Chapter 1
“Mr. Lorenzo, come into my office right now.” Lorenzo’s factory manager barked at him, as usual. Lorenzo ran after the manager, and walked fast to his office, wondering why he was called into his office.
“Yes, sir.” Lorenzo tried sitting down on the office chair.
“Don’t you dare sit in the chair with your filthy clothes! The company spent a lot on that chair. It is not for worthless people like you.” The manager scolded him.
Lorenzo stood up, feeling a little dejected, but he was still a little happy because of the project proposal he had submitted. He was elated because he was confident that the headquarters would accept his work.
He was used to being talked down to and treated like trash by his employer.
“I am sorry, sir. What do you want to see me for?” Lorenzo uttered.
“I don’t like your tone. Watch it.” The manager hollered at him. “The proposal for the project you submitted. Was that your idea?”
Lorenzo’s face lit up immediately, and a smile popped on his face when he heard the manager mention the project. He was so glad that even the factory manager recognized his work.
He was so glad that his sleepless night paid off and he was finally going to be able to give his wife a better life.
“Yes sir. It is my idea.” He chuckled, and the manager sneered at him.
“Are you sure? You can’t come up with something like this. You don’t even have a university education.” The manager argued.
“I came up with this and I drafted the proposal for this project on my own.” Lorenzo argued back.
He had a university education, but he didn’t use that in his resume while applying, so the manager wouldn’t think he was overqualified for a factory job.
He did that because he was desperate to find a job and being unemployed for a long time.
“Do you even make sense to yourself? You stole the proposal you submitted for the project. I employed your pitiful ass, and this is how you pay me back? By lying?” The manager insisted.
“I am not lying, sir. I stayed up for nights while I was preparing this." Lorenzo cried.
“What do people like you know about staying up at night? You should stick your nose out of office business. Do only what you are asked to do.” The manager got up from his seat and he started poking Lorenzo’s chest.
Lorenzo moved to the back, and the manager poked him harder, pushing him to the floor. His friends came in.
“What’s up, man?” One of his friends shook him as they entered. “Why are you bullying Mr. Long chin?”
The manager’s friends laughed. They call Lorenzo, Mr. Long chin anytime they visit their friend who is the manager.
“I wish I could slap his dirty mouth,” Lorenzo thought in his head. “I don’t even know why this one with an elongated head boy started calling me Mr long chin." He complained in his mind.
"What did I just hear you say?" The manager's friend with an elongated head replied Lorenzo.
Lorenzo realized he said what he was thinking out loud. "I wasn't talking to you, sir. I swear."
The manager landed a thunderous slap on his face. "How dare you tell a lie to my face? This is the second time you are lying to me today."
"I didn't tell any lies sir," Lorenzo said.
One of the manager's friends pulled his hair, and the others started throwing punches at him.
"I'm so sorry sir," Lorenzo shouted as he could no longer bear the pain from the punches, but no one listened to him. They kept punching him till blood started coming from his mouth.
“That’s okay boys.” The manager cautioned his friends. “We didn't want to stain our hands with his wretched blood. Get up, Mr. Lorenzo.”
“Did he pee in his pants?” Another of the manager’s friends snickered as soon as he saw a wet patch on Lorenzo’s pants and the remaining people in the office started laughing.
Tears flowed down Lorenzo’s eyes, but he knew he could quit his job because there was no way he would take money back to his house.
“How can a grown-ass man like you pee in his pants? I am sure you are married. You are a big disgrace to your wife.”
“I wonder how she would feel if she saw you in this state?” The factory manager added to what his friend said, and they brought out their phone cameras. They started filming him, pushing him to one another.
Lorenzo’s Blood boiled with how he was being mistreated by his boss and his friend. He could not retaliate so that he won’t lose his job, plus he couldn't overpower them.
“I didn’t pee in my pants.” Lorenzo whimpered. Water was on the spot he fell on when his boss’s friends were punching him.
“We can’t hear you.” The manager screamed at him, and laughter erupted from his friends again. The sound of their laughter resonated in Lorenzo’s head.
He started feeling dizzy from the way he was being pushed around. He didn’t eat at home before coming to work. One of the manager's friends pushed him and he fell on the floor.
He passed out.
“You keep falling down, Mr Lorenzo. Do you have epilepsy?” The manager jeered, and he kicked him with his foot.
Lorenzo did not move from his position. One of the manager’s friends bent down and checked him out. He noticed that Lorenzo had passed out.
“This weakling is gone,” He announced to his friends. “Someone give me a bottle of water. We need to wake this son of a bitch up. He slept off while we were teaching him how to be a man.”
The manager handed his friend a bottle of water. Lorenzo woke up sniveling because of the water that was spilled on his head.
“The weak man has woken up,” the manager snorted. “I am enjoying this performance. Don’t tear his clothes, boys. He is too poor to afford new clothes.”
“What about your beautiful wife? Can I have her to myself? You are too poor to manage that beauty. What is her name again? Hazel? Her luscious lips will surely taste good.”
“Get my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.” Lorenzo stood up and head-butted the guy that mentioned his wife’s name.
The guy pushed Lorenzo back, and he started hitting him in the face. “Why did you fucking touching me? Your wife’s name triggered you, uh? Let’s chant her name, boys.” The guy declared to his friends.
“Hazel! Hazel! Hazel!.” They clapped and yelled. Lorenzo got madder. He went against his manager and threw his fist against his face and the manager went down with that one blow.
His boss pretended to have passed out. Lorenzo rushed toward him, thinking he had passed out for real. His boss woke up and grabbed Lorenzo by his neck, and spat on his face.
“This stupid man got tricked by me.” The manager mocked. He pinned Lorenzo down. “If this gets out of this factory, consider your job gone. I will fire you without thinking twice.”
Lorenzo shivered in fear.
“If the headquarters gets wind of what happened here regarding the project and this little fun we had here. You won’t find anyone to employ you.” He took his hands off Lorenzo and put his leg on his head.
“Think about your beautiful wife and how you will both starve when you can no longer provide for her.”
“I don’t mind helping you do your husband's duties for some money if you don’t mind.” The manager and his friends laughed. The manager removed his leg from Lorenzo’s head.
“Now run off.” The manager shouted, and Lorenzo ran out knowing his boss will torture him if he failed to run.
Chapter 2Lorenzo took a bus home. He was feeling tired and weak. He just wanted to get to the comfort of his house.He knocked on the door of the house and it took a while for his wife to open the door. It started raining all of a sudden. The breeze blew the water from the rain to where he was standing on the porch.He waited patiently for his wife to open the door because it was his fault that he left his keys at home when he was going to work. He was soaked before his wife opened the door for him. “You are late today.” Hazel, his wife, complained as he walked in.“I was busy at work,” Lorenzo replied to her with a smile on his face, because he knows she will be mad if she told him what happened at the factory.“Look at how dirty your clothes are. Don’t tell me you got bullied at work again today.” Hazel exclaimed, and she closed the door.“No, I wasn't,” Lorenzo lied and smiled at his wife.“Then explain the injuries on your body and why your clothes are so dirty.” She requested s
Chapter 3 He didn’t want his family members to know that he was badly injured at the moment. He went to take a cold shower because the water heater isn't working. He almost froze as he finished taking his bath. He had given Hazel the money to pay for the way, did she not pay? “Maybe she forgot,” He thought to himself. He quickly got out of the bathroom and dried himself with the dirty brown towel that was hanging by the door. Hazel didn’t let him use the washing machine to wash it, she said washing his towel in the machine would make it wear out. He always respected her wishes and orders because he loved her and treasured her as his wife. He wore an old long sleeve shirt, it was his favorite, though the shirt was faded and old, he treasured it because that was Hazel’s to him. He knew she was in love with him when she had given him the shirt. Hazel switched up on him because of his financial status and the huge disrespect he got from her family made him depressed. He was feeling
Chapter 4 Lorenzo looked at the man in suit’s clothing again, and he noticed the gold wristwatch on his wrist, he was hundred percent sure that the watch cost him a fortune, same for his shoes plus all other body accessories he was putting on. He was rich, the rich always bullied the less privileged and this man was no different, he was being judged because of the way he was dressed. "Now that you have added Rossi to your name, you expect me to believe you and usher you in, please be smarter next time." The man in suit said angrily. "If you are a Rossi then I own this building." he added spitefully. He knew how beggars liked to lurk around the Rossi’s Palace and disturb them, so he thought Lorenzo was also a beggar that has motives to beg. "I should have told you my name first." Lorenzo palmed his face in disappointment. "I am not lying." He insisted. "You are lying, I'm sure you are one of those beggars that want something. Security!" The man shouted and a security man came runn
Chapter 5 Lorenzo moves close to touch his sister and the security man launched at him and yanked his hand off real quick. “What do you think you are doing? Why are you touching my madam with your filthy hands?” Roberto yelled, making Lorenzo stagger. “Roberto!” Leonora called in a thick Italian accent and glared at him. “Get your hands off him. He is my brother, your master.” She broke Lorenzo’s identity to him. Roberto fell to his knees in front of them. “I am sorry, young master, my lady. I thought he was joking.” He faced Leonora. “I am so sorry for my insolence. Please forgive me.” “Tch tch.” Leonora clicked her teeth. “Do your work right and never let this repeat itself,” She then faced Mr. Giovanni and cleared her throat before taking Lorenzo inside. Lorenzo marveled at the interior of the house and faced his sister. “Nora, what is this place?” Leonora smiled at her brother, she was happy that he called her by the name he always addressed her with when they were little.
Chapter 6 “Father is right, brother,” Leonora said as the servants opened the doors for her to come in. Lorenzo’s personal maid grabbed a chair for her to sit on. Leonora sat gracefully by her brother's side and she placed her hand over his. “The hardship and suffering was your fate, it was decided by our forefather and that is how every successor of this family will live.” She smiled at him and let go of his hand. The maids served some food in her place. “We should eat first,” Loenora said to her Father and her brother. “We can speak after the meal so it won't be too cold to eat.” The two men obeyed her and they started eating. Lorenzo ate to his fill, savoring every dish that was served on his plate. He barely got to put food on his table for himself and Hazel, on the days he buys beef or fish, Hazel has everything to herself and she still reprimands him that he can’t provide up to half of what she used to eat. The maids cleared the table after they were done eating and the mal
Chapter 7 “I have a favor to ask you.” Lorenzo asked his sister and his father. “What is that?” Leonardo asked curiously, he was keen on knowing what his son wanted. He wanted to grant him his wishes because of how hard he suffered. Lorenzo looked at his father and his sister before starting to talk. “I want to hide the fact I am back as the heir from the meanntime?” He requested and his sister was shocked as well as his father. “But why, Brother?” Leonora asked, wondering why her brother made such a request. “Are you sure that is what you want? I mean you could request anything else.” “Yes Father, I think it is better to keep it from the world for now, I want to take revenge on everyone who bullied me while I was still a poor man. It would be easier to keep it away from my wife.” he knew his last sentence would make them agree. “Well, he has a point father, I think it is a good idea but how will you keep your driver and your personal maid, I mean Dave and Daphne have to accom
Chapter 8 The factory manager smirked at Lorenzo. He was happy that Hazel got Lorenzo to apologize to him. He was even happier that Lorenzo agreed to beg him in the office, that way every other staff would fear him. “I should take my leave then.” He announced to the couple, grinning hard at Hazel. “Mr. Rossi, I shall be expecting you at the factory for your esteemed apology.” He patted Lorenzo’s back. Lorenzo shrugged his hand off and glared at him. “Thank you for giving him a chance to redeem himself,” Hazel thanked the factory manager well. Lorenzo was very annoyed at what was going on. He wanted to wipe the smile on the manager's face with a punch. “It’s okay. He owes this chance to you. I wish he had some sense like you.” The factory man commented. “I should get going, I will be expecting your apologies at the factory.” The manager smiled before leaving them. “Why do you keep thanking him, Hazel? He was the one that wronged me. He beat me up with friends.” He raised his voic
Chapter 9 “Stop touching me.” Lorenzo barked at them. “Why do you keep pushing me? The manager is not even saying anything. Mind your own business.” He shrugged the hands of the manager’s friends off his body. The manager moved close to him and grabbed him by his hair. “Whatever they do is my instruction, if you raise your voice at them..” Lorenzo spat on the manager's face and the manager let go of him. “This son of a bitch just spat on me.”The manager cried out. “He spat on the face I got an expensive procedure on.” One of the manager's friends quickly offered him a handkerchief to use. And the other friend went to Lorenzo. He raised his chin up. “I always knew you were a lunatic.” He said to Lorenzo before he started raining blows on his face. Blood oozed out Lorenzo’s lips that got bursted from the blows. “Paupers like you can never make it in life with your attitude.” The friend mocked him. “How can you throw your saliva at the face he just got a procedure on. Your ten years
Epilogue Five Years Later. Leonora had forced us to come down to Delaware for Father’s memorial, instead of doing it separately, depending on the country. “I do not appreciate being here when I have a meeting in France,” Lorenzo whined over Lunch. “How do you cope with this rascal?” Nora faced Hazal with a disapproving look. “He is addicted to work as always, talking about being in France while we celebrate our father’s ten years memorial.” Hazel giggled, “You know how he is.” “Sweetie, are you taking sides with her? This is why you should never trust women.” Lorenzo pointed his fork at Nora. “She told me I could work as much as I wanted before I retire.” Then he continued eating. “I did tell him that, he kept saying he was bored at home and all.” “You are in this together. Nice. How is work though? I heard you have opened an IT center in New York and it is making waves.” “It’s all thanks to my husband and your husband too, he helped out with the set up and internal works.”
Chapter 76(TWO DAYS LATER)Hazel stirs in bed, her first movements since her emergency surgery two days ago. She slowly opens her eyes but can’t open them fully because of the brightness of the room. Lorenzo notices that she is trying to open her eyes and rushes to her side.“Hazel… Hazel, can you hear me?” he asks, his tone laced with desperation and worry. “I…can…hear…you.” She replied weakly.Tears of joy rushed to his eyes as he broke down in front of her. “I thought I was going to lose you. I really thought I was going to lose you.” He said in between loud sobs.Hazel watched with tears in her eyes as her man wept in front of her. Being too weak to do any other thing, she reached for his hand with a sense of longing.“I’m here, Lorenzo. I’m here.” She reassured him. This little action made Lorenzo cry harder.Hazel then remembers that she is with child. Panicking, she touches her stomach. “My baby, is my baby okay? Did anything happen to my baby boy?”“Our baby is fine. The do
Chapter 75As he got into his car, the incident with Daphne was already behind him, he gripped the steering wheel in anger as he tried to calm himself. He didn't know what he would do to Aurora when he found her, but he didn't trust himself not to hurt her. He parked his car in front of his Company and rushed out. He rushed towards the elevator, ignoring the greetings of his staff. Before he got into the elevator, he stopped one of them and told her to call the police. She nodded weakly and ran to do that.The elevator door closed and he punched in the button that took it to the basement floor. He knew that if Aurora was here she would make sure that none of the staff had seen her when she was coming so asking them was pointless. She wasn't stupid and she knew her way around the company. The elevator dinged and he stepped out. He looked around but couldn't find anything, he only saw metal pipes and heard water dripping somewhere. He looked around and saw a small light coming fro
Chapter 74Lorenzo took his car keys from the chauffeur and ran towards his car. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this before. Daphne and Aurora had worked together even if Aurora was only using daphne, she was the most likely person to know where Aurora was. He needed to get to the detection center as soon as possible, or else Aurora would get away with what she had done. He couldn't let her get away with it. She put the woman He is in love with in the hospital and took his child away from him. He owed it to Hazel to make her pay for what she had done. He couldn't even begin to imagine how broken Hazel will be when she wakes up and her child is gone, and it was all his fault. If only he had seen the signs earlier, he could have prevented this from happening, Hazel would be fine and their child would be alive. Aurora had to pay.He hastily parked his car and jumped out and ran inside to the reception."I need to see Daphne Giovannì " He said, out of breath.The lady at th
Chapter 73He sank into the chair, tears moved freely from his eyes as he mourned his baby in his heart. He had not gotten the chance to give it a name like Hazel wanted.Work had taken all his time that could not make time to have a talk about the baby’s name with his baby mama and girlfriend. She mentioned it a few times and he had told her to pick any names she wanted since she did a good job naming Sandro.She refused and offered to pick out some names then they would select the best ones of the baby which he agreed to but he never did.He had seen a tweet that Elon musk has many companies, 10 kids and he still replies to random tweets on twitter, no one is ever too busy to make time.He was rich, very richer than Elon Musk but he didn’t have ten kids nor did he use twitter, he had no excuse for not making time for his family.What was he running from? Was he scared that Hazel would treat him like she used to? Does he still have PTSD from the situation?He needs to see a therapist
Chapter 72Lorenzo tossed the cup to the floor and picked his wife up, Luca and the other guards rushed in. “get Alessandro and one of you should get the car.”“Yes sir,” Luca replied as a maid opened the door for him to go out. The maybach was sitting in front of the house, the chauffeur opened the door to the car. Luca put Alessandro in the backseat with his parents then he went to the back seat. He dispatched about thirty other guards to follow them while seven of them remained at home to watch over Nana.“Daddy, what’s wrong with mom?” Sandro rubbed his eyes, he was just waking up and trying to register what was going on.“Please put the car on lock,” Lorenzo asked the driver for Sandro’s sake. He was sitting beside the wall. “Luca, please call the hospital to wait for us at the entrance.”“Mommy is a little sick, we need to take her to the hospital for treatment.'' He hopes that Sandro buys his story because he was a smart boy and was going to read the situation.“She had blood
Chapter 71Lots of things ran through Lorenzo’s mind as he drove on full speed home. Aurora was a dangerous person. It’s like she had a venom in her.Something strange had bitten her overnight. she felt so different than she used to be. He never thought he would meet that shade of her.Hazel and Alessandro filled his mind. What if she had kidnapped them? Poisoned them or even killed them. His grip on the car steering tightened. He was aware that he was breaking traffic rules but his family’s life was at stake. His heart felt like it was going to leap out of its spot.Going to see Aurora made him hear things he never thought he would hear, but he should have made sure his family was okay. What if he lost contact with Sandro and he had to suffer like him?This was a time for him to lose contact with his son, he didn’t obviously want that. He remembered his promise to keep his son under wings and raised him into a fine young man without following the family’s tradition.Universe gave hi
Chapter 70“It’s not too late for you to change your ways. You can still be loved, I can forgive you.”“She put out the stick of the cigarette she was smoking and opened a pack of gum then she threw a piece into her mouth.Watching Lorenzo’s movement, a grin formed on her face. “It would be great if you just stop all these like a preacher, it suits you" She said "maybe that's what you should have been doing instead of playing dress up as the CEO" "Watch what you say, Aurora." Lorenzo said, straightening his back, he wished she would see what she was doing was wrong but he knew he couldn't let her talk to him like that.He had worked hard on the Company for a long time and she had seen it all. She knew how much he loved the company "Or what?" She said, Her mouth pulled into a sneer,"what exactly would you do?" "Aurora…" "Do you remember that day?" She said, cutting him off."What day?" "The day you carried me to my hotel room, the day you ruined everything" she asked, her voice
Chapter 69“Why did you try to be friends with me in the first place? You didn’t want anything to do with me. I can remember how you made me go on that date with you. You were literally begging me.” He was furious, she wasn’t even showing signs of remorse. Her intentions were showing clearly on her face, how heartless and selfish she was.Her kind face was now dark. Lorenzo felt like he was seeing her deeds on her face. They were hidden, that was why he never saw them. It is better to say she was hiding them.He had never met someone that was so pretentious. Hazel’s family never hid their hate from him, this was pretty different to him.“Do you know the extent I go when I want something? Mind you, Michael and I had not broken up officially at the time he was seeing your wife, I planned to take you to make him jealous.”All Lorenzo could see was her pathetic face and the pathetic words flying out of her mouth. She was talking with pride and a sense of accomplishment. He should have j