He knelt on the stone steps, shoulders shaking.
“Serena, please. I know what I did. Elena was a sickness, a virus in my head. But it was me. It was all me. Every second in that cell, the only face I saw was yours. I swear it.”
I no longer recognized the red-rimmed eyes looking up at me. “I have nothing left. They took the family, the money, the name. It’s all gone. I only have you.”
He lunged for the hem of my coat.
Before he could touch it, Alex stepped between us. Riccardo let his hand drop.
I waited for the old anger. Nothing came.
“Those tears aren’t for my mother. They aren’t even for me. You’re crying for the man in the mirror. You’re mourning the fall of Riccardo Moretti.”
He recoiled and shook his head.
“No. That’s not true. I love you, Serena.”
“You miss what I did for yo
