Se connecterADRIANA’S POV My phone rang as I fished it from my pocket. The hospital number flashed across the screen. “It’s the hospital,” I muttered to Alessandro. I answered immediately, pressing it tight to my ear. The nurse’s voice came through shaky and urgent. “Ms. Rossi, there is a situation that requires your presence,” she said. “There is a man here, his name is Roman De Santis. He arrived with several armed men and he’s been demanding access to Luca. He claims he is still legally listed as the father in some records and he is threatening to take the boy if we do not comply. Security are trying their best to hold them at the entrance but they are getting aggressive. We need you here now before things get messy.” The world narrowed to a single point. Roman. At the hospital. Trying to take my son. I felt the blood drain from my face. My knees nearly buckled. “What do you mean he is there? … Roman DeSantis?” I said, my voice shaking. Alessandro took the phone from my hand before I cou
ALESSANDRO’S POV I sat in my study the next morning with the weight of everything pressing down on me. Sunlight cut across the desk but it brought no warmth. Luca was my son. Five years of his life had passed without me. Five years of Adriana suffering alone while I believed the worst of her. I had missed his first steps, his first words, and the fear in his eyes when his heart acted up. The anger inside me had nowhere to go except toward the people who engineered all of it. My phone rang, it was Rocco calling. I picked up on the second ring. “Boss,” he called out immediately I picked up. “I found it.” I sighed deeply, knowing what he was talking about. The truth. The truth from five years ago was now standing in front of me and all I had to do was sit here and listen to it. “Meet me in my study,” I replied in a low voice. Rocco arrived thirty minutes later carrying a thick file. His face told me the news would be worse than I had imagined. He sat down across from me without wai
ADRIANA’S POVI stood outside the doctor’s office as I heard Alessandro speak with the doctor. My arms stayed wrapped around myself as if that could hold all the fear inside. He listened carefully and asked sharp questions. Part of me still could not believe this was happening. The man who had stormed out of the hospital in rage now stood there arranging surgery for our son. The father Luca never knew stood ready to give whatever the doctors needed. I wanted to cry from relief but I held the tears back. I had cried enough for five whole years. Alessandro finished with the doctors and walked out of his office only to run into me. He walked toward me, his steps stayed steady but his eyes carried a weight I had not seen before. He stopped in front of me and spoke in a low voice. “The surgery is scheduled for three days from now. They will run more tests on both of us tomorrow morning. The defect is a ventricular septal issue with some complications in the surrounding valves. They wil
ALESSANDRO’S POV I sat in my study the next morning with sunlight streaming through the tall windows. Sleep had barely touched me. The whiskey from the night before still lingered in my system but the truth burned away the fog. Luca was my son. My own flesh and blood. The boy I had kept Adriana from seeing. The child I had dismissed as Roman’s. I clenched my fists on the desk and stared at the grain of the wood. People had lied to me. They had lied to her. They had torn us apart for their own gain and I would make them pay.I picked up my phone and dialed Rocco. He answered immediately. “Boss.” “I need everything from five years ago,” I said. My voice came out flat and cold. “Every detail about Adriana’s sudden marriage to Roman. I need to know who pushed for it. Who sat in the rooms and decided her fate. Who fed me the lies about her choosing him. I want their names, and their families. I want proof. Be thorough, I do not want any of them to escape this time. Not her father. Not th
ADRIANA’S POVI stood there dripping wet in the middle of the bar with Alessandro’s question hanging between us like a live wire. “Why didn’t you tell me Luca is my son?” His voice came out rough from the whiskey and the shock. The words hit me harder than any punch Roman had ever landed. My knees nearly gave out. Everything I had buried for five years rushed forward at once. Tears spilled down my cheeks before I could stop them. I remembered the day I found out I was pregnant. One month after the wedding. I was shocked when the doctor said I was two months gone with Alessandro’s child. I had sat on the cold bathroom floor in Roman’s mansion and cried for hours. The De Santis family discovered the truth in the third month when Roman told them that we hadn’t consummated our marriage and that the child wasn’t his. Their hatred turned vicious. They called me a whore who carried another man’s bastard. They pressured me to get rid of the baby. And when I refused they made my life hell.
ALESSANDRO’S POVI stormed out of the hospital with my blood boiling hotter than I could control. Adriana had stood there silent when I asked the hard questions. She offered no answers, no explanations, nothing. I did not even want to hear her voice right then. The anger pushed me forward as I climbed into my car and slammed the door shut. My hands gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot with tires screeching against the pavement. During the drive I grabbed my phone and dialed Rocco. He answered on the second ring. “Boss, what is going on?” “Where is Roman right now?” I demanded. My voice came out rough and low. “Tell me exactly where that bastard is.” Rocco hesitated for a second. “He was discharged earlier today. He is at one of the De Santis family bars on the east side. The Golden Lion. Should I meet you there with backup, Boss?” I ignored his question. “No. Do not meet me there. Stay where you are. This
ADRIANA’S POV My breath caught in my throat. Alessandro’s question hung between us like a challenge.“Tell me something, Rosa,” he murmured close to my ear. “How wet are you under your panties?”Heat rushed to my face. The ballroom seemed to disappear, the guests, the music, and the whispers. Ever
ALESSANDRO’S POVI strode down the dimly lit west wing corridor, my footsteps echoing against the marble like distant gunshots. The meeting with my capos had stretched well into the night, leaving a sour taste in my mouth that no amount of whiskey could wash away. “Don, the evidence is clear, Vale
ADRIANA’S POVI followed Alessandro out of the club on legs that felt like they belonged to someone else. The rain had slowed to a miserable drizzle, but my clothes remained cold and heavy, plastered against my skin like a second layer of shame. The words I had spoken earlier still echoed in my mi
ALESSANDRO’S POV“Looks like the ground is crumbling faster than you expected,” I said quietly, my voice echoing across the deserted space. “Now tell me, Adriana. Are you ready to reconsider my offer?”I watched her spin around in the middle of the empty club floor like a broken doll caught in a st







