Chapter 6 Closed
Giovanni’s POV
I had never owed anyone in my life, but I owed a debt of gratitude to Molly Campbell.
After years of searching, I discovered she had moved away from Alaska, the place where our paths had last crossed. I had promised myself that if I ever found her again, I would repay the kindness she once showed me.
But by the time I did, she was already married. Hearing that had crushed something inside me, though I forced myself to respect her husband. He must have been a better man than I was… or so I thought.
All I wanted was to make amends. She only needed to ask, and I would have given her anything.
My own life was a storm I could barely control, and I knew Molly could never be mine again. Yet when Nora told me she had been seen at the club that night, I didn’t hesitate. I abandoned an executive meeting and went straight there, driven by an instinct I couldn’t ignore.
When I arrived, she was gone. My heart sank. The thought of her surrounded by enemies, just as before, twisted my gut. She had once saved my life, and in return, I had broken hers. All I wanted now was redemption… without conditions.
When I finally found her, she was with two men, and I immediately knew she was being used. Someone was pulling the strings. I ordered my men not to harm them, though I already sensed who was behind it.
In the presidential suite, I asked Nora to prepare a bath, then turned to Molly.
“What happened to you?”
Her answer shattered me. It wasn’t her plea for relief from the drugs coursing through her system—it was her voice trembling as she confessed, “He deceived me… and took everything. My sister orchestrated it all.”
Her sister. I had almost forgotten that poisonous woman existed.
Now that Molly was divorced, I felt a dangerous sense of purpose awaken inside me. I wanted to make things right. We could never go back to what we were, but I would still fight to restore what she had lost.
After giving her medication to sleep, the darker side of me stirred. The side people called “the demon in white.” It was a title whispered with fear, but I didn’t care. Fear kept my world in order.
That night, I went to find Ursula. She had been part of the scheme, distracting Nora for the thugs to get to Molly’s booth.
“Please, Don,” she begged as my men tied her to a chair. “I only did it because I was told she was a homewrecker.”
“Who told you?” I asked coldly.
“The sister, Kiara. She said Molly stole her husband. She just wanted to teach her a lesson.”
Kiara. Of course. The venom in that family ran deep.
“Did you verify the truth before agreeing to Kiara’s?” I asked. Ursula’s silence enraged me. “Report her as missing,” I ordered Zak.
Her screams vanished beneath the pounding bass of the club’s music. Justice, in my world, had its own rhythm.
Then I turned to the two men. They confessed without much persuasion.
“Don, we were hired to carry out the task,” one of them stammered.
“And who hired you?”
“Her sister… and her ex-husband. They sent us the video and told us what to do.”
My blood ran cold. Wesley and Kiara. The betrayal was complete.
My bodyguards handed me the phone that contained the evidence. “Report them missing,” I said flatly.
Their lives ended shortly after. I didn’t flinch. The moment they were gone, a strange calm settled over me—a cruel kind of peace.
I showered, scrubbing away the stench of sin and vengeance, and changed into my white pajamas before sitting beside Molly as she slept. She looked fragile, unaware of the darkness that had just been erased for her sake.
But guilt gnawed at me. She had once saved my life. Now, I had taken others for her.
When morning came, we spoke. Molly, hesitant but desperate, agreed to work for me, as my son’s nanny. It was a fragile compromise, but it kept her close, and I couldn’t deny the selfish relief it brought me.
As I was preparing to leave for a business meeting, a text arrived: The company responsible for the shipment swap has been apprehended.
I handed the matter to my deputy and focused on the meeting ahead, until Nora’s next message froze me: Molly is being bullied at the store.
I canceled the meeting immediately. “Reschedule it for tomorrow,” I told my secretary, Marie.
“Sir, the documents still need your signature,” she protested, chasing after me to the car.
“Wait in the car,” I told her, my tone leaving no room for argument.
When I reached the store, I saw it—Molly cornered, trembling, as a store attendant raised her hand to strike her. Nora was already being restrained.
I didn’t think. I moved.
Before the slap could land, I caught the woman’s wrist midair. The room went silent. My voice, cold as steel, echoed through the store, “How dare you?”
Then, turning to my men, I gave the only order that mattered, one that would echo in every terrified corner of that boutique, “Close the store. No one goes in or out.”
Molly’s POV
The temperature in the store dropped the instant someone blocked Melody’s raised hand. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Then that familiar cologne reached me, warm and intoxicating beneath the cold tension in the air.
It couldn’t be… but it was. Gianni.
He was dressed exactly as he had been when he left the hotel, immaculate, untouchable, his white suit still spotless as if sin itself dared not stain him. The entire atmosphere froze around him, and even I shivered when he spoke.
His voice was sharp, authoritative, a sound that could cut through glass.
Two men flanked him, his bodyguards, I realized. Nora’s words from the night before echoed in my mind, and the hazy memories of my rescue finally made sense. Those were the same men.
A part of me wanted to demand answers about what had happened to the ones who had attacked me, but another part whispered that some truths were better left buried.
Gianni’s bodyguards moved like shadows, swift and precise. The two security men restraining Nora were down within seconds, one of them crying out, “We were just following orders!”
Gianni’s cold gaze didn’t waver as he shoved Melody’s hand away. The motion sent her crashing to the floor, clutching her wrist in pain.
My heart clenched at the sight. Even after everything she had done, I couldn’t stop feeling sympathy. That was just who I was, always pitying others, even those who would never return it.
“You harass one of the boss’s managers and call that following orders?” one of Gianni’s men barked. “Whose orders exactly?”
I rushed to help Nora to her feet, grateful for the excuse to stay far from Gianni’s burning presence.
“She’s the manager, isn’t she?” I asked, pointing at Melody. I could have sworn her tag only said attendant, but the man’s expression told another story.
Gianni’s voice was low and dangerous. “And you,” he said, his gaze cutting through Melody and the other woman like a blade.
The taller bodyguard stepped forward. “You call yourself the manager? These guards are new, so you exploited that and pretended to be one after the real manager left on business,” he revealed.
A collective gasp spread through the store. Melody’s face went pale, shame replacing her arrogance. But then, somehow, she found her voice.
“Abi left me in charge, so I’m the acting manager,” she muttered, head bowed. “I only wanted the best for the store.”
The bodyguard frowned deeply. “Boss sent these women to buy from his shop, and you bullied them.”
The revelation left me stunned. Gianni owned this store.
No wonder Nora had insisted we come here.
“I didn’t—” Melody began, but the words barely left her lips before the second bodyguard, the one standing closest to her, kicked her in the stomach.
The sound of the impact echoed. My breath caught. She fell to her knees, gasping.
“Please… I’m pregnant! You’ll kill my baby!” she cried, clutching her stomach.
My heart stopped. The bodyguard’s face showed no remorse, only contempt.
“So what? You’re pregnant and still dared to cause trouble for the boss?” he sneered, grabbing her roughly by the arm and forcing her upright.
“Stop!” I screamed, my voice cracking. “Please, can you tell them to stop?”
For the briefest second, something flickered in Gianni’s eyes—hesitation, maybe pain, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. He turned to Nora instead. “Take her out of here.”
Something inside me withered. The look in his eyes was too calm, too final. I knew what was about to happen behind closed doors, and it terrified me.
A murmur rippled through the shoppers. “He’s indeed the devil in white… he won’t show her mercy.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m not leaving!” I shouted. “I came here to shop, right? Even if she deserves punishment, her unborn child doesn’t. Please, Gianni!”
He glared at me, a mix of anger and disappointment flashing across his face. Nora squeezed my hand, whispering urgently, “No one talks back to him, Molly. Be careful.”
But I couldn’t stay silent. I wouldn’t. Somewhere beneath that ice-cold exterior, I knew the old Gianni was still in there, the man I once knew, the man I once loved.
Finally, he spoke, his tone like iron scraping against marble. “Jace, let her go.”
The bodyguard’s grip loosened, and Melody collapsed to the floor, trembling. She crawled toward me and clutched the hem of my skirt, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Molly… I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was cruel to you, but you saved me.”
Why did it feel like Gianni could have hurt her far worse than I wanted to imagine?
“I didn’t do it for you,” I said softly. “You should be thanking your unborn child.”
She wept harder. “It doesn’t matter. If you did it for the baby, then you did it for me. I thought you were evil, but this… this proves otherwise. Please forgive me.”
The crowd had changed. Their whispers were no longer filled with contempt.
“It’s true… Molly is kind,” someone murmured.
But I didn’t feel kind. I felt hollow. Angry. Vengeful.
I opened my mouth to speak, to tell them all what I really felt, but Gianni’s voice cut through the air before I could.
“You should leave while you still can,” he said coldly, his tone final. “You’re both fired.”
The words hit like a slap, and my heart sank, even though I didn’t understand why.
“Gianni…” I started, but he turned to me, his gaze sharp enough to pierce the walls around my heart and whatever I was about to say dissolved on my tongue.