(Alessandro’s POV)
The world, which had stopped spinning, came crashing back with the force of a physical blow. The words my father spoke echoed in the sudden, horrified silence of the study.
“You’re late. Where is she? Where is Liliana?”
Not, Where am I? Not, My son. Not even a flicker of confusion. Just a cold, hard demand for the woman who had tried to destroy me.
Every theory we had, every assumption we had made, was wrong. My father was not a victim. He was not a prisoner she was using as a biological key. He was a partner. He was a willing co-conspirator. The man I had just risked everything to save from a ticking clock was part of the plot to destroy me. The betrayal was so absolute, so monumental, that for a moment, my mind simply could not process it.
The man I had cried for,
