Chapter 84: Drugs
"What’s the plan?" Maria asked, relieved that unlike usual, Elisa had left for her therapy and Rossi had something else to do, which left her alone long enough with Luca to have a serious discussion.
"You’ve lost all your shares to Tiberio, and we still owe him!" she emphasized with a serious look on her face—especially since there was no way Luca could have known that the person he borrowed money from to try and buy back more shares in his company actually belonged to Tiberio.
Worse was the fact that the shares he bought were inflated and useless, which meant that he ended up with nothing.
"We need a hundred million dollars! We need to tell Dora as soon as possible!" Maria emphasized.
"She has a billionaire husband, so she might as well be useful!" Maria continued with a severe expression on her face as she kept speaking, the more Luca remained quiet.
"We need her help now more than—" but she was still speaking when Luca suddenly interrupted in a sharp, severe tone.
"Can you shut up for a minute? I can’t hear my own thoughts with all this yammering!" he snapped.
He was about 5’10", which meant that he wasn’t too tall, nor could he be called short.
A small mass of black hair on his head and a bit of fat on his belly and arms gave him a nice, fatherly outlook.
The softness of his face also made him seem very friendly and easygoing just from the aura he gave, but at the moment, he gave off nothing but cruelty.
Gone was the ease as his eyes bore a harshness that seemed to have been unearthed.
He stood against the door with his arms folded across his chest even as he began to speak.
"I’ll speak to her! Of course I’ll have to get the money from her!" he snapped with a frown on his face.
"Who else am I going to get it from?" he continued, ruffling his fingers through his hair in annoyance as he let out a long, deep sigh before speaking again.
"What if she doesn’t give it to you?" Maria asked with a serious look on her face, even though inwardly she was extremely excited—aware that the money situation was definitely going to cause a rift in their relationship.
You keep acting like a saint! But you’ll have no choice but to show your true colours, you murderer! she thought to herself, even as she silently made plans for Elisa.
Aware that Elisa getting her own billionaire husband was the only way she could be free of Luca and finally have peace and comfort of her own.
Heck... even a millionaire husband would be fine! she thought to herself, internally groaning as she heard Luca continue to speak.
"I’ll call her out, and we’ll have a chat!" Luca said, even as Maria responded with a cooler gaze.
"Wouldn’t it be easier to just sell her off to Tiberio? He already said he would pay double what we owe!" she said, even as Luca’s gaze darkened.
"...and incur Dante’s wrath! He might not be as cruel as Tiberio, but clearly he has more money than he knows what to do with," Luca snapped.
Maria recoiled slightly on the bed she sat on, no longer bringing up any suggestions—aware that they would instantly be shut down.
As long as you don’t touch my own daughter, we’ll be fine! she thought, aware that instead of being a couple, they had simply become strangers since he began to put his hands on her, beating her with reckless abandon.
"Moreover, with his unborn child on the line, we can’t take sides yet until we’re sure whose side to take!" he continued, even as Maria remained silent, staring blankly in front of her without speaking.
"Most importantly, have you forgotten about the Vivaldi family? What if they somehow discover traces that Dora is their lost granddaughter—a possibility while she’s still alive!" Luca pointed out.
Maria lightly nodded her head, pretending to listen seriously while she couldn’t give a shit.
You’re the one who killed their daughter, not me, Maria thought to herself, aware that the specifics weren’t something she knew—it was just something she was aware of.
Luca continued to speak for a while longer while Maria pretended to listen, until she went ahead and pretended to have completely fallen asleep.
At that point, Luca had no choice but to settle down quietly with his thoughts. He desperately wanted to leave, but he had gotten so good at pretending that he had no intention of letting up after all the progress he had made over the years.
Llara had an event she was supposed to wait for, like usual, and this one she dressed up even more for—considering how heavy the payment was going to be.
It wasn’t from her agency, and although the person who offered it to her was sketchy, she knew that he made enough money for him not to try and sell her organs.
She had just arrived at the location, dressed in a short black dress, when she sighed, looking around with fascination.
It was clearly a VIP bar—and one she had never considered going to before, since it was obviously members only.
She headed in with the card given to her and was instantly assigned to her duties, going ahead to pick up trays and begin serving.
But the first warning bell that rang in her head was how many girls were there.
There were about seven of them—way more than was needed for such a small meeting that had been described to her.
They were all beautiful girls, and unlike usual, when they would tie their hair into ponytails, the manager had gone ahead and instructed them to let their hair down.
The club was quiet and carried the air that everyone who belonged to it came from an obscenely wealthy family.
Another warning sign for Llara was when her heart began to race as they were given bowls filled with treats and sent into the room where the meeting was being held.
The manager was all smiles, his expression soft and pleasant, as he had them line up in a straight line, herding them forward.
But for Llara, the final warning sign came when she took a long sniff of the air as they moved toward the double doors of the room—and she smelled something that made fear settle deep in the pit of her stomach.
"Drugs."
