
"Hello." Veronica said, placing her bag on the sofa.
Bianca’s eyes moved slowly over Veronica, studying her. "At least you have the decency not to fuck my husband in the main building." she said, getting to her feet.
Even standing there delivering insults, she looked composed—like cruelty was simply another accessory she wore well.
Vee did not like this. She did not like this one bit. Her pulse began to thud louder in her ears, the quiet evening she had planned dissolving completely into sothing tense and ugly.
Because what exactly was supposed to be her retort to a woman whose husband she was sleeping with?
What moral high ground did she stand on?
This was what Luca had reduced her to.
Veronica forced her shoulders to stay relaxed.
Forced her voice to remain steady.
"What can I do for you?"
"You?" Bianca chuckled. "Nothing...Where is my husband?"
Veronica swallowed once before answering. "He went on a business trip."
"Isn’t that just cliché," she said lightly. "The wife asking the mistress for the whereabouts of her husband."
Veronica felt the sting of her words even though she had already accepted the role.
Accepted it because of Luca. Accepted it because loving him had sohow beco stronger than her pride.
"Do you need anything else?" Vee asked, staying calm.
The politeness in her tone was deliberate.
A line she was trying to hold.
Bianca laughed softly again, shaking her head like the entire situation amused her far more than it should. "Again, no! I rely ca to see the shaless slut who had the audacity—"
"I’m going to stop you right there! I refuse to be insulted. If you have a problem, take it up with your husband."
Bianca pulled her hand back and slapped Vee in the face.
Veronica’s head snapped sideways from the force as the sting exploded across her cheek.
The sharp burn spread slowly under her skin, her ear ringing faintly.
Oh hell no.
The thought flashed through Veronica’s mind with blinding clarity.
Without even thinking much about it, she returned the hit instantly.
Bianca stumbled backward from the force of it, clearly not expecting retaliation. Her balance faltered and she tumbled down onto the couch behind her, her breath catching sharply in her throat.
Veronica’s chest rose and fell rapidly as the adrenaline surged through her veins. Her palm still tingled from the impact, the reality of what she had just done beginning to settle in. She had just slapped Luciano Genovese’s wife.
Bianca slowly lifted her head, one hand touching the side of her face where the mark was already beginning to bloom.
Shock flickered across her expression first.
Then fury.
"Like I said," Veronica said, "I will not be insulted or abused."
She barely finished the sentence.
Bianca’s hand disappeared into her handbag and ca back out holding a gun.
It appeared so suddenly that Veronica’s brain barely had ti to register it.
Bianca shoved it straight toward her.
Vee quickly stood still, the words dying in her throat as the cold muzzle pressed into the soft skin of her neck.
"You Arican won! You think everyone should bow to you!" Her grip tightened around the weapon as she pushed it harder against Veronica’s throat. "I am a Vitale heiress! The legal wife of Luciano Genovese and I can make you disappear with just a flick of my hair."
Veronica’s mind raced through a dozen possibilities at once.
Run. Scream. Fight.
None of them seed particularly smart when there was a gun pressed against your neck.
Bianca leaned closer, her eyes blazing now. "You don’t have anything to say anymore, uhn?" she demanded.
The gun nudged harder.
"Nothing to say?"
Veronica considered staying silent.
Letting the mont pass.
Surviving the encounter by swallowing her pride.
But then she had learned that in Luca’s world, you had to risk everything, everything to assert dominance over the one who thinks they can intimidate you.
If she was going to die, she better die swinging hard.
"Just one." Vee said quietly. She lifted her chin just enough that the barrel pressed more firmly against her throat. "You were wrong earlier. Luca fucked
for the first ti," she continued, her gaze locked with Bianca’s, "in the main building, on his bed."
Bianca’s expression froze. She knew she shouldn’t.
Even through the red haze clouding her vision, so part of her mind understood exactly how catastrophic this mont was about to beco. Luciano would not forgive this. He had been very clear about Veronica. Very clear.
But standing there with the woman’s words still echoing in her ears, Bianca could feel sothing inside her snap.
It was too much.
Too humiliating. Too vivid.
Her grip tightened around the gun. Her jaw clenched hard.
Then Bianca let go of her rage.
But not in the way Veronica expected.
Instead of aiming at her, Bianca swung the gun sideways and pointed it at the nearest lamp.
She squeezed the trigger.
The explosion shattered the quiet of the annex.
Glass burst everywhere as the lamp exploded, the bulb popping in a bright flash. Veronica scread instinctively, her hands flying up to protect her face.
(Brought to you by Janelle Fox)
Reviews
All reviews (0)