CHAPTER 378. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. A TrapJhon wished the ground would swallow him whole. There was Chiara in that photo, shaking hands with the most powerful mafia boss Italy had seen in decades, a man clever enough to slowly move his operations into a terrifying semblance of legality.“I want him behind bars, Jhon,” the deputy director said firmly. “If we can’t tie him directly to a drug shipment, fine. But we already know he’s laundering money in a Zurich bank. We’ve been monitoring his finances closely, and those suitcases... there’s got to be more than a hundred million euros in there, Jhon. I need evidence. I can’t retire without winning at least one case like this!”Jhon nodded, but before he could come up with an excuse, the deputy director cut him off.“It’s just evidence, nothing more, and I’m sure you can get it,” he said in a tone that instantly put Jhon on edge.“Excuse me?” Jhon muttered. “What makes you think I could...?”“Oh, come on, Jhon! Do you think I don’t know w
CHAPTER 379. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. Stay calm“Fine, think about it while you complete another task,” the deputy director ordered. “I’ve got issues with the division in Mexico. I need you to go help out for a few weeks. Pack your things—you’re leaving right now.”Jhon swallowed his frustration. He knew there was no way out of this, so he simply nodded and left the office. He was furious that he had to leave without saying goodbye to Chiara. Just five minutes ago, he’d been working like usual, and now he was being sent to another continent without even a chance to tell his woman what was going on. He hated the idea of going without explaining things to her, but there was no way he could share what was happening over the phone.At the very least, he hoped this would buy him some time to figure things out.As he grabbed his emergency bag, Jhon tried to think of how to protect Chiara from the danger she might be in from handling Franco Garibaldi’s money. But as soon as they landed on the
CHAPTER 380. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. Two decades against a few monthsJhon felt his chest tighten as Chiara cried in his arms. "Calm down, nothing happened... everything’s fine, I promise you, love, everything is okay. Trust me," he assured her. Chiara kept trembling, terrified that something worse could have happened to him. "It was just a graze on my hip. Nothing serious..." Jhon tried to soothe her with his words, but Chiara was still shaken. He hugged her tightly as she sobbed uncontrollably, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the Deputy Director still standing by the door. It took at least an hour for Chiara to calm down completely. Once she left to get a coffee, her boss stepped in to have the conversation Jhon had been dreading. "Did you set this up? Did you tip them off so we’d fall into an ambush just to bring Chiara here?" Jhon spat angrily, watching as the man nodded. "This profession comes with risks, and I know how to use those risks to my advantage," said
CHAPTER 381. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. Something’s happened"Very well, Jhon, it’s clear you need some time off," the Deputy Director replied with a stiff smile. "I’ll arrange for a plane to take you both, and of course, I’ll assign agents to be around you the whole time. Don’t worry, ma’am," he said, turning to Chiara. "You won’t even notice them—it’s just to ensure Jhon stays safe. He’s a very important asset to us, as I’m sure you understand." Chiara nodded, though Jhon’s face remained unreadable and stern. That same night, they flew back to Paris. Several hours later, they arrived at their apartment. Chiara led Jhon to the bathroom and pampered him as they soaked in the tub together for a long while. She wanted to know everything that had happened, but he was still tense, and she chose not to press him. "Do you want a sleeping pill?" Chiara asked later, noticing how on edge they both still were. "No, love, but you should take one. The jet lag and lack of sleep might take a toll o
CHAPTER 382. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. Who’s behind this?Chiara paced back and forth across the room, desperate.“This can't be... God, this can't be happening!” she exclaimed as panic gripped her heart.Across the desk, Noémi looked just as distressed and frightened as she was.“I don't understand how this could have leaked. I mean... *only* we have access to those accounts! Not even the regional managers... no one besides us, Chiara!”“Then how did it happen?! Were we hacked?!” her twin sister snapped. “This can’t be real, God! We need to figure out how they got into our servers. The rest of our clients could be compromised too. Damn it!”Chiara felt like her head was about to explode. She grew dizzy and leaned on the desk, lowering her head to bear the weight. Noémi rushed off to deal with one task after another, but Chiara had no choice but to pick up her phone and make that call.Unfortunately, she soon realized the problem was even bigger than she had imagined. Franco Garibaldi, t
CHAPTER 383. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. YouChiara swallowed hard and looked away. The only person who came to mind was Jhon—not because she thought he had anything to do with it, but because her first instinct was to ask for his help to solve the crisis.“It’ll only be a few days, Mr. Garibaldi. I promise I’ll get you out of here.”And it was a promise she had to keep, no matter what.She left the courthouse and let the lawyers settle in the city while she returned to Paris on the same plane. As she climbed the stairs to her penthouse, her heart pounded in her chest, and the moment she stepped through the door, Jhon had to rush to catch her, as she looked like she was about to faint.“Chiara! Babe, what’s wrong?!” “Damn it!” He knew very well what was wrong.But she just headed to the kitchen, splashing her face with water from the faucet, trying to shake off the dizziness.“I need your help,” she murmured. “I need your help, Jhon, please! Everything is a mess, the bank... my family...!”
CHAPTER 384. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. A MistakeChiara felt like she couldn’t breathe, her chest tightened, and tears welled up in her eyes, unstoppable.“How could you...?” she sobbed, trying to pull away from him. “How could you do this to me? You... you betrayed me!”“I didn’t betray you! I’m just trying to get you out of trouble!”“Get me out of trouble?!” Chiara shouted, desperate, clutching her head with both hands. “Out of a mess that *you* put me in? No one knew about Franco Garibaldi! No one had access to his account but me until...”Chiara staggered away, leaning on the kitchen counter for a moment before rushing to the trash can to vomit what little she’d eaten that day.Jhon ran his hands through his hair, helpless, but when he tried to help her, she instinctively recoiled. Chiara splashed water on her face from the kitchen sink, but she knew those tears wouldn’t stop. How could she have been so wrong about him? How could he hurt her so much after all they had been through t
CHAPTER 385. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. What do you mean?A week ago, she had been desperately praying for Jhon not to die, and now, all she could think about was how much harm he caused her with just his existence.She curled up in a seat and cried the entire flight, unable to stop. But by the time she landed in The Hague, she had made a decision. She headed to the hotel where the legal team was staying and met with them. Even though they all advised against the strategy she wanted to follow, Chiara knew it was the only way.That very afternoon, Noémi arrived in The Hague. She protested, screamed, threatened to massacre Jhon and all his ancestors, but she couldn’t make her sister change her mind. They returned to Zurich the next day, and Chiara began liquidating all her personal assets. It wasn’t easy to gather the money she needed, but she knew that getting the Italian out of jail wasn’t enough.“This can’t be happening, God! It’s so unfair!” Noémi growled as she watched Chiara gather m