Alessio Romano and I have grown up together. But so far, we've severed our friendship with each other 99 times over Vittoria Belleandi.

The first time occurred because Vittoria tried to kill my puppy out of fear toward dogs. When I was fighting with her over my puppy, I shoved her to the ground. So, Alessio called off our friendship for three whole days.

The sixth time occurred when Vittoria wanted to experience the feeling of getting confessed to in public. She wanted Alessio, who was already my boyfriend at that time, to do that to her. When I refused to let Vittoria have her way, Alessio cut off all ties with me for seven days.

The 100th time occurs when I take away the management right of the branch company, something that Vittoria has been vying for a long time.

But this time, Alessio doesn't cut off all ties with me. Instead, he tells me, "Chiara, I already told you that the Don will only acknowledge Vittoria's capabilities and let her stay as a part of the core family once she secures the management right. But you've ruined everything

"Now, I can only register my marriage with Vittoria in order to secure her position! Only then will we proceed to discuss our own marriage!"

Then, Alessio snatches the marriage application form from my hands.

After witnessing Alessio and Vittoria signing their names together, I no longer throw a tantrum. Instead, I take off my engagement ring and book a flight ticket to another destination.

But why is it that Alessio keeps begging me to return to him after I've left?

Chiara's POV

I was getting ready to leave school when the sky suddenly opened up.

Alessio Romano hadn't forgotten what happened at the family assessment three days ago. He left me stranded in the downpour and had the driver take him back to the estate first.

We went everywhere together, so there was no extra car coming for me.

I borrowed an umbrella from the school, changed into regular clothes, and walked back to the estate in the pouring rain.

The butler, Salvatore Greco, was flustered when he saw me appear at the estate gates, soaked to the bone.

"It's pouring out there. Your health isn't the best. You could've called me, and I would've come for you myself!" he said. "If Don Moretti finds out we let you go through this, he'll have our heads!"

I took the towel calmly and dried myself off, then took the change of clothes from the servant.

"Relax. Don Moretti won't find out. And if he does, I'll tell him I chose to walk in the rain to punish myself."

Salvatore let out a long sigh.

"Was it another fight with Alessio? You two used to get along so well. Why does it keep coming to this lately?"

Ever since the Don, Vincenzo Moretti, agreed to let Vittoria Bellandi attend the family school, Alessio and I had been fighting constantly, and it was always about her.

During tactics class, I didn't bring an extra gun for Vittoria, so apparently, I was humiliating her in front of everyone.

During an overwatch drill, I accidentally blocked her line of sight, so apparently, I was sabotaging her on purpose.

Once, I ate the last burger before she could get to it, and Alessio spent an entire day chewing me out over it.

People in the family liked to joke that Vittoria was Vincenzo's unofficial Principessa, and Alessio was her protector. He'd protect her from every scratch and every bloodshed.

Even I, his childhood friend, was just something to be swept aside if I got in his way.

When I passed Alessio's door after heading upstairs, Salvatore deliberately pushed it open so I could see inside.

"Alessio still isn't back. He's probably out in the rain somewhere, sulking. Chiara, why don't you give him a call? You two seldom stay at odds for more than a couple of days."

I didn't say a word. I shut my door and sank into a warm bath.

Once I stopped shivering from the cold, I picked up my phone and started scrolling absentmindedly.

That was when Alessio posted a photo in the class group chat.

In the photo, he had his arm around Vittoria. They were both holding up a gun, aiming at a target in front of them.

He followed it up with a message. "Vittoria said if I impress her enough, she'll allow me to get close to her and be her personal trainer."

But it was what was at the center of the target that caught my eye.

I zoomed in on the photo until I could read the engraving.

It was a custom pocket watch, my initials and Alessio's carved into the rim, a photo of the two of us tucked inside.

Now, it had a bullet hole straight through the middle, and the casing was warped.

The group chat erupted.

"Classic Alessio. Even his targets are different from everyone else's. Whose watch is that?"

"If I'm not mistaken, I think it belongs to Chiara. She's the only one I've ever seen carry something like that."

"She used to treat that thing like it was priceless. Did she actually let Vittoria use it as a target?"

In the photo, a raindrop clung to the shattered face of the watch.

Alessio had probably long forgotten that he was the one who gave it to me for my 15th birthday. I'd carried it on me every day since, careful not to let so much as a scratch touch it.

I never could've imagined that in the span of just one day, it would be reduced to scrap metal.

Vittoria jumped in to explain on his behalf.

"It's all Alessio's fault. He insisted on showing off his marksmanship, claiming he could hit the smallest target from 300 feet away. He dug around and ended up pulling out that pocket watch."

Alessio followed up right after.

"It's just a watch. I'll replace it. I'll buy ten if one isn't enough. I almost forgot how she loves blowing things out of proportion, as if she's terrified Don Moretti won't hear about it otherwise."

Vittoria sent a laughing emoji.

"Alessio, you'd better start thinking about how you're going to explain this to Chiara when you get back. Don't go fighting all night again and show up to class tomorrow with dark circles under your eyes."

Alessio replied with a helpless emoji.

My eyes burned. I put my phone face down, dried off, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and pulled the duvet over my head.

Only when my tears had finally run dry did I get out of bed and sit down at my desk.

Chiara's POV

Alessio and I rarely ever rowed for more than five days. Either he'd come around on his own, or I'd find a way to give him an opening.

Even something as small as his passing me a glass of water at dinner was enough for me to take it as his apology.

So when I found a coffee sitting on my school desk the next morning, I took it as his way of saying sorry and didn't think twice about it as I drank the whole thing.

That was until I heard Vittoria and a group of girls giggling outside the restroom stall. Vittoria nudged one of them forward, who held out a few sanitary pads toward me.

"Toilet paper runs out eventually. These work just as well in a pinch," she said. "Three should be enough to get you through until you're home, though I'm not sure they'll do much about the smell."

Only then did it hit me that Vittoria and her friends had spiked that coffee with laxatives.

All day, I kept running back and forth to the restroom.

By afternoon, I was slumped over my desk, my knees weak, when Alessio tossed a sandwich in front of me.

"It's just a watch. I already said I'd buy you a hundred of them, so what's with the attitude? Eat something before you make yourself sick. I don't want Donna Moretti to hear about it and come after me."

A sharp, violent spasm racked my abdomen. Stumbling up from my seat, I accidentally sent the sandwich flying onto the floor.

Alessio's face darkened. He scoffed and forbade the servants from coming near me.

When I came back from the restroom, my legs were so weak I had to brace a hand against the wall just to stay on my feet.

Vittoria and her friends were leaning against the wall, watching me and fanning the air in front of their noses.

"Can you guys smell that? Why does she stink so badly? I can smell her from all the way over here."

"Maybe she soiled herself and didn't realize it. Chiara, why don't you just go home and take a bath? Stop polluting the air we all have to breathe."

I kept my face blank, walked straight up to Vittoria, and raised my hand.

She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, flattening herself against the wall. But I merely grabbed the hem of her shirt and used it to dry my hands.

"Have you forgotten that you're standing right outside the restroom? It's bad enough your nose doesn't work, but is your brain fried as well? Should I mention it to Donna Moretti? I'm sure the family's best doctors would love to give you a full workup and see what else they find."

Vittoria stared at me, stunned. She clearly hadn't expected such a sudden, drastic shift in my attitude.

In the past, I'd let her humiliate me to my face more times than I cared to count, all to keep the peace with Alessio.

Now, I walked back to my seat and buried my head in my arms to rest.

It wasn't long before Alessio noticed Vittoria crying at her desk. He rushed over, pulling her into his arms to comfort her. All the while, his eyes kept darting toward me, boring into me with a fierce glare.

"Some people just can't stand seeing others do well. She doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy," Alessio remarked.

As it turned out, to be hurt by the person one cared about most was an agonizing, unbearable heartache.

My face went pale. I stood up to leave, but my vision suddenly blurred.

A sharp, gripping pain seized my stomach, and in an instant, I collapsed onto the floor.

"You're so dramatic. Can't you handle being called out? Funny how your mouth runs just fine when you're the one talking trash!"

Just before everything went dark, I thought I heard Alessio calling my name, his voice edged with panic.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in the school's infirmary.

The family doctor handed the medication to Alessio, who carefully helped me sit up, let me lean against him, and fed me the pills himself.

I stared at him. Seeing him turn to leave, I reached out and caught the hem of his jacket.

"Alessio, Vittoria put laxatives in my coffee," I said.

He went quiet for a moment before prying my hands off him.

"Chiara, stop accusing Vittoria of things. She wouldn't do something like that, and she has no reason to keep coming after you. Everyone knows how kind she is. Now that she's here, you're jealous of her because you see her as competition."

Enduring the ache in my chest, I closed my eyes, then opened them again to see the cold lines of his retreating silhouette.

"You don't trust me anymore. Alessio, we grew up together. We know each other better than anyone. You know I'm not lying," I said. "You know perfectly well that she's done this multiple times before—"

"That's enough, Chiara!"

He turned around, brow furrowed, glaring at me as he cut me off.

"Vittoria was just brought into the family. She has no friends, not even a single person looking out for her. She's already going through enough!

"All she does is joke around, but you always have to blow things out of proportion, like you can't wait for Don Moretti and Donna Moretti to expel her. If you feel like her jokes embarrassed you, then I'll apologize on her behalf, okay?"

I lay back down, turning my back to him.

Alessio scoffed, turned on his heel, and left.

Chiara's POV

The next day, Donna Isabella Conti came to the school to assess our progress. I was assigned to the storage room to take inventory of the equipment.

I had barely pushed the door open when a force shoved me from behind, sending me stumbling inside. The door slammed shut and locked behind me.

Vittoria and her friends stood on the other side, laughing.

"Let's see you try to stir things up in front of Donna Moretti now!"

"Vittoria worked so hard to earn her place in this family. You're not going to take that away from her!"

The voices outside faded. I pounded on the door and screamed until my voice gave out and my energy was entirely depleted.

Exhausted, I slumped helplessly onto the floor.

It brought back a memory from when I was little, when enemies of the Moretti family had thrown me into a shipping container by the shore.

I had curled up in the corner, shivering and starving.

Alessio had searched through thousands of containers to find me, his body covered in cuts and bruises, breathless by the time he wrenched open the doors of the container I was locked in.

The moment he saw me, his eyes went red, and he pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Chiara, don't be scared. I'm here. I promise you, the people who did this to you are going to regret it for the rest of their lives!"

Young as he was, he raised his gun and stayed by my side every step of the way until we found the rest of the family.

For a long time after that, he would tie a rope between us at night when we slept, terrified of waking up to find me gone.

But where was he now?

I wrapped my arms around myself, curling into a tight ball in the corner as my consciousness began to fade.

Later that night, when I still hadn't come back to the estate, Salvatore sent servants to search the school.

They finally found me unconscious in the corner of the storage room as the sky was starting to lighten.

Salvatore wanted to report the incident to Vincenzo, but I shook my head and talked him out of it.

I went back to school after two days of rest and quickly realized I was the subject of everyone's conversations, though I had no idea why.

My teacher called me into the office and shook his head with a long, disappointed sigh.

"Chiara, your performance in school has always been exemplary, but someone has filed a report against you. There are claims that you cheated during the last family assessment.

"I've already brought this to Don Moretti's attention, and your management rights over the branch office are being temporarily revoked."

Vincenzo and Isabella arrived at the school shortly after. Alessio and Vittoria were summoned as well.

Vincenzo's eyes swept over all three of us, cold and unreadable. Isabella's expression was just as stern.

"Alessio, you've always been close to Chiara. Let me ask you first," Vincenzo commanded. "Has Chiara ever mistreated Vittoria? And did she cheat during the assessment?"

I looked up at Alessio, but he subtly shielded Vittoria behind him.

A short, bitter laugh escaped me. I took a deep breath and looked back at Vincenzo and Isabella steadily.

Vittoria broke into soft, muffled sobs as she dropped to the ground in front of Vincenzo.

Alessio quickly hauled her back to her feet. But when she struggled against him, he lifted his hand and pointed straight at me.

"Chiara cheated, and she's been framing Vittoria over and over again to protect her own interests!" he claimed.

I stared at Alessio in utter disbelief.

I swung my arm and struck his face with a resounding slap. However, the Consigliere grabbed me and yanked me back before I could touch him again.

"You liar! You're covering for Vittoria and throwing me under the bus to do it! Alessio, she's been coming after me this whole time. Don't you dare stand there and tell me you had no idea!"

I pulled free from the Consigliere's grip and ran back to the estate.

Alessio returned not long after. He stood outside my door and apologized through it.

"Chiara, I know you're innocent and that you didn't do anything wrong. But if this gets investigated any further, Vittoria will face serious consequences under the family's rules. She could even be expelled from the family. I can't just stand by and let that happen."

His voice was laced with a hint of desperation.

"She's not strong enough yet. A stain like this would destroy any standing she has in the family. She really needs this first taste of recognition. Getting her foot in the door of the family's inner circle is good for both of us.

"Besides, you're already exceptional. Sooner or later, the Don and Donna will give you management rights over even more branch companies. Giving this one up doesn't cost you anything.

"I promise you, once this storm blows over, I'll find a way to come clean to them. When we've both secured our positions in the family, I'll make it up to you, okay?"

I covered my ears, yet I could still hear every piercing word.

Alessio waited a long time for a response. When I said nothing, he assumed I'd taken it in, and after a while, he went back to his room.

That night, I told Vincenzo and Isabella that I wanted to attend school in Eldoria. I also told them I had no intention of ever taking over the management of any company.

The day of the second family assessment, Alessio caught sight of me heading out with my luggage.

He assumed I still hadn't forgiven him, that I was merely giving him the cold shoulder to drive home my dislike toward Vittoria.

He pursed his lips, shooting a dismissive glance in my direction, before getting in the car alone to head to the school.

I, however, boarded a flight and left Velmora.

It wasn't until after the third assessment that Alessio knocked on my door for a long time and got no answer.

He asked Salvatore for my key, but Salvatore looked at him, genuinely puzzled.

"Chiara isn't in her room. Didn't she tell you? She left Velmora a month ago."

Alessio stood frozen, the bouquet of roses he'd been holding behind his back slipping from his fingers and falling to the floor.