The phone wouldn't stop ringing.
At first, Veronica tried to ignore it. She assumed it was just another call from the office—or a nervous client reacting to the news that had been spreading since early morning.
But when the device vibrated for the fifth time in a row, something shifted.
This wasn't normal.
Something was wrong.
She grabbed her phone from the desk and looked at the screen.
More than twenty notifications.
Messages.
Missed calls.
And somehow, they all seemed to say the same thing.
Her stomach tightened before she even opened any of them.
She already knew—
This wasn't good.
Veronica took a deep breath and tapped the first message.
"Have you seen the news?"
The second read:
"Is this true?"
The third was worse.
"Tell me this is a lie."
Her heart began to race.
With slightly trembling hands, she opened a news app.
The headline appeared instantly.
"Verdan Group Under Investigation for Multi-Million Dollar Fraud."
For a few seconds, she just stared at the screen.
As if the words didn't make sense.
As if they couldn't possibly be about her family.
"No…" she whispered.
She opened the article.
The more she read, the worse it got.
Allegations.
Investigations.
Investors pulling out.
Her father's name repeated over and over again.
It felt like watching someone tear apart everything her family had built over decades…
In just a few paragraphs.
"This can't be real…"
Before she could finish reading, the office door burst open.
Her mother rushed in.
Pale.
Eyes red.
"Veronica…"
The moment she heard her voice, Veronica felt her chest sink.
"Mom… what's going on?"
Her mother hesitated, as if the words were too heavy to say.
"Your father… he's in the hospital."
The world seemed to stop.
"What?"
"He collapsed when he saw the news."
Veronica stood up so fast the chair nearly fell behind her.
"What do you mean he collapsed?"
"The doctors said it was a heart attack."
For a moment, everything went silent.
The kind of silence that crushes the air around you.
"Is he… okay?" Veronica asked, her voice barely there.
"He's stable… but the doctors said he needs complete rest."
Veronica pressed a hand to her face.
It was too much.
Too much to process all at once.
First the scandal.
Now the hospital.
"This doesn't make sense," she said, trying to steady her thoughts. "The company has never done anything illegal."
Her mother sighed.
"I know."
"Then someone is lying."
Before they could continue, the TV in the office—muted until now—suddenly switched to a breaking news broadcast.
The anchor spoke with sharp urgency as images of Verdan headquarters filled the screen.
"New reports suggest that Verdan Group may be involved in a financial scheme that has moved millions over the past few years—"
"This is absurd!" Veronica snapped.
She grabbed the remote and turned the TV off.
"They're trying to destroy us."
Her mother didn't answer.
But her expression said enough.
She was thinking the same thing.
Veronica began pacing the office.
Trying to think.
Trying to find some explanation.
"We need to talk to the lawyers," she said.
"They're already trying to understand what's happening."
"And the investors?"
"Some have already pulled out."
Veronica's chest tightened.
"That fast?"
Her mother nodded slowly.
"People don't like being near scandals."
The office phone rang again.
Veronica picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Miss Verdan," a formal voice said on the other end. "This is Roberto Mendonça, the company's attorney."
"Mr. Mendonça, what's happening?"
There was a brief pause.
"The situation is more complicated than we initially thought."
"How complicated?"
"The company's accounts have been temporarily frozen while the investigation is ongoing."
Veronica felt the ground disappear beneath her.
"Frozen?"
"Yes."
"All of them?"
"All of them."
She closed her eyes tightly.
"That means we can't pay suppliers."
"Or employees."
Silence fell heavily between them.
"This could destroy the company," she said.
"Yes."
Veronica closed her eyes for a moment.
When she spoke again, her voice was steadier.
"Then we fix it."
"We're trying."
"Trying isn't enough."
"Miss Verdan…"
The lawyer's tone shifted.
As if he was about to say something difficult.
"There's another matter."
"What is it?"
"We received an offer."
Veronica frowned.
"An offer?"
"An investor is willing to cover all of the company's debts."
Her heart started racing.
"Who?"
A brief pause.
Then a name that made her blood run cold.
"Leon Alighieri."
Veronica went silent.
That surname was impossible to ignore.
The Alighieri family was one of the most powerful business dynasties in the country.
And also—
Longtime rivals of her family.
"What does he want in return?" she asked slowly.
The lawyer answered carefully.
"He wants to make an agreement with the Verdan family."
"What kind of agreement?"
Another pause.
"Marriage."
Veronica almost dropped the phone.
"I'm sorry… what?"
"He wants to marry you."
The silence that followed felt suffocating.
Veronica looked at her mother.
She was just as shocked.
"This can't be serious," Veronica said.
"He's willing to pay all of the company's debts."
"That's insane."
"Maybe."
"But it would save your family."
Veronica looked back at her phone.
The headline was still there.
Her father's name staring back at her.
She thought about the hospital.
The debts.
The collapse of everything.
And then—
She thought about the man making that offer.
Leon Alighieri.
She had never spoken to him.
But she knew exactly who he was.
Cold.
Calculating.
Dangerous.
And now he wanted to marry her.
Veronica took a slow breath.
Something deep inside her told her this wasn't just a business deal.
It was a game.
And she was about to become part of it.
"Tell him," she said finally,
"That I want to hear the proposal in person."
Because if Leon Alighieri thought he could buy her life that easily…
He was very, very wrong.