When Love is not enough
Broken and shattered, Andre Torello contemplated suicide. Love failed him, it pierced his heart and left him bleeding. There's nothing left to hold on to, nothing is left when love has failed him. His fiancee left him, she kept him waiting while she walked the aisle with a richer man. He thought love was stronger than wealth and riches, he'd always believed that nothing can break love but it's all a fallacy.
But what if love is waiting at the door? What if all he needed to do was glance in a different direction, but it was too late, Andre concluded. There's no love anywhere again. He'd been shattered by love; he is not ready to give in to its deception anymore. Love is cruel. But more than a lost love, something else was waiting, a throne and a lover and Andre Torello had only one option, accept it or get ruined forever.
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Chapter 4
For the next two days, Andre didn't step out. His mom had cried, begging him to step out and take something but he wouldn't answer. Felix also came with his girlfriend Lisa and did the same but Andre will not talk to anyone.
On the third day, Andre stepped out, his wounds getting healed but needed to be treated again. Alice saw him and she gasped, it's Christmas eve and he stepped out. May the blessings of this season wash away his pains and replace them with happiness untold.
"Andre my son" Alice chimed and went to hug him. But he was cold, he didn't wrap his arms around her as expected. Alice didn't feel offended, she placed her hands on his shoulder and saw how emaciated he'd become. His eyes were red and hollow and his lips were dry like a malnourished child.
"Why are you doing this to yourself Andre. Jasmine is happy with her marriage to another man. If you keep hurting yourself besides the one she'd inflicted on you, you'll make her feel she owns your breath and she controls your heartbeat" Alice persuaded.
"I loved her mom, but she left me instead," Andre said in a shaking voice. He doesn't understand why she would leave him after so much love they shared, happiness they brought into each other's lives. Was it because of money or his unknown identity?
"Yes, she did and there's nothing we can do about her choice and decision. A phase of your life ended with her. Brace up, you've stepped into another phase now, a better one at that. And I pray for you that this season brings you a whole lot of happiness and blessings..." Alice coaxed more.
She brought him over and gave him his breakfast. Andre couldn't eat. He claimed not to have an appetite for anything. But he needed to step out and take a walk in the snow. Something that might help reduce the burdens that clumped his heart.
"Alright, go well son" Alice said and Andre stepped out cladded in a hood and a canvas. He wore gloves and placed his arms in his jacked pockets. He was gently walking the street and saw people going about, preparing for Christmas.
He could hear the jingles, the homes lights up and the Christmas tree being decorated. But unlike others, his heart was dark and his life felt empty. For many years now, Jasmine and himself always spent Christmas Eve together and it's usually a great time on the 25th of December.
But all seems empty now. No joy, no excitement and nothing intrigues him about the moment. It's like every normal day to him. How he wished this was just a midsummer's night dream that when he wakes up, he'll find it all gone and Jasmine will be by his side again.
As he kept going, he saw a car stuck in the snow. The driver was perhaps an inexperienced driver on that street. He came over and saw him struggling, he glanced at him and without a word, went over to him.
"Do you need help?" He asked, observing the tyres. They've lost traction and the only way to get it out was for it to regain it again. But the car is expensive and sophisticated.
"Yeah, buddy," the driver replied, clasping his hands together. If he hadn't been carrying his boss, it would have been better. But now, his job was not only at stake, but his life will not know peace until everything gets better.
Andre glanced around, there was no shovel or any flat object to use in clearing the snow away. Having no option, he pulled his jacket off and used his hands to clear the snow. He instructed the driver to go in and "gently rock the car back and forth by shifting between the drive and reverse.."
"Yeah" the driver said and was doing that. Andre kept clearing the snow away, moving swiftly from one tyre to the other "gently accelerate but don't keep spinning the wheels" his words were followed by steam and at this time, he was shivering and freezing.
They continued until eventually the car regained traction and moved. The driver wanted to stop because Andre was freezing and he screamed "go faster now buddy" and waved at them. Now his teeth were shattering, his clothes were soaked and covered in snow.
He needed to return home but his feet stiffened. Looks like his blood was getting frozen. The only thing he could do was bring his phone out and called Felix "I'm freezing, on the street" he said and fell down.
"Sorry ma'am" the driver apologized but his boss didn't hear him. She was glancing behind at the man that helped them. He was freezing and yet urged them to leave. What if something bad happened to him?
Her heart started beating fast when she saw that the man couldn't move "Turn around and save that man" his boss ordered. That man might get frozen because of them. How can he suffer such fate because he gave them a helping hand?
The car heater was turned on and yet, she was still hugging herself to remain warm. And the young man, he might die. But she became helpless when the driver said "We would get stuck again ma'am, that's why he said we should go quickly..." he explained.
She sighed helplessly and seeing the rain of snow falling, she hoped the man survived. He appears to be a young man but may the Almighty keep him safe for the sake of the happiness of the season.
A few hours later, Andre opened his eyes on his bed. His joints pained him and he glanced around. Felix was typing on his computer and he observed him for a while without moving or saying a word.
He came to save him. Thank goodness that he went along with his phone this time. He felt weak and was going to call Felix when he beat him to it "what were you thinking, Andre, that you stepped out without a jacket?" He asked without glancing at him.
Andre was shocked. His jacket? Oh goodness, he'd pulled it off to enable him shoved the snow away from the tyre more freely. That must be it, that is the reason why he got frozen in the snow so easily.
"I did, Felix but I pulled it off... he was saying when his mother got in and he paused. She saw Andre awake and her tears cascaded down her cheeks. He survived, he got back to himself again.
"Mom!" Andre called, seeing his mother's tears. What happened to her? Why is she crying? Is it because of him? Obviously it must be.
"You should have asked me, I would have suggested a more convenient way to commit suicide rather than being stucked in the snow. Why didn't you ask me Andre?" Alice helped, her eyes reddened.
"What nonsense are you talking about mom?" Andre scowled.
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9.1
After my second chance at life, I took the initiative to sever all possible ties with Rhett.
When he chose to live in the east of the city, I bought a house in the west, putting a whole town between us.
On the rare occasion he brought the child to my house for a meal, I would lock myself in my room and pretend to be sick, refusing to see him.
When I heard he had volunteered to transfer to our area to work at the factory, I immediately submitted my resignation letter that very night.
Seizing the opportunities of the economic boom, I headed south.
In my previous life, I had loved him for forty years, and for forty years, he had belittled me.
He constantly compared me to his unattainable ideal, blaming me for ruining his dream of becoming a factory director.
Even as I lay dying, he shamelessly planned his wedding with his perfect fantasy.
My stepson, whom I had raised with care, was busy helping with the wedding preparations, abandoning me to face death alone.
Having lived through such a failed life once, I swore I would never endure it again.
8.4
I had been locked in a freezing cellar for three days, starving and waiting for my husband, Marco, to save me.
Instead, the iron door opened to reveal his mistress holding a toddler with Marco's exact face.
Marco wasn't sterile like he had claimed for years. He just wanted my De Luca family trust funds.
With my husband watching coldly, his mistress and a corrupt doctor pinned me to the concrete floor.
"We're going to carve you up until you're unrecognizable, then throw you in the lake," she laughed.
The most chilling part wasn't the affair. It was the realization that my mother-in-law, the mafia matriarch I had served faithfully for three years, had personally signed my death warrant to save their crumbling empire.
The scalpel sliced deep into my cheek, permanently destroying my face as warm blood poured down my neck.
I had given them everything. I used my family's money to pay off his secret gambling debts and endured endless insults about being a barren wife, only to realize the entire family viewed me as nothing but a pig to be slaughtered for cash.
In the suffocating darkness, I didn't pray for mercy. I swore a blood oath.
I didn't die in that cellar. Saved by a legendary rival boss, I stood outside the Falcone estate three weeks later.
I pushed open the heavy oak doors to my own memorial service, the jagged red scar on my face silencing the hall.
"I'm afraid your plans to inherit my estate will have to be postponed," I smiled at my terrified husband.
8.3
My husband watched as my skin melted, scalded by boiling soup, yet his hands were busy comforting my attacker. Five years of marriage, built on a foundation of my family's power, crumbled with a single, brutal act of betrayal. He bought me off with a penthouse and a trust fund, but I tore out my IV and threw his charity back in his face.
It was our fifth anniversary, but my husband, Ethan, remained distant, avoiding any talk of Chicago or the mafia protection my family once offered him. He then pushed a black velvet box across the table.
Inside was a Separation and Property Division Agreement, not a diamond. He told me to sign for Ilene's security, offering millions. When I refused, Ilene hurled boiling soup. Ethan shielded her, not me, as the scalding liquid melted my dress.
With second-degree burns, he blamed me, ordering me from our home for Ilene’s comfort. My family saved him, yet he sacrificed my body and marriage for another woman.
The love I felt turned to ash. What kind of debt demanded my flesh and marriage?
I ripped the IV from my arm, hurling his "charity" keys back. My diamond ring placed on the agreement, I walked away. From today on, Ethan, you and I are dead to each other.
9.7
For three years, I believed I had the perfect, flawlessly submissive wife.
But right as I was about to sign a fifty-million-dollar divorce settlement to make her go away quietly, I suddenly heard a sharp, ecstatic voice echoing inside my skull.
"Freedom! Long live freedom! I finally shook off this absolute bastard!"
I snapped my head up, only to see Iris sitting across the table, her delicate shoulders trembling as she sobbed into her hands, looking like a shattered woman losing her entire world.
It wasn't a hallucination; I could actually hear her inner thoughts. The realization hit me like a physical blow. My fragile, heartbroken wife was a calculating hypocrite who mentally cursed me out while physically begging me to stay. When I later dragged her out of a nightclub where she was partying half-naked, I heard her true thoughts about our intimacy—she considered our nights together a mere "complimentary clause" in our business contract. Even the loving, home-cooked French dinners I cherished were exposed through her mind to be microwaved Michelin-star takeout.
For three years, I had prided myself on being a dominant, attentive husband, yet I was played for an absolute fool. How could she fake every single tear, every single touch, with such terrifying perfection while viewing me as nothing more than an ATM?
Looking at her cowering on my penthouse floor, clutching an anniversary Birkin bag she secretly planned to sell for a Porsche, a dark rush of power blinded me.
I wasn't just going to let her walk away with my millions anymore; I was going to use my new ability to rip off her mask and utterly destroy her.
9.0
As the building crumbled around us, my husband, a paramedic, held the only oxygen mask.
He gave it to his high school sweetheart, not to me, his wife who was struggling to breathe.
Pinned under a beam, I gasped that I was pregnant. He told me to stop being dramatic and left me to die, taking our son with him. My own son agreed, telling his father I always "bounce back."
I lost our baby, alone in a hospital room, while they fussed over her "anxiety attack" across the hall. They had chosen her, leaving me and our child in the rubble without a second thought.
When he finally confronted me, it wasn't to apologize, but to demand I stop my "games." So I gave him exactly what he and our son had wished for.
"I'm divorcing you," I said calmly. "And you can have Jax. I no longer want to be his mother."
8.9
NOT LIKE THIS!!!
Talia Grey never expected to meet the man she abandoned like this! A wife trapped in a marriage where the furniture are of more value than her being.
She used to be the rich kid, he was the pauper! Now he stands before her as heir to a powerful empire - cold, untouchable and dangerously handsome.
Meanwhile Ethan Reed has spent five years drowning himself in work enough to forget about her, not until one meeting shatters it all.
Five years ago, Talia Grey walked away from the only man she ever loved; bound by duty and fear. Now, his grandfather's 80th birthday and retirement celebration has brought him back to her city.
"You're.....rich?" Talia's voice dropped, her hands trembling beneath the table as she recounted the contours of his face, but Ethan scoffed with a clenched fist.
His now cold gaze pierced the eyes of the once naive young lady he'd give his all for....... "why? Are you going to divorce your husband and jump back to me? You're still so crazy over wealth....you disgust me Lia"
She felt an arrow to her chest...
He hates her for breaking him like that.... But what about her?!
Talia has never known love and acceptance till she met him, yet he lied to her!
She can't believe she gave her life to protect a lie.
Their once structured and fated lives become disrupted again. She's married, he's getting engaged....but both hearts have refused to stop aching and yearning for each other.
The question remains.... Is the universe teasing them or are they about to complete the pages of their unfinished love story????