(Alessandro’s POV)
The walk from the war room to the secure medical bay on the sub-level of the Citadel was the longest of my life. The plan was cold, calculated, and cruel. I was about to use my own father, a man I had just discovered was alive, as a weapon against his co-conspirator. It was a move straight from my father’s own playbook, and the bitter irony of it was a poison in my veins.
Isabella walked beside me, her steps silent, her presence a warm, steady comfort in the cold, sterile hallway. Her hand was in mine, her fingers laced through my own. She was my anchor, the only thing keeping me from being swept away by the storm of rage and betrayal that was raging inside me.
Before we reached the heavily guarded door to the medical bay, I stopped, pulling her into a small, private
