LOGINALESSANDRO’S POVI sat there staring at her. For a moment, I could not answer. Not because I wanted to lie to her, not because I wanted to defend what had been hidden from her. But because I had made a promise to Garcia and Don Vittorio never to tell her the truth. I was so caught up in my own fantasy of a happy family that the thought of telling her the truth reminded me that I was a stranger. “I’m sorry, Freya, but I couldn’t tell you,” I said quietly. Her head turned. “Why?”I took a shaky breath. “Because I made a promise to Mother and… Father. We wanted to protect what we had as siblings. There was no need to tell you that I was an outsider. You’ve been my sister since the day you were born, Liora. You’ve called me your brother since you learned how to talk. Why would I trade that love for the… truth?” She was quiet for a long time. Her eyes glistened with threatening tears. “I was scared… Aless,” she whispered, tears streaming down her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you. I don
ALESSANDRO’S POVThe headache arrived before full consciousness did. It slammed into the front of my skull with every pulse, a thick, pounding reminder of the whiskey and the wreckage I had made of the night. “AGHHHHH!!” I groaned as I forced my eyes open. The ceiling swam. I pushed myself upright, dragged both legs close to my chest, and rested my forehead against my knees while both hands cradled the back of my head. The pressure helped almost nothing.I sat there as the memories of last night came rushing back. The private bar, the first glass and then the ones that followed without counting. The sound of crystal shattering against the wall, the floor covered in liquor and glass. Adriana’s voice cutting through the fog, high with fear, her hands pulling my head into her lap. Rocco’s steady grip under my other arm, Luca’s small voice calling for me while Garcia held him back. The shame of it all settled heavier than the hangover.I had lost control in front of my son. I had become
ADRIANA’S POVThe hand gripping mine belonged to a man I had prayed was already rotting under the ground. Doctor Cassian Vale stood in the crowded hallway of Club Notturno as if all the beating Alessandro had given him never taught him to stay away from Alessandro Vincenzo’s woman. Horror and disgust crashed through me in the same breath. This was the man who had played the gentle pediatric cardiologist for months, who had made himself seem safe, who had used my son’s checkups and heart condition as a way to stay close to me for reasons that had nothing to do with medical care. I thought he would have learnt his lesson after his failed attempt to sexually harass me at the hospital. Seeing him upright and breathing felt like a personal insult.Rocco moved on pure instinct immediately. His body slid between us, broad and immovable, creating a physical wall. Cassian raised both hands in a loose, almost lazy gesture.“Easy tiger. I am not here to start a fight.”I had no interest in wha
ADRIANA’S POVI sat on the edge of the bed for a long time after Alessandro’s breathing finally evened out. The whiskey and the exhaustion had pulled him under, and for the first time in days his face looked almost peaceful. The hard lines around his mouth had softened. The constant tension in his jaw had released. It should have comforted me. Instead it broke something open in my chest. He had suffered enough. The crash, the hospital, the study, the confession, the slow collapse in front of everyone he loved. He did not deserve another night of this weight. And the worst part, Luca had seen him like that. Drunk, lost, broken among shattered glass. A five-year-old should never have to carry the image of his father that way. The fear of what might have happened if I had stayed with my uncle even thirty minutes longer made my blood run cold. He had been destroying bottles, lying in the wreckage, ready to do worse to himself if the pain demanded it. I could not leave him alone again. N
ALESSANDRO’S POVIt’s been three hours since Garcia went upstairs after her words of encouragement, she had not come down ever since. The silence she left behind pressed against the walls of the living room until every tick of the clock felt deliberate. I sat on the sofa with the journal closed beside me and the photograph of Antonio and Elma turned face down because I could not look at their smiles any longer. I’ve been sitting here waiting for Liora to walk in and tell me that she was scared of the truth. It’s been three hours and she hadn’t come home. I picked up my phone again and dialed her number for the twentieth time. It went straight to voicemail again. The same empty recording. The silence on the other end of the line crawled under my skin. I hated myself. It’s my fault that this happened. I had done this. I knew walking into that old study and figuring out what Raffaello and Salvatore said would break this family but still I did it anyway. I walked into that study, I open
ADRIANA’S POV Rocco drove in silence while the city slid past the tinted windows. The two escort cars followed behind us. Alessandro had refused to let me leave the house without them, despite how conflicted he was with his issue he still took out time to care for me. My thoughts kept drifting from the lawyer’s call and the possible outcome of today’s meeting. It kept circling back to the apartment and the conversation that must already be underway. Alessandro was telling Garcia and Liora the truth right now. I should be there with him. I should be sitting beside him right now as he tells them everything. What he was going to tell them would rewrite everything they believed about Vittorio. Especially for Liora. She does not know he’s not her biological brother. The shock of that alone would be enough to drI’veher crazy. I wondered how Garcia would take the situation. Would she believe him? Would she yell at him for trying to ruin their already perfect family? Would she say hurtful t
ALESSANDRO’S POVI stood motionless in the middle of the bloodstained VIP room, the echo of the gunshot still ringing faintly in my ears. The smell of gunpowder mixed with spilled whiskey and cheap perfume clung to everything. My eyes locked on Adriana where she pressed herself against the far wall
ADRIANA’S POV I gripped the tray until my fingers ached and stepped through the heavy velvet curtain into the VIP section. Thick cigar smoke curled through the air like ghosts, and the dim amber lights barely pushed back the shadows. Low conversations hammered around the long table where several m
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
ADRIANA’S POVI shoved through the club’s back door and ran straight into the pouring rain without looking back. My heart hammered wildly as Alessandro’s cruel words replayed in my mind with every splash of my heels through puddles. The way he had stared at me with such hatred, the degrading offer







