One Night Mistake… Now I Carry the Mafia Heir

Chapter 100: 100/A Fleeting Escape

Chapter 100

Stephanie’s Point of View

He extended his hand with a prolonged slowness, pulling the sheets of paper toward him. His eyes scanned the blueprints with an intense scrutiny and a suffocating silence that stretched on for long minutes, lasting what felt like an eternity to me. Meanwhile, I stood awaiting his judgment, my body as rigid as stone. Finally, he raised his head and looked directly into my eyes with an enigmatic, stern gaze, speaking in a dry, authoritative voice that caught me off guard: "The measurements are precise... and the dimensions of the pattern are correct, for a start."

I caught a quick internal breath of relief, but he immediately followed with a merciless coldness as he firmly shut the folder: "However, the font and the alignment of the lines are inconsistent in some of the measurement charts. Reformat them more neatly and bring them back to me in an hour!"

I felt my blood boil in my veins like a cauldron, wishing I could scream in his face at the top of my lungs. Damn it... was this really the time to talk about font alignment and charts after all the staggering effort I put into checking the dimensions of the clothing and footwear? But I miraculously curbed my rage, lifted my head with a wounded pride, and snatched the folder from before him with a swift motion, saying in a rigid tone: "Very well... Mr. Vinceti."

I turned and left his office with storming strides, my frustration on the verge of exploding. Returning to my desk, I sat down violently in my chair and began working on adjusting the formatting of the measurement charts, my fingers pounding heavily on the keyboard. That wretched bastard... he was deliberately exhausting me and nitpicking over trivialities that held no true value in the core of the work!

Lily approached with cautious steps and whispered: "What happened, Stephanie? Did he find an error in the measurements?"

I answered with rapid breaths, my eyes glued to the screen: "The technical blueprints are completely accurate, but he’s objecting to the font alignment in the charts! He wants me to reformat them within an hour."

Lily shook her head in sympathy and said: "I warned you, he is ruthless... just endure it."

Over the next hour, I focused all my efforts on aligning the lines and text until the boards and specifications for the new luxury apparel and footwear collection looked absolutely perfect and elegant. At exactly two o’clock, I stood up and headed to his office. I knocked on the door and walked in, placing the papers down with force and confidence as I said: "The file is ready now."

He examined the pages with his cold, hawkish gaze for a few seconds, then tossed them aside without a single word of praise, saying dryly: "Fine. You can join the rest of the team in the meeting room in half an hour... we will discuss the final touches for the upcoming season’s luxury footwear production line."

I nodded in silence and left the room before completely losing my temper. I went to the meeting room at the designated time, taking a seat at the corner of the luxurious table while holding my small notebook and pen. Vinceti presided over the table with his strict aura, and the designers presented their concepts for the luxury shoes and apparel with visible nervousness. He criticized every idea ruthlessly, rejecting with a biting tone any silhouette or cut that did not rise to his elevated standards.

The meeting dragged on for long, grueling hours until my mind nearly ceased to function. A profound exhaustion swept through my body; the rapid chain of events since the morning, the violent confrontation at the palace between Alex and Cedric, and then the insane pressure of the work here all of this made me crave nothing more than to return home and sleep deeply to escape it all.

Finally, Vinceti announced the end of the meeting, and everyone stood up in weariness. I gathered my things in a rush and left the building, heading toward the parking lot. The moment my eyes landed on my red Audi, I felt a wave of relief. I touched the steering wheel, started the engine, and drove off into the city streets as the sun began to dip toward the horizon.

Throughout the entire drive back to the palace, my chest tightened with an apprehension and anxiety that grew with every kilometer I crossed. I remembered Alexander’s menace and his coldness when he told me: "This evening, we will talk and settle things once and for all," and I recalled Cedric’s shattered gaze, burning with jealousy and resentment. How was I going to face them both under the exact same roof? What would I say to Alex when he locked the bedroom door behind us and demanded an explanation for everything that had unfolded?

I arrived at the palace with a hitched breath, carefully parking the car in the outer courtyard. Stepping out, I advanced toward the massive door with heavy, hesitant steps, my heart pounding violently like war drums. I knew all too well that the true, harrowing confrontation was about to begin right now!

I opened the massive wooden door with extreme slowness and caution, welcomed only by the majestic and suffocating silence of the palace, as if it were the calm before a destructive storm. I advanced with slow, hesitant steps through the vast hallway, the sound of my own heartbeat echoing deep inside me from sheer tension and fear.

I spotted Cedric’s tall frame standing at the end of the corridor, his back pressed against the stone wall, his shattered eyes heavy with a deep reproach following my every movement. The moment he saw me, he straightened his posture and stepped slowly toward me, saying in a faint, husky voice dripping with pain: "So you’ve returned, Stephanie... Now, I want all the answers."

I froze in my tracks, feeling a suffocating lump in my throat that prevented me from speaking; his gaze was tearing through my very heart. I said in a exhausted, trembling tone: "Cedric, please... not now. I had a grueling and high-pressure day at the company, and I don’t have the strength for another argument."

He scoffed with a bitter, biting sarcasm that shook my entire being. Approaching even closer until his hot breath brushed against my pale face, he whispered with a sharp intensity: "A grueling day? What about my agony right here throughout the past hours? How could you hide your past with Alexander from me? How could you let him stand between us and claim your love right before my eyes?"