Mistaken for a Gold Digger: The Billionaire Lifelong Regret Chapter 07

Mistaken for a Gold Digger: The Billionaire Lifelong Regret Chapter 07

For three days straight, Sophia’s wails echoed through the dungeon. 

Later, a guard got annoyed by the noise and shoved a burning coal into her mouth. 

After everything was over, Riccardo walked in. 

“It’d be a waste to let her die just like that,” he said, 

looking at Sophia curled up in the corner. 

“Throw her out. Let her fend for herself.” 

I knew nothing about what happened to them. 

After Sophia’s people threw me into the back mountain, I was rescued by people my brother sent to find me. 

The number I gave Isabella was a special code between my brother and me. 

Though the call didn’t go through, it alerted my brother Calvente. 

He quickly tracked the phone’s location and came looking for me himself. 

Finally, he found me in the back mountain, barely alive. 

The moment I opened my eyes and saw that familiar face, tears of grievance came flooding out. 

“Calvente,” I cried, burying my head in his chest. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I came late.” Calvente held me gently, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his eyes. 

“They treated you like this. I’ll make the Bellanova family pay.” 

Under the care of the top medical team Calvente 

brought in, my condition gradually improved. 

Until Calvente threw something that looked neither human nor ghost in front of me. 

“This is Sophia, the one who hurt you.” 

Looking at Sophia on the ground, tortured beyond recognition, I felt sick to my stomach. 

Covered in blood, all ten fingernails torn off, body marked with signs of abuse. 

Calvente kicked her twice. 

“Riccardo sent her to the torture chamber for a few days, then threw her out.” 

“Her cards were cut off, of course. Her old friends 

heard about it and stayed far away. Thrown on the 

streets, who knows how many people touched her.” 

Calvente grabbed Sophia’s face, forcing her to look up at me. 

Sure enough, when those cloudy eyes saw me, her whole body started shaking uncontrollably. 

She tried to speak, but could only make “ah” and “eh” sounds. 

“What?” I got out of bed and looked down at her. 

“Want to know why I’m not dead?” 

Remembering what she did and Isabella’s tragic death, my hatred for her deepened. 

“Because Calvente found me. Your people pretended 

to obey but secretly disobeyed–they threw me in the back mountain and left.” 

Sophia’s eyes bulged with overwhelming hatred, but she couldn’t say a word. 

“What do you want to do with her, Claudia?” 

Calvente let go, and Sophia collapsed weakly on the ground. 

“Send her to the black market,” I said, looking at those powerless eyes filled with twisted hatred. 

“Let her experience what it’s like to be abused and treated like an animal.” 

“Consider it revenge for Isabella.” 

Before his people dragged Sophia out, her venomous gaze followed me the whole time. 

The door closed. The world went quiet. 

I leaned against the bed, and Calvente pulled me into his arms. “I promise you, Claudia.” 

His hand gently patted my back. “I won’t let anyone who hurt you get away with it.” 

His words were so firm, carrying a reassuring strength. 

He began attacking the Bellanova family without holding back. 

Not only did he secretly turn the board members against each other, he also secretly controlled several important cash flows of the Bellanova family. 

He even had his people shoot and wound Riccardo. 

Riccardo couldn’t dodge in time. The bullet went through a spot three inches from his heart. 

Dozens of top doctors worked for a full day and night to barely snatch Riccardo back from death. 

With both the company and him being targeted repeatedly, even a fool would know something was wrong. 

But the first thing Riccardo did after getting out of bed wasn’t investigating the attacker or solving company problems–it was going back to the mountain to search that piece of land that had been combed through countless times. 

For days and nights without sleep, until dark circles formed under his eyes, he still couldn’t find a single trace. 

“Boss,” his subordinate looked at his weak state and asked tentatively. 

“You…” 

“Could Claudia still be alive?” Riccardo suddenly spoke. 

“What did you say?” 

“Maybe Claudia isn’t dead,” Riccardo’s eyes were full of certainty. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be unable to find even a single trace.” 

“She must not be dead. She’s such a smart woman, she must have fooled everyone and secretly escaped.” 

“Quick,” a glimmer of hope suddenly burst from Riccardo’s tired eyes. 

“Everyone go search, expand the range. She must not be dead.” 

Once this thought emerged, Riccardo became visibly excited. 

The wound tore open with his movements, blood staining a large area. 

His subordinates looked at their seemingly crazy boss with sympathy. 

But he seemed unaware, even starting to plan what kind of good life he’d have with Claudia after finding her. 

Until that blood–stained piece of clothing appeared before him, snapping him back to reality. 

Riccardo stared at that small piece of fabric, his lips beginning to tremble violently and uncontrollably How could he not recognize it? 

It was the thin shirt he had someone dress Claudia in before sending her to the ice cellar. 

Now stained with blood–perhaps Claudia’s, or maybe their stillborn child’s. 

All the memories from that day, along with what Sophia said before leaving, became especially clear in his mind. 

Riccardo could no longer fool himself. 

He finally couldn’t hold on, half–kneeling on the ground, coughing violently. 

Blood poured through the fingers covering his mouth, staining the ground red. 

His gunshot wound hadn’t healed properly, and due to his emotional state, it had gotten even worse. 

Riccardo was forcibly sent to a sanatorium by the Bellanova family. 

After protesting to no avail, Riccardo spent all day sitting by the window. 

Looking outside, laughing one moment, crying the next. 

Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared before his eyes. 

The moment that person turned around, the blood in Riccardo’s body nearly froze. 

Claudia’s delicate face appeared right before him. 

The man beside her, supporting her waist, moved gently. 

Riccardo didn’t care about anything else. He knocked over the doctor who was about to change his bandages and rushed downstairs. 

But when he got downstairs, there was no trace of Claudia anywhere. 

His subordinates rushed over, seeing Riccardo sitting collapsed on the ground, his wound torn open again. 

“She’s gone…” 

Riccardo stared blankly in that direction, murmuring softly. 

“I clearly saw her… Claudia, I clearly saw her…” 

His subordinates carefully helped him up. 

Even after his bandages were changed, Riccardo kept repeating that same sentence. 

“Boss, maybe you miss your wife too much and had a hallucination.” 

“No,” Riccardo shrieked in protest. 

“I really saw her. How could I not recognize my own wife?” 

After that, Riccardo spent every day in the garden where Claudia had appeared. 

No matter the weather, he’d sit there all day, refusing to listen to anyone’s advice.