I Was The Outsider Chapter 04

I Was The Outsider Chapter 04

I pushed myself up and walked out, one step at a time.

I took out my phone and called for a car. “The private terminal, “I told the driver.

The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes catching my pale face and the dried blood at my temple.

He hesitated, asking if I wanted to go to the hospital first, or maybe call the police.

I shook my head and repeated my destination.

Outside the window, the city’s neon lights blurred into streaks, retreating in searing ribbons of color.

It reminded me of when I was seven, when my mother held my hand as we walked down the long corridor of the family garden, asking me to count the row of bronze wall lamps.

Back then, she would stroke my hair and say, “Aurora is always so composed. You are your mother’s greatest pride.”

“My little princess, you’re the one Mama loves most in this world.”

Thinking back on it now, it all felt absurd.

When I arrived at the VIP terminal, it was still a few hours before my flight was cleared for departure.

Jessy had arranged for a VIP lounge for me, where my passport was all I needed for entry.

I sat down in the most secluded corner. A dull ache throbbed at my temple and in my knees. I rolled up the tattered hem of my dress. My knees were already black and blue, and badly swollen.

I went into the lounge’s private washroom and turned on the cold water.

The moment the water hit my skin, a shiver ran through my entire body.

In the large vanity mirror, the woman staring back had red-rimmed eyes. A dark stain of blood caked the corner of her lips.

I took a cotton pad, soaked it in cold water, and wiped at the blood, again and again. But the more I wiped, the redder it got.

Eventually, I stopped and just stared at myself in the mirror.

Remember this, Aurora Moretti. From this day forward, no one earns another one of your tears.

Especially not for so-called blood.

From now on, you live for yourself.

There was a first-aid kit in one of the lounge cabinets. I cleaned my wounds with iodine and covered them with a flesh-toned bandage.

After I had done all that, a strange calm washed over me.

When the boarding announcement came over the speakers, the sky was just beginning to show a line of gray.

I turned off my phone and walked toward the jet bridge.

The moment the private jet broke through the clouds, the morning sun poured through the window, so bright it made me squint.

The city below was still shrouded in a dirty gray haze, but high in the sky, it was brilliantly clear.

I realized then that if you fly high enough, the darkness below can’t touch the light.

A few hours later, the plane landed smoothly at a private estate in Europe. Jessy was already waiting on the tarmac with her bodyguards. The moment she saw me, her expression changed.

“Aurora, your injuries…”

I smiled at her. “It’s nothing. I just lost my footing on the stairs.”
“I want to see the file on that brand acquisition you mentioned.”
“She stared at me for a few seconds, then tactfully dropped the subject.

She put her arm around my shoulder.

“Come on, I’ll take you to my vineyard. Let’s get you settled in.”

Jessy had grown up in this world; she understood the importance of giving someone space, of preserving their dignity.

If I didn’t want to talk about something, she would never ask a single question.

She set me up in one of her apartments and had an exquisite Italian meal sent over. After dinner, she handed me a thick file of confidential business documents.

She advised me to get some rest and adjust to the time difference first. I took a sip of black coffee. “No need to rest. I can start this afternoon.”

She studied me for a long moment, then sighed.

“Alright. Come with me to headquarters this afternoon.”

Jessy’s fashion group was headquartered in the heart of the city’s most expensive commercial district, secretly managing massive capital operations.

Jessy held the reins of several luxury brands. Her advisory board was made up of the most elite strategists in the business.

She had invited me to be her partner more than once, telling me I possessed the two rarest qualities: an eye for beauty and a cool head.

In the past, I had always let those foolish family loyalties hold me back, burying my own ambition again and again.

Now, I wondered, what was I even holding on to?

The family that never saved me a seat at the table?

Or the so-called family that always treated me like an outsider?

It wasn’t until noon the next day that anyone at the Moretti manor noticed something was wrong.

They probably saw that my closet was untouched and my jewelry box was full, so they initially assumed I had just gone out for a while.

My mother sent the first message to the family group chat.

“Aurora, where are you? Are you coming back for lunch? The chef made your favorite Osso Bucco.”

There was no reply. She sent another.

“Still throwing a tantrum? This is a family matter, something we can surely work through.”

Still nothing.

Finally, she called.

I didn’t answer.

She panicked and started contacting everyone I knew—the daughters of other mafia families, the owner of my favorite cake shop, my Pilates instructor.

She asked them one by one, but no one knew where I was.

That was when my mother completely lost her composure, calling me again and again.

I didn’t answer, but I didn’t turn off my phone either.

I just watched the screen light up and go dark, over and over.

The last message was from my father’s Consigliere, an older man I still had some respect for.

“Principessa, don’t make the Don worry.”

Worry? They could worry about me?

I looked at the words and almost laughed.

Don Giovanni Moretti never “worried” about anyone. He just couldn’t stand anything slipping from his control.

I went back to flipping through the files on the group’s core business that Jessy had given me.

Around two in the afternoon, a number I didn’t recognize called.

I answered. It was my mother’s voice, sharp and furious, so shrill it felt like it could pierce my eardrums.

“Aurora! Where the hell did you run off to!”

“Do you have any idea that Enzo got into a shootout at a south side club last night looking for you? The entire underworld saw it! You’ve dragged the Moretti name through the mud! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”