CHAPTER 387. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. I've Already Made My DecisionShe stared blankly at a point on his white shirt and nodded for a few seconds before parting her lips."I, Chiara Keller, used Franco Garibaldi's name to open a fictitious account of one hundred and thirty million euros to evade...""Chiara!""I've already made my decision.""It's the wrong decision! Please, Chiara!" Jhon begged, tears filling his eyes. "I don't care what happened. I won’t let you be condemned for something you didn’t do. Look at me... Look at me!"Chiara lifted her eyes to his, but when he saw them, all Jhon could see was emptiness."I, Chiara Keller, used Franco Garibaldi's name to open a fictitious account of one hundred and thirty million euros to evade the tax authorities of my country..."Jhon growled in frustration, a mix of anger and helplessness, as he let her go, understanding he wouldn't get through to her. Desperate didn’t even begin to describe it. He couldn't believe Chiara was in that pla
CHAPTER 388. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. It’s not too lateJhon didn’t know exactly what it meant, but he understood the concept of "hell." The days that followed were absolute torment for him. The judicial police in The Hague weren’t investigating whether Chiara should be tried but rather where she should be tried. Jhon was more than convinced that Chiara wasn’t involved in anything close to money laundering—she had simply hidden money for the wrong person, nothing more.“You’ve got to make her retract her statement!” yelled the Deputy Director, furious that the biggest case of his career had slipped through his fingers. “You’ve got to make her blame Franco Garibaldi!”Jhon clenched his fists as he stared at a fixed point on his desk.“Did you savor it?” he asked suddenly, catching his boss off guard. “I get it now. You tasted it, but only for a moment.”The Deputy Director had been on edge for days. After handing the case over to the international authorities, he could no longer reclaim
CHAPTER 389. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. Special ingredient“Do we know anything?” he asked one of his agents, who had stayed behind to inform him of any developments.“Nothing new. I overheard the investigators say that the case is still inconclusive, but everything depends on... you know, our boss. They say this case wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for his insistence. So, if he decides to charge her with something more serious, they’ll back him up.”Jhon ran his hands through his hair in frustration. More than anything, he wanted to get Chiara out of there, but he couldn’t. The best he could hope for was that she’d be sent back to Switzerland for a simple fraud trial.He didn’t manage to speak with Chiara that day. He thought it was because she didn’t want to see him, but when a guard gave him a different answer, he felt like his world was crumbling.“In the infirmary?... What do you mean, in the infirmary? Did something happen to her?!” he asked frantically.“No... well, yes. It seems
CHAPTER 390. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. What kind of deal?Chiara took a deep breath as she received the news.“We’re going back to Switzerland,” Noémi told her, hugging her. “The lawyers just told me, and I ran over here, Ara. I wanted you to know as soon as possible. The case will be transferred to the Swiss authorities, and things will be much easier there.”For a long moment, Chiara remained silent. She felt unwell, exhausted, her head spinning. She had fainted a couple of times, but that was fairly normal given her condition.She lowered her head and looked at her belly. She had known for just a few days: she was pregnant. Pregnant with Jhon’s child. And the worst part was that she couldn’t do anything about it because she wasn’t willing to lose anything else at that moment, least of all her child.“That’s good news, but they’ve been postponing the deliberation for a while now. What happened? Why did they suddenly agree?” she asked, unable to believe her luck.Noémi hesitated before
CHAPTER 391. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. Sacrificing the QueenChiara knew this. She had always known that once she took the first step, the chain of events would be irreversible.“So, what’s your deal?”The prosecutor handed the documents to her lawyers, who began reviewing them.“I can guarantee you complete anonymity,” he said. “We won’t involve the media; no one will know anything about what happens. You’ll also be comfortable, cared for, with all the attention you need and as much freedom as we can give you.”Chiara smiled sadly.“I’ll be a VIP prisoner?”“Yes, something like that,” the prosecutor said kindly. “Believe me, I’m very sorry you’re going through this, and I will personally ensure that all the conditions are met to the letter.”Chiara took a deep breath and asked for a moment with her lawyers.“If we go to trial, it will probably take longer than this to get a verdict, and we don’t know if it will be favorable,” they told her, but she had already made her decision.By the
CHAPTER 392. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. “Pregnant.”Chiara felt something tear inside her chest as she watched Jhon cry in front of her.“You can’t say that to me... I never wanted... you...” Jhon clenched his fists in frustration, tears welling up in his eyes as he tried to get closer to her. “You are the most important person in my life, Chiara, the only one...”“Well, you forgot that at the most crucial moment, Jhon,” she murmured. “And now it's too late.”“I really thought it would hurt you!” he exclaimed desperately, and Chiara wrapped him in an embrace, one devoid of affection, just close enough to whisper in his ear: “If you really believed that, you would have killed him sooner.” She let him go abruptly and knocked on the door for someone to open it. “Agent Hopkins is leaving now.”Jhon shook his head violently and tried to approach her again, but there was no way to fix it. The court officers escorted him out, leaving him lingering in the hallways, hoping for a miracle, wishing
CHAPTER 393. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. Childhood MemoriesChiara fell silent, her eyes widening as he shook her hand with a gentle greeting.“Hanover...?” It wasn’t a common surname, and she knew a Hanover. “By any chance, do you know... Oskar, Oskar Hanover?”Oskar Hanover had been one of Asterion Bank’s most important regional managers for many years, and her father had held him in high regard.“Yes, Oskar is my father,” Viktor smiled. “We crossed paths a few times in the halls of Asterion when we were kids, but well... you were always with your twin sister, and I was a bespectacled little nerd.”Chiara smiled nostalgically and nodded, remembering those beautiful moments from her childhood.“Please don’t be so formal with me. I literally couldn’t be in a worse position for you to maintain such courtesies,” she murmured.In response, Viktor pulled out a chair, inviting her to sit, and instead of going behind his desk, he sat across from her with a familiar gesture.“Alright, then, no fo
CHAPTER 394. A CAGE FOR THE QUEEN. An Easy ChoiceJhon arrived at his apartment, tired and angry after a whole day of threatening, pleading, and eventually forcing his way into Noémi’s office. “You have to tell me where she is!” It had been a week, and what Jhon felt went beyond mere desperation. “Get out of here, Jhon.” “I need to see her, Noémi! I have to get her out of there! Please help me see her, help me find her!” “You just don’t get it, do you, Jhon?” his ex-sister-in-law retorted. “Chiara doesn’t want to see you! You were the person she trusted the most in the world, and because of you, our family is on the verge of bankruptcy. We’re going to lose my father’s life’s work, and she’s in prison. Because of you! If you can’t see everything you’ve caused, then you’re even worse than I thought. Please leave. I won’t tell you where my sister is unless she asks me to herself.”Jhon left with his heart pounding wildly. He felt confused and lost. He could use other methods, could