The moment I hear the front door to the house close I get up from bed.
It's been weeks. Anna has really turned into our mother now. She doesn't let me leave my bed and she forces me to walk slowly when I need to use the bathroom. I feel like I am going to go crazy trapped in this damn house. Now that she has left to go grocery shopping, I am going to go out.
I've been observing the fall of the Donnelley companies as I've been recovering. All the hard work I've put in is finally paying off. I'm very quickly destroying that family. I'm onto the next and final step and an end will finally put to this all. The next step is to kill Eric, to free Lucia, and send Andrew to prison where he will suffer and then die slowly.
I've finished changing ready to head out when I take my phone from my nightstand. I pick it up to see a screenshot that Annamaria has sent to me and Silas. I check only to see one of the greatest news that I could have received today. The headline is all I need to know I'm winning. It is a signal telling me that I am so close.
BREAKING: THE DONNELLEY EMPIRE FAILED TO MAKE IT OUT OF THE CRISIS THEY HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING. THEY HAVE OFFICIALLY GONE BANKRUPT. WE HAVE YET TO HEAR FROM ANY OF THE DONNELLEY FAMILY FOLLOWING THIS SHOCKING NEWS.
I smile to myself as I go to grab my car keys. They're jobless, moneyless, and soon lifeless. All their business partners and alliances have turned on them. They're all now working for the Bianchis. I took what was left of my parents' companies and I built all back up again. It's even better now than it was then. I know they'd be proud.
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I walk into the main building of the Donnelley companies. I quietly chuckle to myself when seeing how stressed everyone looks and how panicked they are basically running around with papers, laptops, or on the phone.
It feels so satisfying to walk through the chaos I've caused. I swear a fight might even break out at any moment now from how stressed and panicked everyone is. One bump of a shoulder and it's over.
I take the elevator up to the floor where Eric Donnelley's office is at. I freely walk right into the room without even knocking because no one is around stop from how busy and distracted they all are. I enter to find the room wrecked. Eric and his father are shouting at each other, but no one is as angry as the younger Donnelley.
My presence is immediately known interrupting their little argument. Eric's anger flares up when realizing who is standing in front of me. He mood seems to worse. I give him a smug smirk.
"What hell are you doing here?! You should be fucking dead!" He shouts ready to attack me, but Andrew instantly holds him back.
"I should be but I'm not." I state calmly.
"You did all this. This is all your fault. You're trying to ruin my life just because your little sister didn't want me to fuck her!" He tries to get out of his father's hold.
He is fully aware of why I have been after him. Then he shouldn't be so surprised about this all.
"Eric, you don't know what you're saying. Shut up." Andrew grits his teeth, trying to stare him down.
"No, I'm actually ruining your life because you tried to rape my sister and because of the disgusting shit you and your father did to my parents." I correct him. The way Andrew's face drops brings some sort of satisfaction.
"You losing money, shipments, warehouses, partners, and alliances is only half of what is going to happen to you." I look around at his ruined office.
"I just came to notify you. You should probably start packing up your companies and your house too. They'll have new owners soon." I turn around to leave his office.
"You fucking asshole! You're going to regret living! I'm going to make sure you and your sister have the same fate as your fucking parents!" His shouts follow me, and I clench my fists trying my hardest not to turn around and strangle him to death the same way he tried to do to my Lucia.
I use all my strength to not turn back for until I make it out the building. The moment I make it out away from the shouts, raised voices, and runs of stress, I take in the silence outside. I take in a deep breath and make my way back to the car trying to calm down my anger. The moment I am in the car my cellphone begins to ring.
I pull it out of my suit jacket, answering it within seconds when I see it is from the laboratory.
"Good afternoon, can I speak with Mr. Bianchi?" A woman speaks.
"You're speaking to him."
"Mr. Bianchi, I am calling to inform you that your DNA laboratory results have arrived. You may come pick them up whenever you wish to."
"I'll be there in a few minutes."
The doorbell sounds just as I step down the stairs.
I decide to open it since I'm close to it. I open it and I'm surprised to see Sophie with her son in a baby car seat. She stands in front of me, her body shaking and her eyes tainted red.
"Sophie, what a surprise. Come in." I give her a smile that she doesn't quite return. She shakes her head looking down at her son as she sniffles.
"Thank you, but I only came to drop off Parker." Her voice sounds weak. She looks so out of life and her eyes seem empty.
I don't get to speak again when she suddenly hands me the baby's car seat. I take it along with his diaper bag. Confusion consumes me as I stare at her saddened eyes.
"Are you and Eric coparenting?" I need answers. What is happening?
"No. I just-" She cuts herself off with an exhausted sigh.
"I can't do it anymore." She admits. "I don't think I'm a good mother and Eric doesn't love me. No matter what I do he will never love me. The only reason he puts up with seeing me is for our son and because you asked him to."
"Ms. Lucia." Rose appears beside me.
"Rose take Parker and let him take Dahlia's nursery." I put the diaper bag on her shoulder.
"Of course." She takes the car seat as I thank her.
I turn to look at Sophie only to find her gone. In that moment I get the instinct to go after her, so I do. I run out the house to see her leaving in her car, not leaving me the chance to go after her. I call the chauffeur over so that he can take me to go after her. I become more confused the more we follow her as I wonder where the hell she is going.
We end up at a secluded area where there is a cliff that leads right down to the ocean. The most absurd thought occurs to me, but I try not to think that way. She wouldn't do that. Especially not when she just became a mother. Her son needs her.
The chauffeur stops the car right as Sophie gets out of hers. I observe her walking toward the cliff not having a clue that I have been following her. I'm not going to let her do such a thing.
"Mrs. Donnelley, this seems dangerous." The chauffeur speaks as I open the car door.
"I know. I'll be back. I have to stop her from whatever it is that she is thinking." I run out the car and after Sophie, cutting him off from trying to stop me.
My heart drops when I see her stand right at the edge.
"Sophie." I call out to her as I get closer.
She turns around her eyes full of tears and her mascara running down her cheeks. "Lucia, please don't get closer."
"Then come here. We can talk this out." I reach a hand to her, but she only shakes her head.
"Let me do it so that I can end my suffering." She sobs, her body shaking.
"Sophie, please listen to me. He isn't worth it. I promise that you don't need him." I cautiously step even closer to her.
"Think about your son. Parker needs you in his life. I need you to not do it so that we can both watch Eric suffer when his time comes after everything he has put us through." I am basically begging her.
"Tell Parker that I love him. Please remind him every day of his life that he is what I loved most in this world, and that he is the only thing I had."
"Come with me, you can tell him yourself. You are going to get through this and every day of Parker's life you will be able to remind him how much you love and adore him." I urge her to take my hand when I am close enough.
"We'll make Eric pay for it all." I give her a pleading look. "Come, let's go with Parker."
She hesitantly reaches her hand for mine and when she is about to pull it back, I don't waste a second to grab her. I react quickly, pulling her into me with all my strength. I back us away from the edge of the cliff as she collapses onto me. I hold her in my arms as she begins to cry hard in so much obvious internal pain.
"You're going to be okay. I'm going to help you." I hug her as tight as she hugs me.
"For Parker." She says through her cries.
"Yes, for Parker." I repeat to her, feeling awful for all the things I am sure Eric has put her through.
"I want to see my son."
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I watch Sophie feeding her little boy who is falling asleep in her arms. She looks at him in such a loving way.
I drink some of the tea that Clara made for us after I asked her to make some for Sophie to calm her nerves. I really can't wrap my mind around what happened. There is obviously something wrong with her and I think she should get help. No one is to blame here except Eric. He made her this way by leading her on while making promises that he knew he would never actually fulfill. He drove the mother of his son to wanting to end her life. I would have never let him live with himself if she would have actually done it.
Sophie gives her son a kiss on the forehead just as Rose appears into the living room. "Would you like me to take him to continue sleeping upstairs?" The girl sweetly whispers.
"Yes, please, and thank you." Sophie gently hands Parker to her before watching her leave.
"Thank you, Lucia. I don't know what I was thinking or where my mind was at." She adverts her eyes from me, seeming ashamed of herself.
"Right now, as I watched Parker sleep in my arms, I regretted what I did. I can't imagine the pain I would have caused him. He would have hated me if he knew I chose to die because his father didn't want me." She wipes under her eyes as tears begin to pool again.
"I want help. I think I should submit myself somewhere until I have forgotten about every feeling I have toward Eric. I want to get better for my son and then go away with him when I get out. I don't want Parker to ever even come close to being like his father."
I lightly smile, loving her thought process. I stand to go take a seat beside her. I take her hands in mine gently.
"You have all my support. You should get as far away from Eric now that you can. Being trapped with him is a living hell that I wouldn't wish on anyone." I look at her seriously.
"Parker is safe with me and if you'd like he can stay here for as long as he needs to." I assure with a light squeeze.
"Thank you. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
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