Chapter 100
Antonio closed the heavy mahogany door to his office and leaned against it for a moment, letting out a slow breath he didn’t know he had been holding.
The meeting had gone as well and as boring as always, filled with the usual briefing and everyone trying to get into his good books.
That was mistake number one, he didn’t have a good book, trying to get into it was mistake number two.
Fucking idiots! They had been with him for so long and they still didn’t understand that fact,
However, that wasn’t important. The fact that all he could think about was Zabelle breaking down in tears was.
He walked over to his desk and he observed how everything was in its right place with not even a speck of dust. Great, everything was in order while his thoughts were all jumbled up.
His mind for some reason kept replaying every detail of that heartbreaking conversation with Zabelle.
The way every word she said was in a whisper as though it was painful to speak, the tremble in her voice showing just how
back hard she was holding her tears
Her eyes, which were usually so full of defiance, only had pain in them.
“How could my own father hate me so much?” He remembered her saying while she slept. “What kind of father does those things to his daughter?”
Even as she slept, she couldn’t sleep peacefully, and it was all thanks to those bastards who didn’t know what love was. Antonio sat down in the leather chair, turning it slightly so he could stare out of the large window overlooking the city. The skyline was bright, and he wondered if everything was mocking him.
He then pressed his fingers against his temples, massaging it slowly as he could feel a headache forming.
One that had nothing to do with the business negotiations and everything to do with Zabelle’s tearful confession and her breaking down
What kind of father indeed? He had no answer to that.
Even though his own relationship with his father wasn’t all nice wasn’t half of the suffering Zabelle had endured at the hands of the Pierce family.
She had been betrayed by blood, by the very people meant to protect her.
He felt a surge of emotions he couldn’t quite understand.
It was a mixture of anger, protectiveness, and something deeper something more personal and dangerous.
Anger that someone like Zabelle, who had no fault in her parent having sex, was mistreated.
Protectiveness because he couldn’t stand the idea of her ever feeling that lost and broken again
And yet, it was something deeper that unsettled him the most.
“Why do I care so much?” He asked himself as he closed his eyes
Why did it feel like an open wound in his chest every time he sa Zabelle in pain?
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Chapter 100
Another question he was unable to answer.
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He had always prided himself on control. Control over his emotions, control over his surroundings, and most importantly,
control over his own heart.
But ever since Zabelle had entered his life, that control felt like and slipping through his fingers,
The more he tried to hold on, the faster it seemed to crumble.
He thought back to their first few times they met. He was sure of what he felt towards her, hatred and a thirst for revenge.
Now it was care towards her and a thirst to protect her and make her happy.
As he stared out the window, he remembered the way she had looked at him when she had asked that question about his father.
He could tell that she was curious to know about what had happened between him and his father that made him dislike the old man.
Even though she didn’t ask him outrightly, he could tell that that was what she wanted, and he felt like shit for not telling her after she had told him a lot about herself
Antonio’s fists clenched as he thought about what his father had done to him. However, that wasn’t important, his confused feelings were.
The feelings were an unfamiliar territory, and for a man who was used to calculated strategies, it felt like plunging into chaos.
He got up and started pacing the office as he felt uneasy.
His mind kept returning to the question of why. Why did Zabelle occupy so much space in his thoughts?
Why did her pain feel like his own? He had known other people who had suffered, people he had helped for business. reasons, but this was different
He stopped in front of a framed photograph on his shelf–a rare image of him with a genuine, unguarded smile.
It was from years ago, taken at a simpler time when he thought life was all about ambition and results. Now, ambition felt hollow if it couldn’t serve a greater purpose.
And Zabelle had become a part of that purpose, an unexpected but undeniable part.
As he stood there, Antonio felt something shift within him.
He had spent years building walls around himself, believing that emotional distance was a strength, especially after what his father did.
Yet, here he was, undone by a woman who hadn’t even tried to breach those walls; she had simply walked through them as if they weren’t there. And that was the most unsettling realization of all.
He sat back down and rubbed a hand over his face, feeling the exhaustion of both body and mind.
Denial was no longer an option. He couldn’t ignore what was happening inside him, even if he didn’t fully understand it yet.
What he felt for Zabelle was more than admiration or respect. It was something far more dangerous, and for a man that was both thrilling and terrifying
He remembered how Zabelle had looked at him after her tears had subsided, a mixture of gratitude and something unspoken.
like him,
18:25 Sat, Dec 28 GO.
Chapter 100
He had wanted to hold her then, to reassure her in a way that words never could. But he hadn’t,
He had told himself it wasn’t the right time, that it would complicate things for both of them.
For the first time in a long while, Antonio realized he was not just protecting Zabelle out of duty or principle.
Just at that moment, the door to the office opened, and he knew that there were only a handful of people who entered his office without knocking on his door.
“Well, well,” he heard Alejandro’s voice, and he groaned as that was the last thing he needed.
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