Chapter 157: "This Isn’t Fair"

"AAAAARGH!"

The belt struck directly across Nazario’s already injured body.

Pain tore through him.

Before he could recover, Eduardo raised it again.

SNAP!

"Argh!"

"You wicked bastard!"

Another blow.

SNAP!

"How dare you pull something like this during the Trials?"

Another strike.

SNAP!

"Did I teach you to resort to dirty tricks instead of relying on your own ability?! You couldn’t even win on your own?!"

The warehouse fell into stunned silence.

No one dared interrupt.

Several spectators had to turn their faces away, unable to watch as the Marchetti Don punished his already battered son without mercy.

Yet, no one was particularly surprised by the severity of Eduardo’s anger. They had seen him punish his other children before whenever they committed an offense severe enough to drive him into such a furious state.

But Nazario...

This was the first time anyone had ever seen the Don punish his second son with such brutality.

On the canvas, Nazario could do little more than cry out and beg.

"Father! Please!"

"Stop!"

"I know I made a mistake!"

The whipping did not stop.

If anything, Eduardo’s fury seemed to intensify with every desperate plea.

The leather cracked against Nazario’s body again and again. Pain radiated through every part of his battered body, while humiliation burned even hotter than the wounds themselves.

’No... This is happening in front of everyone.’

’Everyone is watching me.’

’I can’t take this anymore.’

Desperate to escape the suffering, Nazario finally broke.

"Father! This isn’t fair!"

The belt paused in midair.

"It wasn’t just me!" Nazario shouted, his voice cracking. "It was never my idea to begin with!"

Eduardo finally came to a complete halt, the belt suspended in his hand.

"What the hell are you talking about now?"

Nazario immediately seized the opportunity. His eyes darted toward the spectators before finally settling on Natalia Porto.

She stood among her House’s men, her face entirely composed.

For one brief moment, their eyes met.

Nazario saw the warning in hers.

He ignored it.

If he was going down, he was determined to drag Natalia down with him.

"It was all her plan!" His finger shot toward her. "She dragged me into this! I’d always planned to take Jordan down with my own ability, Father! But that woman came up with the vicious plan and invited me into it!"

Naturally, every eye in the warehouse turned toward Natalia.

For a moment, it felt as though the entire world had stopped breathing.

Nazario, however, had no intention of wasting the opportunity. With everyone’s attention now fixed on Natalia instead of him, he desperately seized the opening and pushed the accusation even further.

"Natalia Porto even planted a sniper at the end of the first course to shoot the Lombardi heiress dead!" he shouted. "She even bribed those eight idiots in the maze to kill that woman after the sniper failed!"

The additional accusation sent another wave of shock through the warehouse.

Murmurs erupted almost instantly.

"God... is that true?"

"That’s fucking insane."

"It could be. I heard a sniper was captured yesterday."

Among everyone present, Gian Lombardi was naturally one of the most enraged.

He stepped forward, his expression darkening as his voice rang through the warehouse with unmistakable authority.

"Don Eduardo. Don Giovanni."

Gian’s gaze swept between the two men.

"What is this madness that young man is spouting? Is he suggesting that these two planned to kill my daughter inside a competition hosted by your House?"

Beside him, Caio looked equally furious, though his anger was colder and far more controlled.

He also stepped forward, his voice dropping into a dangerous calm.

"House Sartori demands a proper explanation from both Houses. Now. Otherwise, we will not leave this place peacefully."

Giovanni was instantly incensed at the accusation against his daughter.

"Nazario!" he snarled toward the ring, all traces of his usual joviality gone. "What nonsense are you talking about? What does any of this have to do with my Natalia? Don’t be ridiculous!"

Eduardo’s expression hardened as well. His voice dropped into a heavy warning.

"Nazario, do you have any idea how serious the accusations you’re making are? Explain yourself. Now."

Nazario needed no further encouragement. He crawled toward Eduardo’s feet, lowering his head in a posture of submission.

"Natalia was the one who contacted me first, Father. She wanted the Lombardi heiress dead because she was jealous of her. She also wanted Jordan to lose so that he’d have no choice but to accept the marriage with House Porto."

Every word struck the warehouse like another spark thrown onto an already blazing fuse.

The discussion exploded anew.

More eyes turned toward Natalia. More fingers pointed in her direction.

And yet, amid the storm of accusations crashing down around her, Natalia remained perfectly still, perfectly composed. Her gaze remained fixed on Nazario alone, her face as serene as though she were listening to an utterly insignificant complaint.

After all, she had anticipated this moment from the instant she had stepped down from the gallery.

’Fucking weakling, Nazario.’

’You couldn’t even keep your mouth shut.’

’Very well.’

’Then I’ll destroy you here, once and for all.’

’You’re nothing more than a useless pawn, you clueless little boy.’

With measured grace, Natalia began walking toward the stairs leading into the ring.

Click. Click. Click.

Each measured click of her heels sounded strangely loud amid the growing tension.

One by one, conversations faded.

Everyone held their breath as they watched her reach the top of the stairs and cross the white canvas without haste. By the time Natalia reached the bloodied Nazario, the murmuring had almost completely disappeared.

Natalia folded her hands neatly in front of herself, her chin lifted in a graceful yet commanding posture.

"So, let me make sure I understand this clearly," she said calmly. "You’ve done something disgraceful, and now you’re trying to blame me?"

Nazario looked up at her with total disgust, very quickly understanding that she was trying to abandon him.

"Blame you?" he hissed through clenched teeth. "Who’s the one who came looking for me in the first place? Every single time your dirty plans failed, you came running to me! Start spilling everything yourself, Natalia!"

Natalia looked almost pleased, as though she had been waiting for him to say exactly that. Her lips curved into a wider smile.

"And do you have any evidence for anything you’ve just accused me of?"

The words struck Nazario like a slap.

Every word died in his throat.

Of course he had no evidence. He had never bothered to collect any.

He had been so confident in his own ability that he had never imagined things could reach this point. He had assumed everything would proceed according to plan.

Now, with the entire warehouse watching him, that confidence had become the very thing threatening to bury him.

Clenching his teeth, Nazario forced himself to speak.

"Of course I do!"

He snapped his head toward Eduardo.

"Father! Oscar captured the sniper Natalia planted! Go ask him! He’ll confess everything! Go ask those rats from the second round too!"

Eduardo’s attention immediately shifted toward Oscar.

"You captured a sniper, Oscar? How is it that neither you nor Jordan reported this to me?"

Jordan and Oscar exchanged a concerned glance. After a brief hesitation, Jordan stepped forward.

"Since it happened under my responsibility, we decided to handle it ourselves rather than trouble you, Father."

"That’s right," Oscar added quickly. "We’ve kept the sniper in detention and have already been interrogating him."

"Then?" Eduardo’s brow rose sharply. "How did the interrogation go?"

Nazario held his breath. For the first time since the disaster began, a flicker of hope returned to his eyes.

’Yes!’

’Just confirm it!’

’Tell them what she did!’

’Once that bastard confesses, everything will turn around!’

Unfortunately for him, neither Jordan nor Oscar answered immediately.

They exchanged another silent glance before, without needing to say a word, both decided that there was no way they could fabricate a confession that did not exist.

"Well... the thing is, Father..." Oscar said awkwardly. "We haven’t interrogated the other contestants yet. We’ve only just interrogated the sniper."

Jordan continued, his expression grim.

"The sniper hasn’t said anything about Natalia yet. But... he did say that Nazario was the one who planted him there."

The revelation seemed to freeze Nazario where he sat on the ring. For several seconds, he simply stared as Jordan’s words echoed inside his skull.

’No way...’

Slowly, his gaze shifted toward Natalia, and suddenly, everything clicked into place.

’This witch...’

’She’s planned all of this.’

’She’s been preparing to frame me from the moment everything started going wrong.’

Rage exploded through him.

For one reckless moment, the pain ravaging his battered body disappeared beneath the fury.

Without wasting another second, Nazario shoved himself upright—

—then lunged.

Natalia barely had time to react before Nazario slammed into her, sending her crashing onto the canvas.