Once Rejected, Now Rising Chapter 07

Once Rejected, Now Rising Chapter 07

I didn’t move, just stared at him coldly. 

Niccolo stepped forward, blocking his hand, his tone sharp, “Who are you? Stay away from my companion.” 

Rinaldo ignored him, eyes fixed on me. “Nerissa, come home 

with me.” 

A crisp, painful smack across my cheek. 

Azura pointed at me, screaming, “Nerissa! You fickle, shameless bitch! Rinaldo did so much for you, and now you’re off with some other man! How dare you!” 

I touched my tingling cheek, then looked up and smiled at her. 

The next moment, I yanked her hair hard, dragging her out to the shock of everyone present. 

Azura screamed and struggled, utterly unable to break free. 

Rinaldo tried to intervene, but Niccolo and his men blocked 

him. 

I shoved Azura into the car and drove straight to a pig farm on the outskirts. 

Dragging her along, I stopped by the stinking cesspool. 

“Your mother stole my dad, you took my husband, and killed my daughter,” I spat. 

I grabbed her chin, pressing her face toward the filth. “Now, taste what my mother and daughter tasted.” 

“No! Help! Rinaldo!” Azura wailed, thrashing violently. 

I scooped a ladle full of the muck from the pool, forced her mouth open, and poured it in. 

She coughed violently, vomiting, her face and body smeared in 

the stench. 

I released her; she collapsed, gagging and humiliated. 

“Nerissa! You’ve gone too far! Let her go!” Rinaldo’s voice came from behind as he finally arrived. 

He charged forward, stunned at the scene, but Niccolo stopped 

him. 

Rinaldo glared at me through the crowd, a mix of shock and fury, with a strange certainty in his eyes. 

“It’s you… it has to be you. Only you, only Nerissa could hate her this much, do something like this!” 

I wiped my hands, turned to him, and faced the man who once held my heart, now only disgust. 

“You’ve got the wrong person.” I linked my arm through 

Niccolo’s. 

“My name’s Elysia Dawn. Your wife accidentally fell into the cesspool, and I was just helping her out. What’s next, want me to pay for dry cleaning?” 

I didn’t look back at him, nor at the sobbing Azura on the ground, and walked away. 

The night wind blew across the farm, the stench lingering, but 

in my chest, the ice that had held me frozen finally cracked a 

little. 

This was only the beginning. 

I had Niccolo contact a few influential media outlets and 

online whistleblowers. 

Internal emails from Rinaldo’s hospital showed how he had assigned surgeries to Azura that shouldn’t have been handled by an intern, manipulated post–op reports, and repeatedly accepted bribes for overpriced, substandard equipment. 

Encrypted files from my father’s law firm revealed how he leveraged his network and expertise to fabricate evidence, coach witnesses, and threaten families in major medical accidents and high–profile criminal cases. 

Included was the forged “settlement agreement” I’d been 

forced to sign for Nola’s surgery mishap. 

Every piece of evidence was solid. 

The revelations were released late at night. By dawn, it had 

exploded. 

[Mayor from the Ferraro family lets an intern perform surgery to death?!] 

[Legal luminary exposed as master of fraud!] 

[Shocking abuse of power, lives ruined for profit!] 

Rinaldo and my father’s phones were bombarded; journalists 

crowded the hospital and law firm. 

The public, who had previously condemned me, now turned their outrage toward them. 

[Scum! Monsters! Killed a child for a mistress’s daughter!] 

[Corrupt to the core! Disgrace to law and medicine!] 

[Everyone who insulted the victim, apologize now!] 

[Nerissa was so helpless, victimized by these devils!] 

[Punish the culprits! Justice for Nerissa and her daughter!] 

I stared at the online outrage, expression unreadable. 

Niccolo handed me a glass of water, leaning against the window. “Feeling better?” 

I took a sip, shook my head. “Not yet.” 

This public fury couldn’t touch their core. At most, their reputations were tarnished temporarily. 

The price I wanted them to pay was far from enough. 

Niccolo smiled, a bit wild, a bit cold. He took the glass and put 

it aside. 

“Then let me give you something real to enjoy.” 

He made a call, said a few words. 

“Wait and see.”