2024-11-26 21:38:23Emilia had long since gotten to her feet and was now scheming. The business agreement with Giacomo didn’t seem to matter as much to her now. Her thoughts were solely on how to get Ezekiele to ditch Lucia and come back to her.
“I will supply you with the steel you need at the regular price. There’s no need to pay me more than is due.”
Emilia almost scoffed at those silly words from Lucia. If only she knew her eye was now on Ezekiele, then maybe she wouldn’t be so eager to help. Emilia didn’t appreciate Lucia’s kindness. In fact, she detested it. If someone treated Emilia the way she treated Lucia, there was no amount of begging that would make her accept her forgiveness.
Was this how she seduced Ezekiele? With the kind act? Emilia wondered, eyeing Lucia with resentment.
Lucia didn’t notice this look in Emilia’s eyes, but Ezekiele, who paid close attention to everything, saw it and knew what Emilia was thinking. He was about to burst her bubble.
“Now that you’ve gotten what you want, shouldn’t you leave?” Ezekiele regarded Emilia with cold eyes.
Realizing she was about to get kicked out before she could even commence her plan, Emilia acted quickly. “Zeke.” She softened her gaze and inched closer until she was touching Ezekiele. “You still love me, don’t you? Let’s put all our wrongs behind us and only focus on moving forward together?”
Ezekiele looked at the hand on his arm as if it was trash, before shaking it off. “Never touch me again, Emilia. And get this through your brain: You. And. I. Are. Never. Getting. Back. Together.” Each word was accentuated fiercely.
Without sparing Emilia another look, Ezekiele faced his wife. “Lucia.”
Lucia looked sideways at the person who called her name. There were a mixture of feelings running through her at that moment, and that person was the cause of most of them.
“Yes, Ezekiele?”
“Remember my promise to you yesterday back in the wedding hall.”
Lucia nodded, meeting Ezekiele’s gaze strongly. Those brown eyes seemed to be twinkling. How could she forget when those seemingly words had been accompanied by honest eyes? She remembered. Still holding his gaze, the two of them had entered a world where only they existed. “I do.”
Satisfied, Ezekiele smiled. “Well, this is only the tip of the iceberg.” He pointed to the briefcase to let her know what he was referring to. “ Erico Schneider…Is that name familiar to you?”
Lucia didn’t have to think before answering. It was a name everyone in the city knew, a name that was a symbol of affluence and power. Enrico Schneider was only the richest man in Oakheart City. Of course, the name was familiar.
“Yes,” Lucia replied, wondering why Ezekiele suddenly brought the name up.
“Well, this €5million is part of a contract from Enrico. You can say he’s someone I happen to know, and when I asked for a favor, he couldn’t say no.”
Couldn’t say no. Lucia noted that phrase. Instead of ‘didn’t say no’, Ezekiele said ‘couldn’t say no’. Wouldn’t that imply that the richest man in Oakheart City owed some kind of debt to Ezekiele? Just who on earth was this man? Lucia wondered.
Smiling, Ezekiele continued, “The total contract is worth a little over €100million.”
The €5million cash had been overwhelming enough, and even the mention of Enrico Schneider, but hearing the total amount of the contract made Lucia slowly rise to her feet.
“Wh-Wh…What?” Her voice was so low, it was almost inaudible, but Ezekiele heard it. Reaching his hand out to Lucia, he held her arm to steady her as she was already shaking. “H-How…? Why…?”
To Ezekiele, the answer was simple. “Because everything that belongs to me belongs to you. And I would like for yours to be mine too. Your problems, your issues, your happiness, your smile, your sadness, your tears.” At the last word, Ezekiele wiped away the tear that came out of Lucia’s eyes.
Lucia’s state of mind was like this: She wanted to cry, but at the same time, she also wanted to pinch her awake from this dream. It had to be a dream, or else, why was Ezekiele being so good to her?
With a choked voice, Lucia asked, “Why are you being so good to me?”
“Because you were good to me first. You saved me, Lucia. All the promises I made to you, I will surely do.”
Leaning closer to Lucia, until their faces were only inches away from each other, Ezekiele closed the gap to place a soft kiss on Lucia’s lips. Lucia gasped and a shiver went through her. It seemed like an eternity later when Ezekiele reluctantly pulled away.
“I have one more thing for you.”
“More than this?”
Ezekiele nodded, then reached into his pocket. When he took his hand out, it wasn’t empty. It was a purple matte card with a symbol of a crown. Even to the common person, it was clear that it wasn’t an ordinary card.
Emilia, who had watched silently up until now, let out a gasp.
“This is for you,” Ezekiele said as he placed the card in Lucia’s palm.
With a lost look, Lucia stared at the card. It looked quite luxurious, but she had no idea what it meant, but Emilia did. She’d done her research in anticipation of the Great Marshal’s Comeback Ceremony, and knew the card to be something that only the top 1% of Oakheart City had the privilege of owning!
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THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER TEN
“This is a VIP card. It gets you anything you want in Oakheart City.” Sensing Lucia’s confusion, Ezekiele explained. Understanding, Lucia’s mouth rounded into an oh. “How-?” Lucia had been about to ask Ezekiele how he got the card, when another voice spoke over her. “Why are you still here?” It was Anna who asked this question which was directed to Emilia. “My daughter agreed to provide you with the steel you need, so isn’t it about time you left?” The reason Anna had been silent for so long was because she had been trying to process what just happened. It was a lot to process, but Anna knew for a fact that Emilia wasn’t going to sit back quietly while a big fish got away from her, and she would try to sabotage Lucia. Anna took it upon herself to make sure that didn’t happen. “What?” Emilia sneered at the older woman. “I still have some questions to ask Ezekiele.”In response, Ezekiele was quick to shut that down. “Emilia, I believe I have answered all your questions, and I’m cert
THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER ELEVEN
When Ezekiele returned to Lucia’s steel mill, he heard her laughing into the phone. He stood by the outer part of the office, listening.A couple seconds later, Lucia said, “Uncle Jeremy, thank you for getting the IGB off my back. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your help.”Hearing these strange words, Ezekiele’s brows shot up. Who was it that got the IGB off her back? Her uncle? Impossible! Still, he didn’t react or alert her of his presence, and continued to listen to what else she had to say to the person on the phone.From where he stood, it was hard for Ezekiele to hear what the person on
THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER TWELVE
An air of quiet fury descended in the room, and for those couple seconds, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. As Lucia looked from Ezekiele to her uncle, Jeremy, the two men only had eyes on each other, staring each other down.While there was fury on Jeremy’s face, Ezekiele had on a simple smile. Anyone just arriving at the scene would never know that he’d slapped someone just moments ago.“You bastard!” Jeremy, having had enough of nursing his bruised cheek and pride, made to rush an attack at Ezekiele. He was only able to move a few seconds before he stopped again with wide, shocked eyes. Next to him, Lucia’s mouth fell open with a louder gasp.The night had just begun, but Jeremy had already been slapped twice.
THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Giacomo was here. He’s willing to take Lucia back as his wife!”At Anna’s announcement, Ezekiele’s face went blank. He turned to Lucia, and saw that quiet tears were already rolling down her face. But he couldn’t interrupt. Anna Rovings was very similar in terms of the family Ezekiele grew up in.Merely seeing her greedy face at the sight of the gifts told Ezekiele that she couldn’t care less if her child was hurt by their actions. As long as her needs were met, Anna would sell Lucia out.“Mom, what do you mean Giacomo is willing to take me back? I’m already married! How can I go back to him?” Lucia cried out.Even aft
THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The covering of the dark night followed Ezekiele as he went out of the Rovings house to the location Giacomo asked to meet at. In ample time, he arrived at a diner at the outskirts of town. At that late hour, the inside was bustling. As Ezekiele walked in, his eyes immediately fell on the table Giacomo was seated at the back of the room. Other than that, he took note of everyone else in order to ascertain whether or not there were any suspicious persons around. The other people seemed to be regular diners, but Ezekiele didn’t let his guard down. When he reached Giacomo’s table, he leisurely pushed back his coat and lowered himself onto the chair opposite with a carefree smile.It was a bit careless of him to be alone, Ezekiele thought as stared at the top of the other man’s head. Giacomo was typing into his phone with his head faced down, but Ezekiele knew he was aware of his presence. The silence stretched for some time before Ezekiele spoke. "You claim that I have something of yo
THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Will you be okay by yourself?” Ezekiele asked Lucia.A couple days had gone by since his meeting with Giacomo Hamilton, and so far, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but it didn’t mean nothing wouldn’t. Ezekiele was on guard, but he didn’t expect Giacomo to try to attack Lucia or the steel mill. That would be acting careless.“Yes.” Lucia nodded. “The only thing I have to do here is supervise the workers. As you can see, it’s really busy out there.”And it was. Work had begun in full swing, meaning the steel mill was the most active Ezekiele had ever seen it. With its size, there were at least over three dozen workers already working, and more were still on their way.<
THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER SISTEEN
Upon hearing the charges that were brought against him, Ezekiele’s smile widened. He’d suspected that Giacomo would make a move soon, and sure enough, he was using Emilia to do his dirty work. And she looked very happy to be a part of it.Taking his eyes off of Emilia, Ezekiele looked at the unsmiling officer with the gun. “Be careful with that thing. You wouldn’t want to fire it by mistake, huh?”He acted like he didn’t hear, but the other police officer, who opened the door, then proceeded to put handcuffs around Ezekiele’s wrists. A bit overkill since he was already prepared to go with them, Ezekiele thought but didn’t argue.“Ezekiele Moretti, you’re being arrested under the suspicion of sexual and p
THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“This is not the gratitude you should show to the man who made sure your son was released from prison.”In the days leading up to his release, a new batch of prisoners had been brought in. Arden had been one of them. He was one of the prisoners who insisted that he had been wrongfully accused of his crime.“Liar!”Needless to say, Brian was full of disbelief. He was working with Giacomo Hamilton, the man who ochestrated the whole thing let him know that Ezekiele Moretti was a nobody who had suddenly showed up in Oakheart City a couple weeks back, but the man who helped Arden get out prison was a renowned marshal, according to his son.Still, Ezekiele wasn’t pu
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Have you heard back from the Hautings?”In a lavish home office, a man with a full head of grey hair sat at his desk, reading the news on his computer. Standing in front of him was a man, balding in the middle of his head, and with age marks around his eyes. He was in his late thirties, but looked much older than his years. These two people were Micah and Abel Keatings respectively. Ezekiele’s father and brother. After Ezekiele came out of prison, the first thing he did was change his last name so that none of his family members would be able to find him, but before he was known as Ezekiele Moretti, he used to be known as Ezekiele Keatings. “I’m meeting with the first son of the family and my bride-to-be this afternoon,” Abel Keatings responded. “Hmm.” Micah Keatings made a nasally sound with his throat, not looking up from his computer, then said, “I hope you know this has to happen. For the sake of the family business, you have to make sure this deal goes through. Do everything
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Ezekiele!”A good trinkle passed through Ezekiele when he heard the warmth and longing that filled Lucia’s voice as she called out his name. Dressed in a wine gown, his wife had been hard at work on her laptop when Ezekiele entered the office. With brisk steps, he rounded the table. When he reached where she was, he placed his hands gently on her shoulders before pulling her into a hug.“Did you miss me that much?”Ezekiele felt Lucia’s shoulders bristle, but she didn’t move out of his hold. After a few moments, Ezekiele drew away from her with a laugh. He had somewhere else to be, but he wanted Lucia to be the first person to be when he got back to Oakheart City. Now that he saw her and confirmed for himself that she was fine, he felt at peace. “I have to leave again.” At those words, Lucia’s eyes widened with surprise. “But you just got here. Are you going on another mission? I don’t want to trouble you, but I would appreciate it if you told me where you were going.”Ezekiele wa
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Dad says I get to keep you if you come over.”As soon as Ezekiele heard those words, he reached behind him, grabbed onto the gun in Raya’s hands, and pointed it on her. The whole thing took three seconds, tops. Now Ezekiele had the chance to take a closer look at her. A stunned expression adorned the girl’s face. He was right in thinking she was young. She bore a striking resemblance to Lance and looked about the same age too. Twins maybe. Before speaking, Ezekiele took the gun away from her. “Are you alone in the house?” His eyes darted around the room to make sure that he didn’t encounter any more surprises. “Where are the students?”Raya must not have been expecting Ezekiele to turn the tables on her because a deep pout appeared on her face. “I’m innocent.”“Innocent? We’ll see about that. Where are the captives?” When he saw that Raya wasn’t planning on being forthcoming, Ezekiele raised the gun in his hand and aimed it at her. “Tell me or I’ll really shoot.”Rather than move,
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Lucia Rovings…I assume that might be you.”Lucia stared at the newcomer with confused expression, then at Emilia, who looked confused, but also had admiration written all over her face. He was a handsome man who looked to be in his early-thirties. With hair that fell across his face in waves and the suit he had, he had a neat look. All these things were noted by Lucia as she did a quick sweep of the stranger. “Who… are you?” Also, how did he know who she was?The strange man’s eyes widened briefly before he reached into his shirt pocket. “Oh. I forgot to introduce myself.” Stretching his hand out again, he handed a business card to Lucia. She quickly read the name: Tanner Hautings. Other than a name, there was no other information on the card. Not even a phone number. As she was still looking at the card, it was snatched out of her hand by Emilia. “Tanner Hautings?” The pitch of Emilia’s voice was high as she read the name off the card. “The first son of the Hautings family?” In h
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
After the police came and took the student’s body away, the whole school fell into a somber mood. This was the first time a body of one of the disappeared students had turned up. Before, they could lie to themselves by saying the students who disappeared ran away from home, but now, they weren’t so sure. Before class began, Chris asked to meet Ezekiele at the back of the school. The teenager was panicking so he paced around. “He’s killing people now. What’s your plan?” Ezekiele didn’t answer and stared at Chris until he frustratingly came to a stop. “Do you not have a plan? Are you going to play teacher until Cassey dies?”“I won’t let that happen,” Ezekiele said before returning back to the class. The students were less mellow than they usually were. Lance Howard, on the other hand, was another story. The smiles on his face throughout the day were bright, seemingly not noticing the sadness of the others. This time too, Lance stuck around after class and came to find Ezekiele in the
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“He’s dead. What are we going to do?”Giacomo studied the panicking Emilia in front of him. She’d just told him about her mother’s accident. Frankly, it was none of his business, but he still needed Emilia to help him with his plan to get rid of Ezekiele Moretti, so he could abandon her just yet. “I’ll get someone to take care of it.”“Really?” Emilia’s eyes lit up. “Will you?”“We’re partners, aren’t we? I’m not going to abandon you in time of need.” Giacomo nodded as a sinister smile creeped up his face. This was collateral. It counted as something he would be able to hold over her head in the future. “I’ll send someone over to your mother to take care of it.”“Of course! Thank you, Giacomo!”With Giacomo’s help, the news of Maddelena Loveheart’s accident never made it out to public news. The dead man didn’t have an identity on him, so they wrote him off and buried him. With that out of the way, Giacomo was ready to move on to his next plan to take out Ezekiele Moretti. He’d suffe
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A long time had passed since Ezekiele did any kind of undercover work, but here he was again. After leaving instructions with Lupo to keep an eye on Lucia and inform him if anything happened, Ezekiele set out for Maple City. Chris had given them all the information he had about the student who was allegedly behind the kidnapping of his classmates, as well as his Police Chief father, who kept his son’s misdeeds a secret. Over the years, Ezekiele had had to adopt a number of personas, but it was his first time going in as a teacher. This time, he was going in as a recently divorced teacher who moved to a new city for a fresh start. With a complete change of wardrobe and hairstyle, Ezekiele was certain that even his mother wouldn’t be able to recognize him. “Mr. Carrell, you’re recently divorced, right?” The principal of the school was a woman in her mid-thirties, and ever since Ezekiele arrived, she’d been beaming at him. Ezekiele, acting as Steve Carrell, nodded lightly, returning
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“So, why do you want to see me?”The arrival of Ezekiele at his right hand man’s hiding spot meant that he could finally meet Liam Tirro, who now went by Christopher Wilde. With a cool, unbothered demeanor, Ezekiele leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. On the other hand, Chris wore a steel gaze as he studied Ezekiele. A few times, he opened and closed his mouth, seeming to want to speak, but not finding the right words. Ezekiele was a patient man, so he could wait. Turning his head towards Lupo, he asked, “How’s your mother? And your wife? I hope they’re not too mad at me for taking up all your time.” The last time they saw each other was at the hospital when Lupo brought the Ammo needle to Ezekiele. The original plan had been for his right hand man to take a break to go be with his family, but with the numerous situations arising, that plan was now on hold. “Good." Lupo gave a brisk nod. "They’re safe and that’s all that matters.”“I need your help.”Pursin
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Rest up. If you need anything, you can call for a maid with the push of a button. When you’ve gotten enough rest, look around.” Those were Ezekiele’s instructions as he helped Lucia into one of the rooms. A smile appeared on his face as he remembered the shock on Lucia’s face when they got into the private elevator that led up to the Penthouse. “How are you able to afford this?” Lucia had asked with an incredulous tone, making Ezekiele laugh. What he didn’t mention to her was that not long after coming back to Oakheart City, he’d bought the company that owned the skyscraper, therefore giving him ownership of a number of buildings. Later, he would make her privy to all these things, but not now. This was only the beginning of what was to come. “I have some business to attend to, but if you need to go anywhere, there’s a phone right there.” Lucia looked in the direction Ezekiele pointed at, and sure enough, there was a landline seated on the desk. “Any of the numbers will connect y
