The Cheating Wife's Worthless Husband Is the Apocalypse King

Chapter 6: The Fortress

Professor Acerbi snapped his briefcase shut and rose from the café table without a second glance at Valentina or Bianca.

"Three days, Mrs. Ferretti." His voice carried the calm finality of a judge reading a verdict. "Accept the terms, or we settle this in front of a judge. Either way, the outcome will not favor you."

He walked out without waiting for a response, his polished shoes clicking evenly against the tile floor.

Marco followed, and the café door swung shut behind them both, leaving Valentina and Bianca sitting in a silence that felt thick enough to choke on.

Outside on the pavement, Marco extended his hand to the professor, his voice low and sincere.

"Thank you, Professor Acerbi. I mean that."

The older man shook it once, firmly, his sharp eyes studying Marco with something close to approval.

"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when this is over and she's writing you a check." A faint, dry smile crossed his face. "You gathered excellent evidence, Mr. Ferretti. Half my job was already done before I sat down."

He turned and walked toward his waiting car, leaving Marco alone on the pavement with the city moving around him.

Marco stood there for one quiet moment, letting the morning air settle around him. Then he pulled out his phone and pulled up a number he had already searched the night before.

He had more important things to do now.

Ferro Sicuro was the most reputable private security and construction firm in the region, the kind of company whose client list included banks, government buildings, and people whose names appeared in financial newspapers. Marco had never set foot inside their offices in his previous life.

Today, he walked through the glass entrance like he owned the floor under his feet.

The manager, a solid, carefully groomed man named Edmondo Ricci, met him in the consultation room with the polite but distant expression of someone expecting a routine inquiry.

That expression did not last long.

Marco spread his blueprints across the table, reinforced exterior walls, underground supply storage, filtered ventilation, impact resistant window sealing, a full perimeter barrier with drainage systems built for long term use.

Edmondo stared at the plans for a long moment without speaking, his fingers hovering above the blueprints without touching them.

"Mr. Ferretti." His voice came out careful and measured. "Plans of this scale are typically commissioned by... very specific clients. Private estates, offshore facilities." He glanced up. "Individuals with extremely significant resources."

"I have extremely significant resources." Marco's tone was easy, almost conversational. "What I need is a team that can have all of this completed within one week."

Edmondo leaned back in his chair, pressing his fingertips together.

"A week is impossible for a project this size." He shook his head slowly, his expression apologetic but firm. "We would need at minimum six to eight weeks for proper structural work alone. I'm sorry, but we would have to decline this."

Marco reached into the folder beside him and slid a single document across the table. A bank confirmation. Edmondo's eyes dropped to the number at the bottom, and his expression went very, very still.

"I'll double your standard rate." Marco's voice stayed calm and unhurried, like a man discussing the weather. "And I'll transfer one million euros as a deposit today, before your team breaks ground. The remaining balance gets paid one month after the project passes full inspection."

Edmondo stared at the paper for three full seconds.

Then he straightened in his chair, his entire posture shifting, the earlier reluctance dissolving like sugar in warm water.

"I'll pull in every available team we have." His voice turned brisk and professional, already running numbers in his head. "We start tomorrow morning."

Marco nodded once, his face perfectly composed.