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Chapter 3
“She doesn’t have a dime to her name? Who is she trying to fool?”
“Everyone knows how devoted he is. There’s no way he cut her off. She must have blown it all behind his back. How irresponsible is that?”
Whispers rippled through the crowd immediately.
Elvira feigned a gasp, but the shock quickly melted into a smug, satisfied smirk.
Leaning in close, she dripped with fake pity. “Oh, Lottie, I am so sorry. I had no idea you were completely broke. If I’d known, I never would have bid against you. This is all my fault.”
She pivoted to Giovanni.
“Mr. Castillo, I’m so sorry. I’ve really upset her.”
Giovanni shook his head gently.
“It’s not your fault. I just wanted to protect my wife and stand up for her.”
Charlotte stared dead at him. “You’re the only person who has my account password. Where did the money go?”
“Lottie, stop making a scene,” Giovanni scolded softly. “The Castillos don’t need your money. You should call the bank to check your
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transaction history instead of interrogating your own husband.”
His performance was flawless, right down to the unwavering, earnest look in his eyes.
Suffocating under the weight of it all, Charlotte turned on her heel and walked out of the hall, the crowd’s murmurs trailing her the whole way
out.
Elvira hurried out after her.
“Lottie, wait! I saw how much you loved the necklace, so I bought it for you. We’re best friends, after all.”
Charlotte’s eyes burned with unshed tears. Before she could even get a word out, the screech of tires tore through the air.
A car was speeding straight toward them from down the road.
Charlotte braced to jump out of the way, but it was moving too fast.
“Watch out!” Giovanni’s voice rang out.
She looked up to see him sprinting toward them.
But in a split second, he grabbed Elvira, yanking her out of the car’s path.
Charlotte offered up a bitter, self-deprecating smile and closed her
eyes.
Charlotte woke to a blinding, splitting headache.
Through the crack in the heavy door, she could make out two figures
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lingering just outside her hospital room.
“Gio, I’m the one you love,” came Elvira’s voice. “You’ve loved me this whole time. If marrying Charlotte wasn’t your only ticket to becoming CEO of the Castillo Group, you never would have done it.”
In the quiet of her hospital bed, a sickening wave of betrayal washed over Charlotte.
“If you already know the truth, why are you making this so hard on me?” Giovanni sighed. “Elvi, I can give you anything you want- except a marriage.”
From the very beginning, it had all been a calculated, cold-blooded
setup.
The admission seemed to soothe Elvira. “Then what about the car I hired to hit her? What if she finds out…”
Before Elvira could finish the thought, Charlotte yanked the hospital door wide open.
Giovanni whipped around, locking eyes with her.
Panic flashed across his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Are you proud of yourself?” Charlotte demanded.
“Was it fun playing me for a fool? You’re despicable, Giovanni. How could you do this to me?”
She screamed the last words, her voice shattering from the weight of it
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Giovanni looked down at the floor. “I didn’t have a choice. But Lottie, I really do have feelings for you. If you’d just…”
Charlotte stared at him, staggered by his absolute shamelessness after everything he’d done.
“You’re disgusting,” she spat. “This is a literal crime. I’m calling the cops.”
Giovanni squeezed his eyes shut. “That’s not going to do you any good. Stop making a scene, Lottie.”
Catching them completely off guard, Charlotte shoved hard past them and made a run for it.
The sudden, violent movement tore her fresh wounds open, leaving heavy drops of blood spattering against the floor as she fled.
“Stop her!” Giovanni shouted. The bodyguards in the hallway sprang into action.
Moments later, they dragged a bloodied Charlotte back, dumping her at Giovanni’s feet.
Elvira stepped up, looping her arm through his. “Gio, you can’t go soft on her now. If she leaves here with her memories intact, everything you’ve worked for all these years will be ruined.”
Giovanni crouched down slowly, stroking Charlotte’s cheek with feigned tenderness. “Lottie, just one more hypnosis session. You’ll go back to being perfectly happy and comfortable, just like before, Trust
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The door finally opened. Giovanni stood there, looking at Charlotte, who lay barely conscious on the chair, a brief flash of distress crossing his face.
He hurried over, asking cautiously, “Lottie, how do you feel?”
Charlotte forced the words out with agonizing effort. “Gio… where are we? What happened to me?”
Giovanni quickly undid the straps, leaned down, and scooped her into his arms.
“You just had a small accident, Lottie. Everything’s fine now,” he murmured, his voice thick with apparent concern.
Charlotte looked up slowly and offered a sudden smile. “That’s good. Thank you for saving me.”
Giovanni immediately sensed that something was off. He studied her expression carefully, but couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary.
The hospital room door opened. His assistant, Spencer Hinton, stepped in and lowered his voice. “Mr. Castillo, Ms. Keller fainted. The doctors think she might be pregnant.”
Giovanni instantly set Charlotte back down on the bed and turned to follow Spencer out.
Once Giovanni was far enough away, Charlotte’s gaze sharpened into complete alertness. She showed absolutely no signs of post-hypnotic confusion.
She opened her hand. Half of a sharp needle rested in her palm, slick
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with her own blood.
It was the method Anthony had taught her to resist the hypnosis.
Her phone buzzed. It was Anthony.
“I filed the evidence you gave me with the court,” he said. “It’s enough to secure a divorce decree. Your paperwork to leave the country is finalized, too. I left it in your mailbox.”
Charlotte hung up, sat up, and yanked the IV needle from the back of
her hand.
She hurried out of the hospital barefoot and headed straight home. After quickly gathering all her IDs and passports, she dragged several cans of gasoline out of the storage room and doused every inch of the
house.
When she was finished, she stood in the yard and tossed a lit, windproof lighter inside.
The flames spread in seconds, and Charlotte threw her phone into the
fire.
Then, without looking back, she walked away from the estate and hailed a passing cab.
“The airport.”
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