CHAPTER 70: – FERNANDO, YOU IDIOT... –

Fernando lay in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. He was unblinking, quiet and unmoving.

That couldn’t have been real... right?

It was so close. It was right there. Everything he’d wanted the most was right in front of him. He could have had it, but then in the blink of an eye, it was snatched away from him.

He’d felt so dizzy, and he wasn’t even sure what it was that had ticked off in his head, causing him to faint.

The next time he woke up, he was here... in the hospital.

His eyes flickered, and unable to hold it back, wetness built up in his eyes, breaking. It poured from either side of his eyes, soaking the bedspread.

"You’ve got to be kidding me." He laughed at himself.

To think that he would end up disgraced like this. All the bragging he’d done. All the happiness he’d held on his face, thinking everything was finally in his grasp, just for...

He clutched at his chest, trying not to cry. He didn’t want to. If anyone walked in here and saw him like this, it would—

The door was pushed open.

He froze and lifted his head, finding that it was his mother. Bianca Stolov. She paused at the door and stared at him, at his condition, at the pure look of misery on his face. His heart dropped.

"My boy..." Bianca closed the door behind her and walked up to him, sitting next to him on the bed.

"What are you doing here, Mom?" Fernando asked.

"I came to see you," she said, caressing his hair. "Have you been crying?"

He pushed her hand off. "It’s not what you think."

"I’m your mother, Fernando. You don’t hide your pain from me, because I care, do you understand me?" She cupped his cheek. "I know what happened must have hit you hard. It hurts, I know, but I don’t want you to dwell on it."

"Dwell on it?" Fernando scoffed out a laugh.

"You don’t understand a thing, Mom," he said, shaking his head. "Stolique is all I have, all Dad is willing to give me. I’m already on a tightrope with him after what happened, and this was all I had left. If I had managed to finalize that contract, things would have been different." He choked on his words. "A million-dollar contract. It’s not... It’s not something you can just come about."

He was breaking inside. He felt a kind of pain that he’d never felt before. A need to go back in time to figure out what had gone wrong.

Why did Aceto change his mind so abruptly? And without even saying a word to him? Had he done something wrong?

Yes, this was Nikolas Bastiani, but even so? It wasn’t done this way in the business world. You couldn’t just—

His fingers trembled on the bed.

Bianca caressed his hair softly. "I know. I know it hurts. But it doesn’t end here, sweetie. This isn’t the end of the world, okay? So what if it’s a million-dollar contract? So what if it could have done so much for you? Yes, yes, I know all that. But it’s not the end. Other opportunities will come and you can always try again. Do you hear me?"

Fernando stared at his mother. He asked, "Father... where is he?"

"Fernando..."

"Has he visited me even once?"

Bianca looked away from him. "Your father is busy at the moment. He couldn’t come. He doesn’t have the chance to."

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, chuckling. "Right... He’s too busy."

Her face twisted with pain, and she reached out her arms, pulling him into a warm hug. Fernando buried himself in the warmth of her embrace, now unable to stop himself from sobbing.

"There, let it all out, my boy. It’s going to be okay." She brushed her fingers through his hair. "It’s all going to be okay. Let it all out."

———

Carlos Aceto watched Nikolas.

The man was standing at the shooting range, the sleeves of his black shirt rolled up to his forearms. He had holsters strapped around his waist, his gloved hands assembling the gun he held.

"Didn’t you have something to say, Aceto?" Nikolas questioned without looking at him, aiming the weapon at the target.

Aceto furrowed his brows. "Um... don’t you need earmuffs?"

Nikolas fired the first shot, hitting the bullseye without even a flinch or a reaction to the loud sound.

Regardless of him being out in a safe range, the ear-piercing sound had still startled Aceto.

’What even are you?’ He thought to himself.

"I have a question," he said.

"Go ahead." Nikolas fired the second shot, the veins of his hands flexing.

"Fernando Stolov," Aceto said. "What kind of grudge do you have with him?"

Nikola pulled the third shot. He asked, "Why are you asking, Carlos?"

Aceto gulped. "I’m just... curious, I suppose. I mean, I’m not stupid. You’re Nikolas Bastiani. I’m not on your level, and you don’t need a contract with me no matter what it is for. Had it been Amadeo Di-grassi, I’d understand you might really want a deal with him. But me? It just makes no sense. It almost feels like you despise Fernando and did this merely to kick him down."

Nikolas pulled the trigger, firing the fourth shot. His lips dragged into a grin, and he slowly turned to look at Aceto. He tilted his head to the side, watching the man who grew nervous under his gaze. "You stand to be right."

"Huh?"

"Like I told you before, I didn’t need to deal with you. This was all solely to achieve what I’m after, and that is to kick Fernando down. Why?" Nikolas cocked a brow. "Are you bothered?"

Aceto slowly shook his head. "Not really, I couldn’t care less about the brat. It’s just... to waste a million-dollar contract on him. What could he have done?"

"He crossed my wife."

Nikolas turned back and fired the fifth shot.

"And when you cross my wife, I have no choice but to break you down. It goes like this." He spun on his feet, his jade-white teeth a bit exposed with his charming smile. "My wife’s enemy is my enemy. I’m not sure if that makes sense."

He tossed the gun aside and began to approach the glass door to leave the shooting range. Stepping out, he walked up to Aceto, who was far shorter than him, saying. "And I would kill for my wife."

Aceto swallowed as his gaze met with Nikolas’s eyes.

He was staring upwards at him.

Nikolas half-narrowed his gaze, dark and eerily looking down on him, as if warning him not to be an idiot.

It wasn’t even that his eyes were filled with killing intent. No, this man’s eyes were filled with indifference, as if no one else except his wife mattered to him. And that meant he’d crush whoever stepped in his way. Even... him.

Aceto shook. Yeah, he was going to make absolutely sure not to get on this man’s bad side.

Just what had Fernando done to him? Or his wife.

Nikolas patted his shoulder. "Have a great day, Aceto. And don’t ever book a meeting with me, not unless it’s important, alright? Go through Elio first."

He walked past him, reaching for the holster around his waist to unstrap it.

Aceto watched him go, gulping. "Fernando, you idiot..."