Cornered

NARRATED BY NICOLAS......

The moment I got in, I went straight to my penthouse. On the top floor, I stood looking out at the city while loosening my tie.

I stripped off my shirt on the way to the bathroom.

I turned on the shower and breathed hard under the water pouring over me.

My fists clenched and my blood boiled with hatred as I went over the report in my head — she'd had to settle for being the mistress of the man I was humiliated over. I'd expected to find her married with a kid or two, living her dream life. But no. And that's when I realized fate had already dealt them their own blow. They weren't even one percent of what they used to be. They were nothing. Her mother had just died and her father had apparently moved his new partner into the house — and not just that, Alessia now had a stepsister. She was no longer the center of attention. The pampered young princess had become an ordinary woman surviving on scraps and leftovers.

If she was fine with that, it was her problem.

I walked out of the bathroom with a towel around my waist and sat down to review the photos that had come in by email. There she was. Something stirred inside me. She hadn't changed at all. There she was, smiling, with that reddish hair falling to her waist, the freckles across her cheeks, her porcelain skin — ten years had passed and she still hadn't lost the glow that made me close the laptop.

A message came through letting me know the person I'd asked to be followed was in position.

I changed into a dark suit.

Ready, I left the penthouse and drove to a bar. There he was — at a table, gambling.

I walked to the table and he looked up, smiled, and extended his hand.

"Alex Duval. Pleasure to meet you."

He greeted me and I looked at his hand without taking it.

He lowered it as though he were used to it, and that gesture caught me off guard. He'd been ignored for so many years that he'd gotten accustomed to it. I never thought I'd live to see the day Alex Duval bowed his head.

He shuffled the cards and dealt them. Just as I'd figured — he didn't recognize me. I wasn't the same man I'd been ten years ago.

He glanced to the side and his smile widened.

"Son-in-law! Come sit with your father-in-law. He's marrying my daughter in a week."

He bragged, and I clenched my fists just imagining it — even though I knew it was impossible.

The young man who ten years ago walked arm-in-arm with Alessia and looked at me like I was worthless now arrived flustered, nodding nervously.

"Mr. Falcon."

He greeted me, even more nervous. Abroad, his father had tried to do business with me and I'd turned him down. Nestor had accompanied him to those meetings.

That's the advantage when people feel superior to others — they don't bother memorizing faces or names.

It suited me just fine that they had no idea what was coming.

"Son-in-law, sit down."

Alessia's father told him, and Nestor shook his head.

"Mr. Falcon, may I have a moment?"

Nestor asked me, nervous. Of course he was afraid of what I might say.

"Tell me, Mr. Nestor — how is your wife?"

I said it without looking at him, but those words were enough to make Alessia's father stand up, furious.

"You've been cheating on my daughter, you piece of shit?"

He shouted, and Nestor squared up to him.

"The only thing I can offer your daughter is to be my mistress. And I'm done supporting you people. I haven't forgotten the humiliation you put me through that day — the shame of her cheating on me with some pathetic nobody."

He said it, and I stood up. I'd gotten what I came for.

I'd knocked down their only way out. Now I had them cornered.

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