Chapter 193 One Hundred & Ninety Three

Chapter 193 One Hundred & Ninety Three
Giovanni didn’t move.
He held Ganni close, one arm wrapped tight around him, his eyes locked on Elara.
His voice came out low… controlled… but sharp.
“What happened to you?” he asked. “How did you get like this? We met a few months ago… this obsession, how did it turn into this?”
Elara froze.
Then slowly… She started laughing.
Soft at first.
Then louder.
Unstable.
“Months?” she repeated, her voice breaking into another laugh. “Did you just say months?”
Her eyes lifted to his, wild and shining.
“It’s been ten years, Giovanni.”
The words hit the air like a shockwave.
Giovanni frowned slightly. “…What?”
Her smile widened.
“Ten fucking years,” she repeated. “Since the night on the bridge.”
Giovanni’s brows pulled together, searching his memory.
But there was nothing.
Just fragments.
Nothing he remembered.
Elara saw it.. He struggles to picture if he ever met her before.
And it broke something in her.
“You don’t remember…” she whispered.
He stayed silent.
“You don’t remember saving me,” she said, her voice trembling now. “I was going to jump… to end it all… and you pulled me back.”
A pause.
“I looked at you like you were everything,” she continued softly. “Like you gave me a reason to live…”
Her expression twisted.
“And you don’t even remember.”
Giovanni swallowed slightly, but didn’t speak.
“I saw you again after that,” she went on, pacing slowly. “Not once… not twice… again and again. Fate, right? That’s what I told myself.”
Her lips curved into something darker.
“Then I got close… started following you… watching you…”
Her eyes hardened.
“And then I saw her.”
Her voice dropped.
“Maeve.”
She spat the name like poison.
“That bitch didn’t love you,” Elara snapped. “She was after your money… your name… everything you had. And I needed her gone.. Out of your life.”
Giovanni’s jaw tightened.
Elara kept going.
“So I got close to her,” she said. “Pretended to be her friend. Smiled… laughed… listened…”
Her eyes flicked up, cold.
“And then we planned it.”
Giovanni’s chest stilled.
“…What?”
“The accident, the one you thought she died” she said.
Silence.
Heavy.
“We made it happen,” she continued. “We threatened your father… dragged Gabriele into it… made everything messy… made it look like it was your fault…”
Gabriele, outside, stiffened.
Inside…
Giovanni didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
“And they believed it,” Elara said, almost smiling. “They believed you caused her death.”
His grip on Ganni tightened slightly.
“And that’s where I met Raven,” Elara added, her tone shifting again.
She laughed.
“That poor, innocent girl…”
Her voice dropped into something darker.
“Her stepfather sold her to us…. A little change of 50,000 dollars.”
Giovanni’s eyes snapped up.
“What?”
“She was just a pawn,” Elara said with a shrug. “Someone to blame. Someone to carry the blame.”
Her smile widened.
“I paid the doctor… to hypnotize you, and make sure everything pointed to her.”
Giovanni’s chest rose sharply.
“So when you woke up…” Elara continued, “you went after her. You hated her. You wanted to destroy her.”
She laughed again.
“It was fun to watch… you and your brother… both circling her like wolves…”
Gabriele clenched his jaw outside.
Even now…
He stayed still.
Listening.
Waiting.
“I almost felt bad for her,” Elara added lightly. “Almost.”
Then her expression snapped back to Giovanni.
“But then…” her voice sharpened, “you had to fall in love with her…. You have a problem with picking the wrong ones”
Ganni flinched again in his arms.
Giovanni’s face darkened.
“You’re insane…” he said quietly.
“No,” Elara snapped. “I’m in love with you!”
Her breathing grew uneven again.
“So I fixed it,” she continued quickly. “I went to find Maeve… … living her little hidden life… ”
Giovanni’s eyes widened slightly.
“I promised her money… a fortune… if she came back and played her part.”
Her smile returned.
“To keep it simple?” she laughed. “I made everything happen.”
Giovanni stared at her, disbelief and rage building in his eyes.
“I caused Raven’s accident,” Elara said. “Used a fake leg… her blood… paid the doctor… faked the DNA…”
Her voice was almost proud.
“I’m rich, Gio… money buys anything.”
Silence.
Heavy.
“You’re a monster,” Giovanni said.
Elara’s smile faded.
Her eyes darkened.
“You made me one,” she shot back.
Ganni whimpered softly.
Elara stepped closer again.
“I changed everything for you,” she said, her voice shaking. “Even my face…”
Giovanni’s expression shifted.
Confusion.
Then the realization.
“I made myself look like her,” Elara continued, almost laughing again. “Like Raven…”
Her eyes gleamed.
“I found Elijah again… built the perfect story… that bastard wanted to threaten me I killed him.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“And yet… Raven still didn’t die.”
She let out a sharp breath.
“That girl…”
Her lips curled.
“She just keeps surviving. She must have nine lives”
Silence filled the room.
Thick.
Deadly.
Giovanni stood there, holding his son…
Processing everything.
The lies.
The years.
The damage.
His voice came out low.
Cold.
“You destroyed everything.”
Elara tilted her head.
“No,” she said softly.
Her grip on the knife tightened.
“Am fixing everything… for us.”
Outside…
Gabriele shifted slightly.
Because now…
There was no doubt left.
This wasn’t just an obsession anymore.
This was something far worse.