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.