Chapter 75 He Didn't Do Anything

Chapter 75 He Didn't Do Anything
Bella's POV

“Haha!” I couldn't hold myself from laughing because what he said sounded like a nonsensical joke.

The sound of my laughter echoed through the room and I didn't take my eyes off him for even a second.

"Keep dreaming," I said, shaking my head at him. "That's never going to happen..Not in this lifetime or the next."

"Ethan is not a good person and he is very ruthless" he continued, ignoring my reaction completely like it was just an unnecessary tantrum.

His tone was as calm as if he were talking about a thug instead of the man who had rebuilt my entire life from nothing after everyone else abandoned me.

"His organization has been operating against my interests for years, and…."

"Do you know where I would have been if not for Ethan?" I cut him off, my voice rising with anger, "I would have died a long time ago! He is the reason I'm still alive. Do you understand that? While you were busy running THE FIRM and scheming your way through politics, Ethan was the one who actually saved me. He found me broken and hopeless and he built me back into someone who could survive in this world. Where were you at the times I needed you, exactly?!"

His jaw tightened, but he kept his composure, folding his hands together on his lap like he was preparing for a negotiation rather than a conversation with his own daughter, and it was obvious that his patience was stretched thin already.

"I won't kill Ethan then," he said. "I will let him keep his life because he saved your life, I'll grant him that much mercy. But I can't let his organization continue to exist. It's simply too dangerous, both to my operations and to you…I expect you to join THE FIRM as my only surviving biological child, Eva. This is where you belong with your own blood."

I felt like I was going to run mad with anger, because he was intentionally disregarding my feelings and forcing his plans on me.

What audacity!

"I'm not leaving Ethan," I said flatly, cutting straight through whatever else he wanted to say. " Or anyone else I care about, so you can forget about that idea entirely. I don't care how many resources you have or how much power you think you hold, my answer is no!."

His expression hardened and he looked like he was about to lose his temper.

"Stop letting your emotions control you," he snapped. "The mafia world, the assassin world, none of it operates on feelings. It never has and even if I don't get rid of Ethan's organization myself, another person will eventually come for it, and you along with it. I'm trying to make sure you're protected when that happens. This isn't cruelty, Eva…It is a simple strategy."

"Strategy," I repeated bitterly. "Is that what you call burning an entire family alive too? Strategy?"

He didn't answer that, but his silence was enough.

“So, if you take down Ethan's organization, his powers and connections automatically become yours and you will become more powerful. I wouldn't be surprised if meeting Ethan years ago was actually arranged by you” I said with disgust and I could feel my anger boiling over.

“I do everything to protect you and keep you safe!” He yelled defensively like I had touched his sour spot.

“Protect me?” I asked and couldn't help but laugh in anger.

"If you actually want revenge for me," I said, and my voice shook in anger, "then get rid of Lucas and Sasha Moretti! Aren't you aware that they plotted to kill me? Or are you leaving them alone because of Haley? Is her happiness worth more to you than actual justice for what happened to me?"

"Leave Lucas out of this!”

Before he could answer, a panicked high pitched voice cut through the room.

I turned to see Haley sitting upright now and she was no longer trembling, her eyes were wide with fury instead of fear. She must have regained consciousness at some point during our conversation, and must have heard everything we have been saying, judging by the hatred already dripping from her voice and the way her eyes burned with fresh hatred aimed directly at me.

"He never loved me.." she continued furiously, glaring straight at me, pushing herself unsteadily to her feet. "I was the one forcing myself on him for years, so none of this is his fault. You have no right to drag his name through the mud like this, not after everything you've already put his family through."

I laughed in anger because what she said was just too funny.

Me? Put Lucas through problems?

"Are you actually unaware," I said slowly, "that his marriage to me was a secret contract? Between him and the Ricci family? I was nothing more than a pawn in whatever game they were playing. And once he got what he wanted from that arrangement, he decided to kill me. You were in on that plot too, Haley. Don't act like your hands are clean in all of this."

Her face went pale, but the fury in her eyes didn't fade, even as the words clearly landed somewhere deep in her chest.

"You know his true character and you've always known. But you're so blinded by love that you refuse to acknowledge any of it, even now after everything that has already happened."

"Lucas loves me!" she screamed, her voice cracking with desperation, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "The only reason he married you was because he had no choice at the time! It wasn't real, none of it was ever real between the two of you! You were just a business transaction to him, nothing more!"

I shook my head, disgust settling deep into my chest as I stared at her.

"You're pathetic…Truly pathetic. You would rather defend a man who tried to kill me than accept even a shred of responsibility for what you did."

Haley opened her mouth to argue further, but nothing came out. For once, she seemed to have run out of things to say in his defense.

"Enough!" my father's voice boomed through the room, cutting off whatever Haley was about to say next. He turned his glare fully onto her, his patience clearly exhausted after everything that had already been said. "I haven't even punished you yet for what happened last night. Watch your mouth before you make things worse for yourself than they already are."

Haley's eyes widened, her earlier fury replaced instantly with fear and her voice pitching higher with panic. "I'm innocent! I didn't do anything wrong, I swear it on my life!"

His glare sharpened became sharper and his voice dropped into something low and dangerous.

"Your friend, Gabby, had a lot of evidence against you," he said coldly. "So don't test my patience by lying to my face right now, Haley. I have neither the time nor the mood for it."

Haley immediately fell silent, her earlier fury draining changing to panic and her hands twisting nervously in front of her.

"Lucas wasn't aware of the plan," she finally murmured, her voice small now, and barely audible. "I planned everything myself because I just wanted to teach Eva a lesson, that's all. It wasn't supposed to go this far, I swear."

I looked over at my father. His expression had shifted dangerously, and his rage simmered just beneath the surface as he stared at Haley with pure contempt, his hands clenching slowly at his sides.

The room fell into a tense silence, nobody daring to speak for a few minutes as we were all occupied by our own thoughts.

Haley shrank back under his gaze, her earlier stubbornness was gone now, replaced by desperation as she looked at the stairs.

"You planned it yourself," My father repeated slowly, each word deliberate and cold. "After everything I've done to keep this family's name clean and after everything I've sacrificed to protect the both of you. You decided to humiliate this family in front of half the city's elite, over something as petty as jealousy toward your own sister?."

"Father, please…" Haley started, but he cut her off instantly.

"I don't want to hear another word from you," he said, his voice low and menacing, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees.

Haley's mouth snapped shut, her whole body trembling now, though this time it wasn't from fear of me. She looked extremely terrified of him and she kept staring at the clenched fists on his sides.

I watched the exchange silently, something almost satisfying settling in my chest at the sight of her finally facing consequences for once in her life, after years of getting away with everything simply because of who her father was and what his name could shield her from.

My father stood up slowly from the couch, his movements controlled despite the fury radiating off him in waves, his shadow stretching long across the floor as he towered over Haley's shrinking form.

"You will return to headquarters," he said, his voice rising with barely contained rage as he stared down at her.

Haley's face crumpled, and tears were already welling up in her eyes, while her hands reached out toward him in desperation.

"Father, please, I'm sorry, I…."

"Return to headquarters for your punishment immediately!" he yelled, cutting her off completely, his voice echoing through the entire room.