CHAPTER 23: – I’LL CRUSH YOU! [1] –

Mr. Alberto Stolov walked into the hospital in hurried strides. He glanced at the doctor, who quickly approached him.

"Where is he?" he asked.

The doctor responded, "In ward three."

"What happened to him?"

"He was found knocked out in front of the café opposite Vizera Luxe."

"Vizera Luxe..." The middle-aged man’s eyes narrowed. "What was he doing there in the first place?" He asked, "Is he wounded? How is his condition?"

The doctor shook his head with a polite smile. "There’s nothing to worry about, sir. He’s alright, just a bit beat up."

"Beat up?" Alberto paused with a scowl. "What do you mean? Who would beat up my son?"

The young doctor felt a bit cornered. None of them knew what had happened. "I’m not too sure, sir. The ambulance brought him here. His nose was broken, and he’s missing a tooth."

Alberto’s jaw ticked. He twisted around and stormed off to ward [3]

Stepping into the room, he came to a stop at the sight of Fernando, who was now seated up on the hospital bed. A bandage was wrapped around his nose, and just as the doctor had mentioned, he really did lose a tooth.

Who would do this to him?

"Fernando." Alberto shut the door behind him.

"Dad."

"What happened to you?" He walked up to him, frowning with his hard stare fixated on him. "Why are you here in the hospital? Who beat you up like this?"

Fernando cast his eyes downward, hesitant. He shook his head. "That’s the thing. I can’t remember."

"What do you mean you can’t remember?"

"I’ve been trying to, but I can’t recall a thing." He sounded frustrated. "The last thing I remember was meeting up with Viviana. I had to speak to her. We got into an argument, which made me angry. But after that, I don’t remember how it ended or what happened next."

"Did you lose your brain cells?"

Alberto blinked in confusion.

"Surely whoever did this to you didn’t beat half of your memories out of you, did they? Or did you hit your head hard?"

"Dad!" Fernando glared up at him.

His father, however, scowled. "Tell me something. Did you get to convince her? Or was all this trouble for nothing?"

Fernando gritted his teeth.

"I tried. She just wasn’t listening, and—"

"She just wasn’t listening?" The man scoffed, "Can you hear yourself? How pathetic you sound? All this is your fault. If you’d kept that thing in your pants still, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. The deal we had with the Di-grassis would have been finalized by now. We’d be in-laws to add to it, and if it’d worked, do you know how far that would’ve elevated our status?"

Fernando balled his fists against the hospital gown he had on. "You’re speaking as if the Di-grassis are the most influential family."

"What?"

He spat out, "Dad, Nikolas Bastiani exists. He’s better than the Di-grassis in every aspect you can think of. Wealth, influence, connection. Hell, even the Di-grassis would give anything to have a deal with that man. He’s first on the list here in Valestra and Valestra is a continent where power rules. The more powerful you are, the more influence you exert. Bastiani is at the pinnacle of it. They are behind him. So why are we begging these second-rate people?"

"You’re an idiot." The middle-aged man slapped his son hard against the head. "What goes through that skull of yours? Nikolas Bastiani, you say? What makes you think we have a chance with him? Amadeo Di-grassi has been trying to get himself granted an audience by him. Guess what? Mr. Bastiani rejects him every single time. Now, what makes you think we can get anything from him?"

Eye twitching, Fernando’s jaw clenched.

"So what then?" He asked, "Do you want me to keep acting like a fool? Why do I have to lower myself like this to beg a woman to be with me?"

"Well, you stupid fool, that woman isn’t just any woman!" Alberto shouted at him. "She is the lady Di-grassi, Amadeo’s heir! Who do you think will own the Di-grassi empire when Amadeo retires?"

"Dad—"

Fernando shot to his feet.

"—Are you forgetting that Mr. Di-grassi doesn’t have just one daughter? What makes you think Viviana will inherit everything?"

"Because she is his biological daughter, you moron!" Alberto made a gesture as if to slap him. "Are you stupid? Viviana is his legitimate daughter. Just because his mistress is a part of the company doesn’t mean that a daughter who isn’t his blood will succeed him. For goodness sake, I know the kind of man Amadeo is, and he would rather bite his own tongue than ever give his hard work to one who isn’t blood related to him. That is why he’s made Viviana Di-grassi into the kind of woman she is today."

"I still can’t do it," Fernando refused, biting. "I can’t keep lowering myself before her. Do you seriously want me to fall on my knees and beg her like a dog?"

"Yes!"

His father pointed out.

"Fall to your knees and beg if you have to, Fernando. All I give you is a week to convince her. Or else..."

He turned to leave.

Fernando’s breathing grew. "Or else what?"

The man’s steps faltered. "If you fail to convince her, I’ll strip you of your title as the director of our modeling agency. You want to make a name for yourself, don’t you? Well, boy, I can’t have an uncontrolled man like you be the face of our agency. And you want to know what I’ll do after?"

"Dad, you can’t be—"

"I’ll hand the spot over to your sister. At this point, you’ve left me no choice but to believe that you’re far too stupid to run any of my companies."

He yanked open the door. "As for the matter of the posts spreading about you, I am no longer going to waste my time trying to control your mess. You’ve disgraced yourself, so watch what people say about you. The eyesore of a man you’ve become merely because you couldn’t respect yourself and act half as decent as you should have."

Disgust spread over his features.

"I can’t believe you. What were you thinking? Threatening the daughter of Amadeo Di-grassi. Pfft, you thought it was a game, didn’t you? Well, it’s safe to say, she played you right back, and now you’re left begging."

Fernando’s shoulders rose and fell in harsh breathings. Without thinking, he dropped to his knees, pleading with his forehead pressed to the floor.

"I’m sorry. Dad, I’m sorry," he pleaded. "I agree that I was being stupid. Reckless. I’m an idiot, I know that very well. But please... you can’t take that company away from me. I’ll be reduced to nothing and—"

"This is the consequence of your action, Fernando."

Alberto spat.

"Do you have any idea how hard your mother and I worked to get that deal with Amadeo? All for you to ruin it because of what? Is Viviana not a beautiful woman? She is a woman out of your league, and she could have been your wife. But you had to play the fool you are."

"I’m sorry!" Fernando straightened up with his hands cupped, pleading. He looked miserable. "I was stupid, far more stupid than I’d like to admit. Don’t do this to me, Dad. I need to build myself up! Listen, I’ll persuade Viviana, and I’ll do anything possible to fix this."

His father stared at him, hand balling against the doorknob. "One week is all you have. Fail to convince her by then, and you’ll leave me no choice."

The door was heavily slammed shut, rattling the windows. Fernando stared at the white wall that suddenly felt like it was closing in on him.

All this was Viviana’s fault.

If she hadn’t made that recording. If she hadn’t made a scene at the wedding but married him quietly, he wouldn’t be going through this hell.

Beyond angry, he stood to his feet and furiously pushed off the objects on the table, watching them shatter to the floor, the breakables breaking.

"Fucking b*tch!" he spat on the floor. "You really think you can break me, huh? You think I’m going to let your pathetic revenge against me work?" He began to laugh maniacally, his eyes growing wild with rage. "We’ll see! We’ll see just how you’re going to succeed. Losing the agency for now is no big deal! It’s not enough, and it will never be. But—"

"—I’ll crush you! And it’s a promise!"