180DAYS
XXII

VINCENZO P.O.V

“Good Evening Mr.Tommaso, How do you like the Punch?” Mr.Tommas is the H.O.D of the finance department, he is one of my dad’s right-hand men. “Oh my, Dr.De Luca, thank you for inviting me to this pleasant event.” ’You are welcome sir” I take a bow and walk toward the old couples and take a bow before I speak. “Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. Fedrico, hope you are enjoying the event?” They both turned with a smile. ″ Oh yes sir, we are very grateful for this gracious evening” Mrs. Fredrico grinned from ear to ear. I take a bow before walking backstage. Picking up my brown journal from the table, it had the speech I would be saying. ” Vincenzo, darling, How are you?” I looked back with a grin plastered on my face, it was mom, she was with Grandpa and MAYA! Oh my, I told her to never step foot into this mansion ever, only if I invited her. Well, what can I say, mom brought her. I took a questionable look at Maya. She was in a black-knee dress, covered with a white Shawl around her neck, her height is pretty impressive but that doesn’t mean I would marry her. I stare back at my mom with a why did you bring her to overlook. She just rolled her eyes, making my annoyance spike up the more. Is this night going to get any better or weirder? I take a bow and shake grandpa’s hand before hugging Mom, I gave Maya a weak smile and immediately looked everywhere except her face. “You are highly welcome to my mansion, I would join you all 30 minutes later, I need to take my speech” I walk so fast to the stage, standing before the lectern. Cleared my throat before calling the meeting to order.

" Ministers, ladies, and gentlemen... Good Evening

In true la pergola style, I hope everyone is having a very happy meal.

Moving to Newyork in 1991 was a leap of faith, I decided to become a surgeon, a cardiovascular surgeon, but the tragic death of my father brought me back to Italy, even though he died 10 years ago, his death didn’t stop me from achieving my dreams. I worked hard to be the best Surgeon in the world and alongside worked so hard not to let my dad’s name drown in the mud. It’s a huge responsibility, I know but that won’t stop me from being happy every second of my life. I wanted to reference that starting point in time because from a position of uncertainty and self-doubt, this Italy opportunity has become my best and has provided me the most fulfillment I’ve ever had in my career.

As described in the video, we took hold of the megatrend, it took us 8 years to open our first 100,000 restaurants in Italy, the first 1000 hospitals in Italy, 200, hospitals in new york, and 5000 restaurants in New York, and just in 3 years, we opened 3000 in Mexico. We doubled our revenue over an already large base and grew profit by over 90% We grew the organization from 10,000 to 100,000 employees. And in tier 1 and 3 cities where we scaled up, we have beaten our key competitors in market share. We are ranked in the top five most powerful brands in the world. I want to thank you all once again for accepting my invitation and showing yourself available here tonight. But I would like to say I am very honored to be the C.E.O of this great company, De Luca S.P.A. It is with pleasure that I accept. It’s a privilege to serve all around the world and mainly in Italy in such decisive times. Thank you, Ladies and gentlemen” Loud claps are heard from around the hall of people, I take a bow and make my way down the stairs. Mom gives me a warm hug and a welcome kiss on the cheeks, while I hug grandpa tightly. Maya smiles at me holding her hands out for me to shake them as a greeting. I take it as just a greeting and nothing more.

⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱

“Dr.De Luca, that was a great speech you said up there.” I turned to look at the owner of the voice, it was Mr. Rolberto, who had his wife beside him. I plaster a faint smile on my face before I spoke. “Good Evening, Mr. and Mrs. Rolberto” “Thank you, sir.”

" I took you for granted, I never knew you got such great taste in foods and drinks, I love the punch served earlier though, I should say it got exquisite taste.” We both laughed awkwardly. ” The pleasure is mine Ma’am.”

THIRD-PERSON P.O.V

The noisy chatterings of women and men filled the air of the hall, the clinking of glass cups from the left, Men of 50 years and below toasting to whatever they had in minds. Excitement played in the head of the young billionaire, while the nights had a lot of evil planned by enemies. A lady in Black heels- red bottom goes to the balcony of the magnificent mansion. A man all dressed in black with a red suitcase approaches her. Even with the silent atmosphere a drop of water cannot be heard “You know what to do, take this, Acetazolamide put a little, did you hear me, a little. Make sure no one sees you, or else our plan will jeopardize.” The deep voice of the man mixed with Hardness. The lady walked past the guards, up the stairs in search of The lady fighting for her life in the coma world. Opening the doors of the room quietly not to cause a commotion. She walks straight to the lady lying lifeless, taking off her mask, smiling maniacally.

" Dear sleeping beauty, alone at last with your precious soul, I have always wondered what Vincenzo sees in you, I tried my best to capture his heart but he falls for your delusional heart. He keeps defending you, ha ha ha, so now tell me who will save you, you are more than dead, I will kill you slowly and no one will know how you died.” The words of the lady were hardened, something like wickedness was filled with the voice of pains.

GINEVRA’S P.O.V:

Slow music is heard from down the stairs, the instrumentalist is filled with so much passion, what is happening downstairs, I can hear the voice of men and women shouting a word of appreciation, The sudden voice of the only person I have been thinking of since the very beginning I opened my mouth to speak resounded in the room, he has so many skills and yet he is still the same doctor I love. The sounds of laughter kept playing in the air, I wish I could laugh again, I want to be one of those women who will gist and laugh but I am still battling with death. Is this life ever going to be fair? My thoughts kept drowning deep and deep in questions, till the sound of the door to the room made me go quiet in my mind, who is it? Is it Vincenzo? The thoughts of him beside me made butterflies dance in my tummy. But the aura of this person was so strong, it wasn’t the scent I knew, it wasn’t Vincenzo. The scent was so strong and it belongs to a lady. Now my instinct spiked up in defense but what am I a lifeless girl that can only be defended in spirit, not in the realm of the living. The words of the lady took me off guard, wait I have heard these voices from somewhere, and the thought of the incident at the hospital brought me back to the realization that it was Maya! Oh no no no, where is Vincenzo? I need him now, why do I feel she wants to do something evil to me.

" Dear sleeping beauty, alone at last with your precious soul, I have always wondered what Vincenzo sees in you, I tried my best to capture his heart but he falls for your delusional heart. He keeps defending you, ha ha ha, so now tell me who will save you, you are more than dead, I will kill you slowly and no one will know how you died.” The words of the lady were hardened, something like wickedness was filled with the voice of pains. My heart skipped out of my chest immediately, Oh my God, I am going to die, what does she want, why does she hate me so much. She wants to kill me OH MY GODD! I screamed, still no one can hear me.

" I will make sure that I am the only one you will hear before you die.” Her steps get closer every second that passed by, The tube that sent oxygen to me was locked from the middle, I was gasping for air through the tube but I couldn’t breathe, why is she so wicked? Everywhere became quiet, too quiet and that scared me because I don’t know if she was still there or she had left. The door didn’t make a single sound, she is still there. What is she planning this time? I mentally screamed for Help. HELP! HELP!

THIRD-PERSON P.O.V.

The nights kept rolling and thinking slowly on the clocks, some men were slightly drunks, while some ladies never got tired of their latest talks. The young De Luca’s mother was so drawn to the talks of the old ladies amongst the crowd. The older De Luca was so overwhelmed with the topics of art mentioned by the other middle-aged men. The house was lighted up with so much diamonds lights and decorated with old-fashioned arts that well still in trend. Foods and drinks kept flying around for everyone. The heart of the young De Luca was restless, his mind kept taking him back to the safety of his pearl. Why was he feeling so shaky when he knows the guards were stationed everywhere. He scans the room for Maya but is shocked to find the lady nowhere near the hall, excuses himself out of the building in search of her on the balcony. Maybe she needed some air,” I should check on her and see if everything was ok” He kept telling himself. His appearance on the balcony was more of a waste because he was faced with the rushing cold, the cold was sure to freeze someone that wasn’t wearing a coat and he knows Maya had no coats on when she arrived at the mansion. The air around him kept creeping him out and he had no idea why he felt so weird suddenly. Walking past the guards, he asked them if they would by chance have seen a lady out there on the balcony, but their response was negative. He stopped by the end of the stairs unsure if she would be up in the rooms. “What would she be doing upstairs” Hmm let me check, in case she was up there” Then the sudden thought of Ginevra in one of the rooms got him racing up the stairs. The door to Ginevra’s room crashed open, revealing both sides of Vincenzo in shock and Maya who was standing too close to Ginevra, what is she doing? “Maya what are you doing?” She jumped in fear not expecting him to be there “Oh Uhm, I, uh, me? Oh, nothing, Vincenzo, what are you doing up here?” Vincenzo walks closer to Maya, inspecting what she was doing. He takes a look at Ginevra when he saw a drop of tears fall down her eyes immediately. He looked at Maya in anger “What did you do to her? Tell me now or I swear I am going to kill you ” He knows he saw her injecting a fluid into Ginevra’s drip but he just needed to be sure if what he saw was real or not. He runs quickly to Maya pushing her to the floor, he wasn’t in his gentleman’s costume this time. He takes off the tube that sent the fluid of the drip straight to Ginevra’s blood immediately, Replaces it with another one, and made sure it wasn’t contaminated because he doesn’t trust Maya. Maya looked at him in disbelief and pain, what kept ringing in her head was why he kept spoiling her plan and saving Ginevra. He takes off the pegs that Maya had used earlier to stop her from breathing. He knew this lady was crazy to do all this but still doesn’t understand why she hates Ginevra so much.

VINCENZO P.O.V.

I turned back and looked at Maya in horror, I rushed straight to her and picked her up by her upper hands, anger filled my eyes, and all I wanted to do is to kill Maya and not remain any pieces of her behind, because who knows what she can do, she could resurrect and hunt Ginevra again till she dies. “Maya, please can I know what you did to Ginevra ?” My voice was so loud and I didn’t care if people would hear me cursing. I need to put her in her place. Maya kept struggling out of my grips but I didn’t budge. “I was looking for the bathroom, I was looking for the bathroom,” She said shakingly. I dropped her to the floor not bothering if she hurt her knees or broke a bone. Who the hell was she lying to? Me? She dares not because if I find out all this was a lie, I would not think before I cut her skin. “Did you see any toilet sign on the door Maya? when you walked into the room did you see the toilet you were looking for? Tell me?” I shout stressing the ‘ME’ in anger. She kept on spilling fake tears, mumbling things I didn’t care about.

“Do you want to kill her?” I shouted.

“What the hell is happening here?” Mom’s voice drew us out of the arguments. Grandpa walked in behind her in shock. Mom walked up to a laying Ginvera, then looked up at me. “Who is this?” She asked in disgust. “Don’t tell me, she is the lady you were talking of, why is she here Vincenzo?” She looked at me strangely, waiting for my answer. “She is Ginevra” I looked at her straight in the eyes. “Didn’t I warn you Vincenzo” Mom kept pointing her fingers at me as she spoke each word. Maya was behind her sobbing like a wounded dog. “Thea, didn’t I warn you of bringing this subject? This is the second time I I will be in your midst and you keep arguing about it” He scolded mom like a kid. ” Vincenzo, what is wrong? I heard you shout from downstairs, so your mom and I needed to check if everything was ok? And By the way, your guest is already leaving.” ” Oh thank you, Grandpa, I hope the guest was not disturbed by my outburst?” I asked frowning.” No, no, it was getting late and chilly outside so they needed to depart for their homes immediately”. I smiled in relief. “Now, young lady, what were you doing up here while the party was on?” Grandpa looked straight at Maya. She sniffed, forcing fake tears to fall off her eyes. “Sir, I was looking for the toilet” She kept on spilling the lies she made up. Grandpa looked at her in disbelief, he turns to me and shakes his head. “So Ma’am why didn’t you ask the guards at the hall or why didn’t use the toilets down the hall, cause I know it’s for visitors, am I right Vincenzo?” I nod in agreement to his words. “I will ask for the last time Ma’am, what were you doing in this room exactly?” She was shaking like she just came out of a freezing pool. “Speak Ma’am or you will face more consequences in Jail for invading someone’s room” Grandpa threatened. “I was paid to poison Ginevra, I accepted to do it because I hate her” She confessed, my jaw dropped wide open in shock, why would she hate her, she doesn’t even know you.” And if I may ask, why do you hate her? because from what I heard Miss Ginevra has never seen you nor spoken to you either” Grandpa kept throwing questions to her. Mom’s face held devastation. “No sir! Ever since I walked into the hospital, I heard him confess his love for her and I feel she doesn’t deserve it, I have always been there from the beginning” She cried. “No need to cry dear, you will have to explain this to the police, why you are holding Acetazolamide, and also the fellow who paid you to do so, will face the consequences in court.” Grandpa leaves the room. Mom eyed Ginevra before comforting Maya as they walk out of the room.

If I had let Maya go scotfree, she will keep on tormenting Ginevra till the day she dies and I will never let that slide.

A/N

Krusticaramel🖤

Sorry about the delay in uploading new chapters. This chapter is quite long and I hope it interests you. Thank you once again for reading my book, please don’t forget to vote and comment.

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