Chapter 65: Hit anyone you desire
Luca grabbed Diego by the front of his jacket and slammed his stepbrother-in-law’s face against the wall with crushing force.
"Agh!" Diego gasped, the air instantly knocked from his lungs, struggling to breathe and get free from Luca’s grip. "I swear I am going to report you!" he wheezed.
"Report me?" Luca growled, his face inches from Diego’s, utterly consumed by rage that anyone would dare speak to Sara that way. "Go ahead. I’ll make sure you disappear before the police arrive."
Sara finally found her voice, horrified by the sudden escalation. "Luca, stop! Let him go!"
Ignoring Sara’s desperate request, Luca abruptly let go of Diego’s wrist and jacket. The moment he was released, Diego spun around, spitting a mouthful of blood, ready to launch the first strike of a full-blown fight.
Luca didn’t hesitate. He anticipated the move and delivered a swift, brutal punch directly to Diego’s jaw. Diego stumbled back, crashing into the table with the vase, just as Sara ran toward them, trying desperately to stop the violence.
"Luca, please stop," Sara urged him, her voice strained with panic as she quickly grabbed his arm, pulling with all her strength against his momentum.
Just as Luca was winding up for another hit, Fabio burst into the cabin. He had heard the crashing noise and the shouted threat, and was instantly shocked to see the scene unfold before him. Fabio rushed immediately to Luca’s side, grabbing his boss firmly by the shoulders and physically stopping him.
"Let me go. He was going to hurt Sara," Luca ground out, trying to shrug off his assistant, his focus still locked on Diego, who was nursing his jaw on the floor.
Sara’s hands were still clutching his arm. "Please calm down. We are in the office," she whispered urgently, her eyes already turning misty with distress and fear.
"Fabio, take away Diego," Sara said calmly despite the tears clinging to her lashes.
Fabio nodded his head quickly. He moved with efficiency, helping the dazed and injured Diego to his feet and promptly ushering him out of the cabin, shutting the door firmly behind them.
Meanwhile, Sara didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Luca’s arm, the one that had delivered the punch, and dragged him forcefully to his adjacent office, closing that door too. She needed space, and she needed an explanation.
"Why did you do it?" she demanded the moment they were alone, releasing his arm. Her composure was cracking, leaving her feeling deeply hurt and betrayed by his public loss of control. Her hand moved reflexively to her temple, trying to steady herself as she looked at Luca in sheer disbelief. "You are the CEO of this company! How could you act like a naive street fighter? The employees outside heard you shouting." Sara stood before him, questioning the moral line he had just violently crossed.
Luca’s chest was still heaving, his adrenaline still high. He walked over and slammed his hand against his own desk, his fury redirecting itself.
"I heard with my own ears what he said to you," Luca retorted. "Then, he even dared to raise his hand at you. Do you think I would have kept my morals in check at that time? Do you think I could stand there and watch him hurt you after everything he said?"
"That was between him and me," Sara argued, her voice trembling slightly from the stress.
"No, it wasn’t!" Luca raised his voice, turning swiftly to face her completely. His eyes were burning with protective fury. "You had the right to slap him because he said something wrong to you, but he had no right to hit you back. He almost touched you, Sara! I feel like breaking his hand and his mouth."
Sara lowered her hand to her side, still looking at him in utter disbelief. "Why don’t you understand the simple words that violence isn’t the answer? You just gave him fresh ammunition to use against us."
"You told me this morning that you won’t intervene in my business," Luca stated. "So, what I am doing should not affect you."
Sara’s expression hardened. She frowned at him, then nodded slowly, a cold resolve settling in her features. "I understand now. Fine, go hit anyone you desire. But keep in mind not to drag me into this. Not a single person should say that I am the reason behind it," she asserted, drawing a boundary between herself and his brutal methods.
With that, she stepped out of the office, the silence she left behind even louder than the fight.
Luca went to his chair and slumped onto it, running a hand roughly through his hair. "Shouldn’t she have praised me for rescuing her? Sometimes, I can’t understand her." His mood had turned utterly foul, and his mind, instead of dwelling on Sara, immediately shifted to the source of his anger. All he could think about was how to get rid of Diego for good.
As he was contemplating his next, likely ruthless, actions, Fabio’s voice finally broke his uneasy peace through the intercom.
"Boss? Diego has left in anger. He kept saying he would register an official complaint against you," Fabio stated, his tone cautious.
"Let him do whatever he wants," Luca muttered, leaning back and closing his eyes.
"Boss, this can affect your wife’s image more than yours," Fabio opined, the comment pointed and intended to force Luca to reconsider.
"I have hired you for that only. Keep me out of trouble at times like this," Luca reminded him, his voice heavy with the implication that Fabio was not meeting his expectations.
Fabio sighed, knowing the full weight of the clean-up job now resting on his shoulders. He pulled his phone from his blazer pocket, already dialing, and quietly walked out of the office to begin the damage control.
Alone again, Luca gazed at the stack of files Sara had sent earlier for him to sign. With a deep breath, he decided to channel his turbulent energy into work, methodically finishing the documentation first. Once done, he picked up the report Diego had prepared. He read through it. The report detailed an extensive overview of Falcone Industries’ financial status in the last three months, and Luca didn’t miss a single detail. He picked up his desk phone and quickly dialed Ryan’s number, the manager of the financial department at Falcone Industries.
"See me in the next thirty minutes," he ordered, and hung up the call before Ryan could respond.