Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

WITH CHIARA’S PERMISSION, Dante visited his friend Ezio in the hospital. He followed the car where Chiara is riding. Three cars also followed them: Chiara’s bodyguards.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the private hospital. It isn’t the first time Dante stepped his foot in that place. He actually visited him for the past weeks but kept his distance on his friend’s room. Dante knows that Chiara is not familiar with him.

“There is my husband,” Chiara spoke when they entered the room. Fara was cleaning floor when they arrived.

“Signora,” she bowed to Chiara before looking at the man behind her. “Sir Dante.”

He nodded at the greetings of the maid. When they all settled down, Dante looked at his unconscious friend.

“He looks like a good person when asleep,” he joked and chuckled at hid own words. If Ezio is awake, he would have smack his head to the floor.

Teasing an unconscious friend is an enjoyable thing to do.

“He really is,” Chiara responded with a smile while brushing her husband’s hair gently. “The doctor said that he has some improvements. I just hope he will wake up soon.”

Dante was quiet for a short moment before speaking again. “You know what? My cousin experienced the same thing,” he spoke from experience, remembering the old times. “Well, she wasn’t shot unlike Ezio, but she did fell on the ground.”

“Did she also become comatose?” Chiara asked with a hint of interest in her voice. She could get some tips on how to take care of comatose patient and help him wake up.

Dante nodded. “Yup. A part of her head was fractured. Thankfully, she woke up after two months.”

She felt hope filling her chest. Ezio and Dante’s cousin almost have the same experience. If that lady was able to wake up after two months, then Ezio can do that too. She believes in her husband.

“However,” Dante trailed off his words, much to Chiara’s worry. “She doesn’t remember anything when she woke up.”

“What?” she asked as fear crept into her body.

Dante looked at his unconscious friend for some seconds before looking at Chiara who is sitting across him.

He can see her forehead wrinkled while waiting for his answer. Her hands that are touching Ezio’s hair is slightly trembling in nervousness.

“What I’m saying is that Ezio might experience the same thing,” he responded, clearing his statement. “Ezio fell down from the top stair of the plane. The fall made a lot of damage on him. It is not impossible for him to lose his memories when he wakes up.”

Chiara looked down on the ground, processing what Dante said. Her rational self is telling her that Dante it right. However, a small voice of her tells her that Dante is just making her panic and that it will not happen to her husband.

“You have to be prepared if ever that will happen,” Dante added. “You are the closest person to Ezio. You can help him a lot.”

“What if he forgot me? What if he forgot about us?” she asked with her shaking voice.

“Then make him remember. Help him remember,” he answered with a firm voice. “It will be difficult at first, but I’m sure you can get through it. Ezio’s mind might forgot you, but I’m sure that his heart will never.”

Hearing Dante’s words, Chiara felt the burden a little lighter. She has to believe on her husband’s love for her. She has to be there when he woke up. She has to be by his side while regaining his memories.

She is his wife. She will be there for him.

After some minutes of talking about Dante’s experience in taking her care of his cousin before, Fara arrived with the snacks and refreshments for them.

“By the way,” Dante spoke after swallowing a bite on the pizza. “I saw Ms. Coppola left from your office. New investor?”

Chiara nodded while taking a sip on her blue lemonade. “We just signed some paper works earlier, chatted a bit before she left.”

“That’s good,” he commented. “Ms. Coppola is a great investor. She wouldn’t invest if she can’t see any potential in your company.”

“Do you know her personally?” she asked. “She seemed to be sweet woman.”

Ms. Coppola is a new person in her work life. She wants to know her better. On the first glance, Ms. Coppola seemed to be a trustworthy person.

“I can’t really say personally, but she was one of my clients before,” Dante responded. “She filed an adultery case to her now ex-husband and she asked for my help to find evidences that will help her win the case. Long story short, we won.”

“That’s good to hear. I just knew that they divorced, but I didn’t know that it was because of adultery.”

Dante clicked his tongue. “Her ex-husband is a bastard. Ms. Coppola is a kind woman. She didn’t deserve those sufferings in her life,” he spoke. “As far as I know, Ms. Coppola is an advocate for women’s rights. Aside from that, she was one of those people who were attacked by Giovanni when she didn’t invested in his company.”

Their conversation went on. They talked about how Dante and Ezio met, how they became friends, and how Dante discovered that his friend has a thing on Chiara.

“I saw him staring at your picture from his phone,” he spoke while trying to hold his laugh. “He looks like a love sick fool.”

“Hey!” Chiara glared at him. “Don’t laugh at my husband!”

Dante stayed for a few hours before leaving the hospital room. He offered Chiara to help her take care of his friend while she’s at work, and she was happy to accept it.

“By the way,” he stopped walking mid-way to the door. “I usually ask for payment whenever I get some information, but since you are a new client, it’s free this time. The next one will be paid,” he spoke with a grin on his face.

Chiara admired his confidence to tell her that, but she wouldn’t back out.

“As far as I remember, I didn’t ask you to investigate about it. You did it in your own accord. Technically, this is not my first commission, but the next one is. The next one is supposed to be free,” she explained and smiled innocently.

The grin on Dante’s face faded. “Bummer. You got me there,” he spoke before waving his hand and left.

“I’m glad that Sir Dante visited today,” Fara spoke while cleaning the table where they ate. “I thought the news about Signor Ezio didn’t reach him.”

“Do you know him for long?” Chiara asked while finishing the last remaining foods. She was hungry earlier and still have a lot of spaces in her stomach.

Fara nodded with a smile. “I knew him since my mother is still working for the Vitali’s. They are very close like brothers.”

Chiara smiled. She’s happy that her husband has someone in his side: a true friend who is willing to help him anytime. But with payment.

She haven’t even finished eating the last slice of pizza when her phone vibrated. Chiara opened it when she saw a voice message that came from Nick.

When she clicked the triangular button, Nick’s voice played on the phone.

“Hi, Chichi! I just finished gathering the information you need. I can’t explain them to you right now since I have a new case, but the document will be sent in your email. Make sure to download it before five minutes before it will self-destruct after that time. Thank me with a food treat later!”

As she finished listening to the voice message, a notification pops up. She hurriedly opened it and downloaded the file.

When it finished downloading, the file on the email suddenly became nulled. She cannot download it again.

“I thought it will self-destruct after five minutes?” she asked to herself. “It’s been only a minute.”

Ignoring what happened, she opened the downloaded file and was greeted by almost a hundred pages of texts and pictures.

Her head ached just by looking at them. She removed the report given by Dante from her bag. That is when she noticed that the first pages where the same on what Dante gave her.

“It’s really Nick who opened that file that Dante accessed,” she spoke to herself, confirming her earlier guess.

Since the document has a lot of pages, she decided to skim through it and just reviewed it deeper tomorrow. Chiara had the whole day to review the report and make a solid plan on how to use it.

While scrolling through the document, her thumb stopped in s certain page that has a familiar name written on it.

“Sigmund Russo?” she spoke while reading the text over and over again, making sure that she didn’t read it wrong.

Her eyes squinted. “That is Simone’s uncle.”

His name is written the category of those people who are working for or with Giovanni. Doubt increases in her mind.

She knew that man before, especially when Simone and her are still together. He is a kind and a gentle man. He is also very close to Simone, much closer than Simone is to his own father.

Chiara take note of that information. If Sigmund is working for Giovanni, then it is not impossible for Simone to also do the same.

She continued on skimming the pages. Chiara didn’t notice the time. If Fara didn’t enter and asked her what she wants for dinner, she wouldn’t stop what she’s doing.

“Anything with chicken,” she answered.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

Chiara was about to stand up and go check her husband’s IV when her phone rang. It was an unknown number.

She was hesitant to answer it. The call might be from Giovanni, trying to get their location. They told the press that Ezio is staying in their mansion for recovery, and not in the hospital. They don’t want to risk his safety just to give information to the media.

Seconds passed and the ringing ended. Missed call sign pop on the screen. Chiara stared at it, waiting for another call. If it is something important, the caller might call again.

However, instead of a call, Chiara received a text from the same unknown number.

“Chiara, this is Elisa. Can we meet next week? Name the date, time and place.”