Dark Revenge Of A Jilted Bride: Till Life Do Us Part!-Chapter 116: Old Foe II

"We want answers," Sandro replied when Zane remained silent, his voice steady but taut with restrained urgency. "Some things came up, and we need your truth to verify a few incidents."

"Go ahead."

"You knew about Gianna and Zane, right?" Sandro continued. "That they had been lovers at one time..." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Antonio shrugged as though the revelation were meaningless, like it barely deserved breath. "Didn’t y’all know?"

Zane’s lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. He said nothing.

"No, we didn’t," Sandro answered quietly. "Apart from the two of them, and, well, her extended family."

"Yes," Antonio muttered, "her greedy uncle..."

He smiled, slow and knowing, when interest flickered unmistakably in Zane’s eyes.

"Oh," he drawled, "I see why you’re here now. You want to know what happened back then? Took you long enough."

Zane bit down hard on the urge to reach across the table and choke Antonio to death.

His jaw tightened until it ached, rage clamped down with iron discipline as he forced out the words, clipped. "Tell us all you know."

Antonio shrugged again. "Your father wasn’t happy about it. Couldn’t believe his son wanted to tie himself down to a woman, after all the coaching he gave you..."

He tilted his head, mock-thoughtful. "Like how your mother absconded with some of his money?"

Anger flooded Zane so fast it robbed him of speech.

"Be careful, Antonio... you are cutting it." Sandro spoke, gesturing that Antonio should continue.

The prisoner smiled, savoring the discomfort on Zane’s face, wishing he could stretch it out longer. It was the first thread of excitement he had felt in ages.

"Well, as I said, he wasn’t happy. Got even more annoyed when the girl wasn’t even up to par..." He smirked. "And I didn’t care enough about Gianna to defend her. She only did her part by submitting Athena to my care..."

Antonio paused there, a sleazy, self-satisfied smile curling his lips. "How is my fiancée?"

Sandro hissed, his voice edged with steel. "She’s married now, to Ewan."

Sandro smiled when he caught the flash of fury blaze across Antonio’s eyes. "How does it feel to lose on every end?"

Antonio gritted his teeth, his chained hands trembling with the violent urge to stab something—anything—preferably Sandro’s eyes.

Zane sighed heavily and tapped Sandro’s forearm, a silent warning to stop baiting him. Then he looked back at Antonio. "Antonio, go on with your answers. We don’t have much time."

Antonio scoffed and clamped his mouth shut.

Zane rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, pulling out the penknife he carried everywhere.

He flicked it open slowly, dramatically, turning it over his fingers with practiced ease, a deadly smile stretching across his face as he repeated the question.

Antonio snorted, but this time he spoke.

"So he met Gianna’s parents... wanted to pay them off..."

The knife’s motion stilled midair. Zane’s jaw slackened. "What?"

"Yes," Antonio continued. "He offered them..."

He paused, brows knitting as he recalled the details. "About ten million dollars, if not more. I think it was more—yes. He doubled the amount when they turned him down the first time. He wanted to prove to you that humans were governed by money, that Gianna was with you for the money."

"And they turned it down?" Zane’s voice wavered now, unsteady, his eyes burning with barely contained fury at his father, at himself.

To think he had insulted her parents. While...

He shut his eyes briefly, shame settling over him like a suffocating cloak.

"He wanted to do the same to Gianna," Antonio went on, "but her father threatened to go to the police if he dared interfere again. The smart man recorded the second conversation. Herbert wasn’t pleased—it was a blow to his pride. So he staged the accident."

Zane’s entire body shook. Gianna had been right. His father had killed her family because he had found love, because he wanted a woman in his life, legally.

The realization tore through him. He wished, with every fiber of his being, that there were a way to resurrect Herbert just to torture him all over again, to his heart’s content—for his sake and for Gianna’s.

God. He had broken her heart for nothing.

Athena’s warning echoed loudly in his head. What little remained of his heart cracked further, even as he vaguely heard Sandro asking Antonio about the video—the one sent to him to convince him to cancel the wedding.

Antonio laughed, delighted to be the bearer of misery to one of the men who had put him here. "And that’s where I come in, my friend. Nothing a good tech can’t do."

He smirked. "But you see, if Zane here had shown that to an expert—say, that fellow who works for Ewan..." He pouted exaggeratedly. "I never got to meet him. Would’ve loved to mock his web skills."

He chuckled when silence greeted him, feeding greedily on the attention. "Well, doing that would’ve been a game changer. If he had trusted Gianna more, maybe Herbert would be the one smashing his head against a wall now—well, if he were still alive."

Sandro sighed and leaned back in his chair. Another case of Herbert’s cruelty, all to deny his son a chance at love because his own attempt at it had failed.

He glanced at Zane. Zane was staring at a single spot on the black table, his face empty, but Sandro noticed his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles had gone white. Herbert had been far too lucky to die the way he did.

"Zane..." Sandro called softly, uncertain of what to say.

Zane didn’t move, but his mouth did. "Where does the greedy uncle come in?"

"Oh," Antonio replied easily, "one of the men paid to do the act, got drunk at a closed-door party and spilled the beans. Clement was there. Instead of doing right by his brother, he threatened Herbert with it.

"Greedy man recorded it and made copies—or so he said. But since he was a friend of a friend, Herbert didn’t kill him. Just paid him off."

He scoffed. "Too bad the foolish man didn’t use it well. He and that stupid family of his."

"Is that all?" Zane asked after several seconds of heavy silence.

Antonio shrugged, disappointed there wasn’t more to prolong the thrill. "Yes. That’s just it."

He leaned forward, curiosity gleaming in his eyes. "So tell me—what happened? How did this come to light?"

He barely finished leaning in before Zane’s knife flashed.

The blade sliced across Antonio’s nose—clean, brutal, precise.

The scream ripped through the room.