Masuk(Author's POV) Stefano didn't let Vincenzo's exit bother him. He couldn't win everyone over at once. That was fine. He was playing a long game, and tonight had already given him more than he'd expected. Serena was at the estate. She caught his eye across the living room and smiled â a small, deliberate smile â and said, âHey, cousin. Come sit down.â The word landed somewhere in his chest. Cousin. He hadn't heard that from anyone in the main family in years. He kept his expression neutral, but something in him settled. Guglielmo didn't object. He watched Serena's greeting and then turned to Stefano with something approaching ease, as if the word had given him permission to relax. By the time they moved to the dining table, Guglielmo was asking about the Aetheris Biotech quarterly numbers, and then about the medical division's new projects, and then â almost casually â whether Stefano had been spending much time with Arturo lately. âHe oversees the healthcare portfolio,â G
(Author's POV) Stefano went still. âThere's not going to be any baby boy,â he said. âBut what if there is?â He pulled her closer. âYou are always going to be the most important person to me. That doesn't change. Nothing changes that.â Bianca Conti pressed her face against his jacket and said nothing more. He drove home in silence, and the silence wasn't entirely about Bianca Conti. It was about the fact that when he tried to picture giving her a real family â a stable home, a mother who actually belonged there â only one face came to mind. It had always been only one face. He found Adelina waiting in the living room. âDon't do that again,â he said. He didn't raise his voice. âBianca Conti is already going through the divorce. She doesn't need strangers being paraded through here on top of it. Don't bring anyone else into this house.â Adelina watched him walk up the stairs. She sat with her coffee going cold in her hands, and for the first time since she'd made the call
(Author's POV) Alessia Shaw arrived at the Conti house at half past five. She was exactly as Adelina had expected â poised without being stiff, friendly without being eager. They sat in the living room and talked easily while Adelina waited for Stefano Conti to come home and for Bianca Conti to return from school. The front door opened at quarter to six. Bianca Conti walked in, dropped her backpack by the stairs, and looked into the living room. Her eyes landed on Alessia. Her expression changed in an instant â a fleeting, calculating look that Alessia had never seen on any child's face before. Then it was gone, replaced by the flat expression of a child who had already decided she didn't like what she was seeing. âI must have misread it,â Alessia said to herself in her mind. And she smiled and stood up. âHi there. You must be Bianca Conti. I'm Alessia â it's so nice to meet you.â Bianca Conti said nothing. âYour grandmother has told me a lot about you.â Alessia crouche
(Author's POV) Adelina had been home from the hospital for three days when she heard about the returned funds. She was sitting in the sunroom with a cup of chamomile tea when her assistant told her. She set the cup down, folded her hands in her lap, and allowed herself a brief moment of satisfaction. Five hundred million dollars, returned in full. That meant Argenteri had blinked. That meant someone in that family had enough sense to see the situation clearly. But the satisfaction faded quickly, because the underlying problem hadn't changed. Tiziana was still in this house. Still at Stefano's side. Still, as far as Adelina could tell, fully intending to stay there. Adelina thought about the years Tiziana had been married to Arturo. A long marriage, a wealthy one, and not a single child to show for it. The estate had passed to Tiziana almost entirely. Arturo's share of the family assets, his investments, his properties, all of it, gone to a woman who now wanted to move si
(Celeste Moretti's POV) âYouâve been walking,â he said. âIâve been walking in the same direction.â âThatâs a very diplomatic way to describe it.â âYouâve been avoiding me for two weeks,â he said. His voice didnât change. âI think Iâve been fairly patient about it.â I didnât deny it. There wasnât much point. âI needed some space,â I said. âYouâve had it.â He glanced at me sideways. âHave dinner with me.â It wasnât really a question. It had the shape of one, but not the weight. I thought about saying no. I ran through the available excuses, work, tiredness, an early morning, and found that none of them felt convincing enough to say out loud. Not to Vincenzo. He would see straight through every single one. âFine,â I said. He didnât look surprised. He just nodded, and we walked out together. The restaurant was a short drive away, a quiet place, private room, the kind of setting that required advance planning. Heâd booked it ahead of time. Of course he had. The table was alrea
(Authorâs POV) The call came the following morning. Celeste was seated at her desk inside the Aetheris Biotech laboratory, reviewing a stack of printed data reports, when her phone buzzed with Sebastian Argentieriâs number across the screen. âGood news,â he said the moment she answered. âThe Argentieri family returned the funds. All five hundred million. The transfer came through this morning.â She leaned back slowly in her chair. âSo quickly?â âThey moved faster than I expected. Apparently nobody enjoys being on the receiving end of a Sebastian legal filing.â She could hear the amusement in his voice. âDonât thank me too enthusiastically. I earn a percentage if we win. My motives are entirely selfish.â Celeste laughed softly, and some of the tension she had carried since her meeting with Stefan loosened slightly. âEven so,â she said, âthank you.â âNow that weâve finished pretending gratitude matters,â Sebastian continued, âcompletely unrelated subject. A friend ga







