Chapter 2 - The Woman Behind His Betrayal
The phone rang again.
Alessandro Bellandi stared at the unknown number while holding Grace’s note in his hand.
For ten seconds, he did nothing.
The most feared man in the city stood alone inside his bedroom, surrounded by expensive furniture, priceless paintings, and everything money could buy.
Except the one thing he wanted.
Her.
He answered.
"Who is this?"
Silence.
Then a woman’s voice.
"She left because she finally saw the truth."
Alessandro’s expression changed.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
"Who are you?"
The woman laughed softly.
Not nervously.
Not afraid.
Like she knew something he didn't.
"You really don't remember me, Alessandro?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Say your name."
A pause.
Then:
"Clara."
The name hit him.
Not because he loved it.
Because he remembered it.
Years ago.
Before Grace.
Before the empire.
Before he became the man everyone feared.
Clara Moretti.
The daughter of one of his father's oldest enemies.
A woman who had once tried to destroy everything connected to the Bellandi family.
Alessandro's voice became colder.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to know that Grace didn't leave because of another woman."
He looked down at the empty closet.
His wife's side.
Gone.
"Then why did she leave?"
The line went quiet.
And for the first time that morning, Alessandro felt something he hated.
Fear.
"Because she found out what you did."
His jaw tightened.
"I did nothing."
"That is exactly what you always tell yourself."
The call ended.
Alessandro stared at the phone.
Then he looked at Grace's note again.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
The woman who wrote it was calm.
Too calm.
That frightened him more than anger would have.
He unfolded the paper.
There was only one sentence.
"I hope one day you understand what you made me lose."
No accusation.
No hatred.
No explanation.
Just pain.
And somehow that hurt more.
A knock came from the bedroom door.
Alessandro didn't answer.
The door opened anyway.
His most trusted bodyguard, Marco, stepped inside.
"Boss."
Alessandro looked up.
"What?"
Marco hesitated.
That alone was unusual.
People did not hesitate around Alessandro Bellandi.
"Mrs. Bellandi's car was found."
For a second, Alessandro couldn't breathe.
"Where?"
"Near the old train station."
His face changed.
"Is she there?"
Marco looked away.
"No."
The silence that followed felt heavier than any threat.
Alessandro stood.
"Explain."
"The car was abandoned around three in the morning."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Marco swallowed.
"Because there was something inside."
Alessandro walked closer.
"What?"
Marco pulled a small evidence bag from his coat.
Inside was Grace's wedding bracelet.
The one she always wore.
The one he had given her on their first anniversary.
Alessandro stared at it.
"No."
Marco lowered his voice.
"Boss..."
"No."
It was the first time Marco had heard fear in Alessandro's voice.
Not anger.
Not rage.
Fear.
Alessandro took the bracelet from the bag.
His hands were shaking slightly.
A memory appeared in his mind.
Grace sitting on the floor of their apartment three years ago.
Laughing.
Holding the bracelet.
"You know why I love this?"
He had smiled.
"Because it's expensive?"
She had rolled her eyes.
"No."
She touched the small engraving inside.
"Because you chose it yourself."
He remembered saying:
"I would choose you every time."
The words felt like a knife now.
Because he had not.
He had chosen power.
Business.
Pride.
Everything except her.
"Find her."
Marco nodded.
"We already started."
Alessandro looked at him.
"No."
His voice became quiet.
"I will find her."
The entire city knew Alessandro Bellandi as a man who never chased anyone.
People came to him.
People begged him.
People feared him.
But Grace was different.
She was the only person who could walk away and make him follow.
An hour later, Alessandro entered his private office.
The same office where decisions worth millions were made.
The same place where enemies had begged for mercy.
Today, he ignored every document on the desk.
He only looked at the security footage.
Every camera.
Every angle.
Every second before Grace left.
He watched her walk away.
Again.
And again.
The way she held herself.
The way she refused to cry in front of him.
The way she looked back one last time.
He paused the video.
Her face filled the screen.
A woman trying desperately not to break.
Alessandro whispered:
"What did I do to you?"
Nobody answered.
Then Marco entered again.
"Boss."
Alessandro didn't look away.
"What?"
"We found something else."
Marco placed a folder on the desk.
Alessandro opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Pictures of Grace.
Taken secretly.
For months.
His eyes became darker.
"Who took these?"
"We don't know yet."
The photos showed Grace leaving their apartment.
Grace entering cafes.
Grace meeting people.
Someone had been watching her.
Following her.
Studying her.
Alessandro turned the page.
Then froze.
There was one photograph different from the others.
It showed Grace sitting across from someone at a restaurant.
A man.
Older.
Unknown.
The date was written below.
Three days before Christmas.
Alessandro stared.
"Who is he?"
Marco looked uncomfortable.
"We haven't identified him."
Alessandro picked up the photo.
Grace's expression in the picture was strange.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't angry.
She looked like someone receiving information she never wanted to hear.
"What happened here?"
Marco didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
But Alessandro knew one thing.
Grace had been hiding something.
And maybe he had been too focused on his own mistakes to notice.
He picked up his phone.
Called his private investigator.
"I need everything."
"Everything about what, sir?"
"Grace Bellandi."
A pause.
Then:
"Her entire life?"
Alessandro looked at the picture.
"No."
His voice lowered.
"Everything she knew that I didn't."
The investigation started immediately.
Within hours, files arrived.
School records.
Travel history.
Financial information.
Old addresses.
Friends.
Family.
But one document made Alessandro stop.
A medical report.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
The date.
The name.
The information he had never seen before.
His hand slowly lowered.
"No..."
Marco looked at him.
"What is it?"
Alessandro didn't answer.
Because for the first time in his life, the man who controlled an empire felt completely powerless.
The report was not about Grace.
It was about someone else.
Someone connected to her.
Someone she had hidden from him.
Someone whose existence could change everything.
Alessandro turned the page.
At the bottom was one name.
And the moment he read it, his phone received a message from Grace's number...
May you like
The message contained only four words.
"Ask him about our son."
