Chapter 2 The Confrontation

Lauren watched the sight in front of her.

She could have sworn this was a dream but by the way her heart was beating so hard, about to pop out of her chest, she knew all of this was very real.

She glared daggers at him, her disgust for him clouding her mind. Her fists clenched hard as she moved a few steps closer to the bed.

"Monster! You ingrate!" Lauren cursed under her breath.

She watched as Stefano froze at the sound of his name and the woman by his side let out a shriek of fear before rolling away from him, choosing to keep her back facing Lauren instead.

Lauren sneered. The woman was protecting her identity.

"Shit! L–Lauren, what are you doing here?" Stefano swore as he jumped to his feet, no sign of remorse on his face.

Lauren felt her chest tighten as she watched the stark naked man scramble for his boxer shorts on the floor.

The room held signs of how they had spent the night. Empty wine bottles, stained glass cups on the table and the slimy used sacks of condom was all she needed to see.

"Pathetic!" She scoffed. "I see you've been having a good time with that 'thing' dangling between your legs."

"Watch your mouth, Lauren" He glared at her.

"So this is what you've been doing while you kept me waiting for two whole months. No calls, no response. Nothing at all."

She fixed her eyes on the blonde haired woman laying quietly on the bed. She walked past Stefano, aiming for the bed to see the woman's face.

As she moved forward, Stefano grabbed her arm and nudged her back, standing in her way.

"You owe me this at least!" Lauren yelled at him, her voice reeking of rage.

"No, I don't. I owe you nothing!" He glared at Lauren, daring her to try it again.

Lauren chuckled as fresh tears glistened in her eyes. "S-so you would rather protect her than make peace with me? Huh?"

Stefano inhaled impatiently, his left eye twitching from his annoyance. He ran his hand through his messy dark brown hair. "Make peace with you? See, Lauren, you really can't be this stupid, th-"

"What?!"

"Don't you get it?!" He barked at her and slammed his hand on the large wooden table beside him.

"Ugh! Are you dumb or what? I don't need you anymore, Lauren. I don't love you anymore. You heard a good amount of our conversation, didn't you? So why are you playing dumb?"

Lauren bit her lower lip as her heart broke even more. He wasn't even sober or remorseful about anything. He couldn't care less if she found out about his betrayal.

"Stefano, You used me."

"So?"

Lauren blinked at his nonchalant response. "Is that all you can say?! This isn't just about you cheating. You stole from me! You stole my means of livelihood from me. I trusted you with everything."

"Well, you're a fool for that. Not my problem"

Lauren gasped in dismay at his words, her tears flowing nonstop. She was finding it hard to process all this at once.

Was this the sweet guy she had been dating for a year now? Where did this monster come from?

"You are crazy!" She yelled at him, a vein on her neck sticking out from the force.

She placed a hand on her chest. It felt like the world around her was spinning.

"And you are stupid!" Stefano retorted, clenching his jaw.

"Use your fucking brain, Lauren. It's a free world. You had been trying for years to get your products licensed by a reputable company. Fucking three years, Lauren! Yet no company picked you because you weren't good enough!"

"So you took advantage of how vulnerable and frustrated I was, lied to me that you would help me." Lauren chuckled and glanced around aimlessly

".... instead, you went behind and licensed my products in your name at the company where you worked and what am I hearing now? You are the new managing director?"

"Amazing, isn't it?" Stefano raised his hands like he was expecting an applause, a smug look on his face. "They chose me, not you. You are the problem."

Lauren sighed. "You stole my intellectual property!. Those products were made from long hard nights of research."

"It's a free world, people steal all the time. You're probably not a saint too. Give me a break!"

Lauren laughed and clapped her hands in a dramatic manner. "So that was why you proposed to me all of a sudden? So you could mess with my mind and make it look like we were about to build something for our future together."

Stefano smirked. "You're getting smarter, Lauren. Too bad, you were too easy."

Filled with indignation, Lauren slammed her palm against his face, a fierce slap that knocked him off his feet, causing him to stagger backwards.

Her chest heaved from rage and she felt like tearing him apart. "I'll make you pay for this. I-I will march to the company where you work tomorrow morning and make it known that you are nothing but a bloody thief. I have evidence a-"

Stefano jumped to his feet when he heard 'evidence'.

"You wouldn't dare!" He warned

"Try me! You can't ruin me and walk scot-free, you imbecile!"

Lauren glared at the lady on the bed who had been silent all along.

Rage clouded her mind and Lauren jumped on the bed as fast as she could. She dragged the blanket covering the lady making her scream in shock as she scrambled to cover her face.

A strong hand enclosed Lauren's neck the moment she tried reaching for the lady's hair.

Stefano tightened his grip around Lauren's neck and pulled her away from the bed, throwing her on the floor. Hard and fast.

"Ugh!" Lauren groaned as her back hit the floor.

But it didn't stop her. She was hell-bent on discovering the woman's identity. Amidst the pain, Lauren jumped to her feet and aimed for the lady again.

"Just kill her, Stefano. Now! If she lives, you'll lose everything." The lady yelled as she wrapped herself under the thick blanket.

Lauren ignored the statement, staying focused on her mission. She pushed Stefano and jumped on the lady and pulled hard at the blanket covering her.

Before she could go any further, something hard banged her head and Lauren froze as she fell to the side of the bed and rolled until her back hit the floor.

"Die, you witch!" Stefano's icy voice filled the room as he grabbed another empty wine bottle from the table and walked towards her.

Lauren groaned in pain as she felt her black hair get wet from the amount of blood that trickled out.

Her vision blurred as her brain struggled to keep up with the loss of blood and she felt her heart beat slow down gradually.

She realised what was happening. Her life had reached its end.

The realization crushed her as more tears flowed down the sides of her face. She had worked so hard for nothing. She had given this man so much love and trust for nothing.

"Finish her off, Stefano. We'll get rid of her body later!"

With teary eyes and her last strength, Lauren muttered as loud as she could. "I-if I ever get t-the chance to survive or live again, I w-will make both of you pay for what you did to me."

Stefano smirked as he squatted beside her, his eyes dark and distant. "Well, sweetie, you will never get the chance. I'll make sure of that."

His grip around the bottle tightened and he slammed it into her head.

Just like that, her life came to an end.