Bargain Bride: The Billionaire’s Forced Wife

EZIO BOUGHT A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS for Chiara and some gifts for his in-laws. He was all smiles while travelling down the road, excited to see her cara and visit her parents. He reached for his phone from his pocket, and typed a message to his wife.

To: Cara

Cara, I’m on the way to Mamma and Pappa’s house. Do you want me to buy anything? Just tell me. Te amo.

He sent the messaged and looked outside the window while waiting for his wife’s reply. He caressed the bouquet he is holding and smelled it. Ezio is sure that Chiara will like the flowers, especially because it was also bought from her friend, Ms. Coppola.

Minutes passed and Ezio didn’t receive a reply from his wife. It was unusual, since his wife will always reply to him no matter what she’s doing, even if she’s sleeping.

He sent another message to his wife, waited for a minute before deciding to call her number. However, the phone was out of reach. Ezio tried to call it several times, even calling the other number that his wife used, but both numbers cannot be reach.

“Fuck,” Ezio muttered under his breath, panicking because of what’s happening. He tried to calm himself, thinking that his wife is just busy being with her parents, or maybe she’s enjoying their company so much that she didn’t notice his calls and texts, or maybe her phone is now with her.

He dialed the number of his in-laws, hoping to receive a positive response from them. Ezio’s heartbeat thumped faster as he waited for their response, the ringing phone echoing in his right ear.

“Boss, are you okay?” Luigi asked from the driver’s seat. He heard his signor cussed from the back.

Ezio took a mouthfull of air. “My wife’s not answering her phone,” he answered while anxiously waiting for the other line to respond.

Luigi hurriedly opened his phone while driving, before dialling Victor’s number. However, the same as Chiara’s, Victor’s phone cannot be reached. Luigi tried it again, only to get the same result.

Finally, Chiara’s parents answered the call. “Ezio? Is this you?” Fabio’s voice echoed on the phone.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Ezio sighed upon hearing his father-in-law respond. “Pappa, did my wife already arrived in your house? I can’t reach her number. I’m getting worried,” he spoke while rubbing his palm on his leg.

“My daughter?” Fabio asked with confusion. “I didn’t see Chiara. She didn’t tell us she will visit. Is everything alright?”

Ezio almost spoke all profanities known to mankind after Fabio spoke. He can feel his tears almost escaping his eyes. “We were supposed to visit you, Pappa. My wife came first, and I thought she already arrived at you place.”

“Oh my, no. She’s not here. Have you tried calling your mother? Maybe she’s with her?” Fabio suggested while calling his wife over, informing them about what happened.

“I will call Mamma,” Ezio answered as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Please inform me once you see my wife.”

He ended the call and his trembling fingers typed to call his mother. However, the car suddenly went on a break, and Ezio looked confused at Luigi.

“What happened? Why did we stop?” he asked before looking around.

From a far, three familiar cars were blocking the expressway. Ezio hurriedly left the car and walked towards those three, so as Luigi. The cars of his men also stopped and they followed their boss.

The nearer Ezio got to the cars, the faster his heartbeat become. He can hear his heart beating quickly inside his ears. When they can already see the cars clearly, Ezio couldn’t help but lose a breath.

All of the cars were severely wrecked. The front of the sedan was crashed into pieces that the headlight reached the driver’s seat. The windows were shattered into pieces while the men inside the sedan were squeezed and bleeding; their body were already black and blue as the medics tried to pull them out.

The SUV wasn’t that fortunate either. The doors were all removed and bullet shots can be seen on every side of it. Half of the body of one of the men were thrown to the back of the SUV, just in the middle of the shattered back glass. The other men inside were all dead as well.

The crossover car was the worst of all. It was turned upside down, and the head of the people inside were squeezed to the ground. It is missing two wheels on the front, while the windows were also destroyed.

All of the people inside those cars were the men who were tasked to protect and guard his wife. Ezio felt his body getting numb that he can’t hear the authorities calling for him.

“My wife,” he muttered under his breath while looking around, trying to find the car that Chiara used before they separated earlier. “Where’s my wife?”

The authorities couldn’t answer him. They just arrived a few minutes ago, and the three cars were the only ones they saw.

Ezio ran around the expressway like a crazy man. He kept on looking on every car that looked like the one he owns. “Cara!” he shouted while running and looking for her. “Chiara!”

Luigi and his men followed him. Suddenly, they heard the siren of a car from a far. Ezio’s feet almost involuntarily ran towards that direction, looking for the source of the sound.

His feet stopped working as he saw a various police officers going down the cliff beside the expressway one by one. On the bottom of the cliff, a familiar plate number of a car together with ashes and burnt things were resting.

“Cara…” Ezio muttered under his breath as he stared at the fire engulfing the bottom of the cliff. “Cara!”

Suddenly, Ezio climbed up to the railing of the expressway, trying to jump down to the cliff. The police officers and his men pulled him back in time, stopping him from thr dangerous act that he wants to commit.

“Cara!” he screamed while wailing like a child. Ezio kicked and punched the men stopping his movements as his eyes were fixated on the fire. “My wife! My wife’s there! Safe my wife!”

The police officers wete saying something to her, but Ezio’s ear became deaf. He kicked the feet of one officer before biting the arm of another one.

Once they removed their grips from him, Ezio tried to jumped on the railings again while shouting for his wife’s name. “Chiara! I’ll save you!”

But Ezio was pulled back by Luigi, who cannot stop himself but slap him hard. “Boss! Are you out of your mind?!” Luigi lost his patience and snapped. “Do you think you’ll be alive once you jumped down?! Are you stupid?! ”

Ezio didn’t listen to him. He kept on reaching for the railing, watching the authorities stop the fire before retrieving whatever was left there.

“My wife… Save my wife, please!” Ezio screamed and pleaded to the police officers. His eyesight getting blurry and it ached because of the huge amount of tears that he cried.

Back on the expressway, the authorities retreived three bodies together with some parts of the car that wasn’t caught in the fire. Ezio hurriedly ran towards the examining them through his teary eyes.

“No, no. My wife’s not there,” Ezio spoke while shaking his head repeatedly, trying to convince himself that his wife is not there, and that she’s safe.

The bodies cannot be identified, because everything is badly burnt, especially the face. The clothes of those people were also burnt into ashes. Nothing can be use to identimy them.

Ezio closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. He convinced himself that his wife is still alive, that she must be somewhere safe. He convinced himself that he will still see her waiting for him in their mansion, and that she will greet him with a huge smile and open arms.

Gritting his teeth, Ezio went back to his car and swerved back to the expressway. Luigi and his men were left with the burnt bodies that they don’t even know if it’s really Chiara or not.

Ezio slammed into the breaks, pushing the car to the limit. His eyes were fully of hatred and sadness at the same time. His knuckled turned white as his grip tightened around the steering wheel.

Ezio entered a forest, just near the Red Club where Elisa saw Kazimir’s assistant. He drove and drove, trying to find Kazimir inside that place. Ezio tried to focus and forget the sight of the burnt bodies he saw earlier. His tears threatened to fall once again, and he has no choice but to wipe it out.

“My cara’s not dead. My cara’s not dead,” he spoke repeatedly while driving. “My cara’s not dead. Cara’s waiting for me.”

Ezio wanted to hit his head repeatedly, so that he would forget the sight of the burnt bodies. He wanted to go back to time so that he would have choose to bring his wife to the company with him instead of letting her travel alone.

He let out a loud scream the disturbed the silence of the forest. Ezio punched the windshield repeatedly, until it cracked, making his knuckles bleed.

“Cara,” he whispered with a cracked voice as tears fell down to his cheeks. “Don’t leave me, cara.”

Suddenly, Ezio spotted a huge house from a far. He slammed on the breaks harder and he crashed the gate within seconds.

Ezio left the car and walked with heavy steps towards the mansion that he guessed belongs to Kazimir. He kicked the front door with much force, expecting to see the old man behind it.

However, he was only greeted with silence. On the wall, words written using blood were seen and it read: Don’t blame me. I only want Elisa.