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“And they won’t,” the voice of Alexander answers tersely. “Not if you keep your mouth shut. There’s no proof that anyone would be able to piece together. I’ve buried the records so deep in Bianca’s financials that not even the world’s greatest accountant could piece it together.”

I press closer to the door. What are they talking about?

“If Bianca finds out what we did,” Lorenzo stresses, “she will ruin us both.”

“Shewon’t,” Alexander hisses. “Not if you—”

They both go quiet, and I manage to pull away and compose myself as if I hadn’t just been listening at the door when it swings open.

Alexander’s icy blue eyes meet mine. “What are you doing out here?”

“My job?” I keep my tone casual as I hold up the packet of documents. “I need Lorenzo’s signature on these. Apparently, he was too busy to come to me.”

Alexander lingers in the doorway for a moment, studying my features as if trying to determine whether it’s possible I heard anything. I school them to remain completely neutral.

“You wanna let him sign them so I can get back to work?”

“Fine,” Alexander concedes. “Hurry up.”

Lorenzo looks out of sorts when I step into the room, his already-lined face wearier, a flush creeping up his neck. “You said you would be later,” he accuses.

“Didn’t realize I’d be interrupting,” I answer coolly.

Lorenzo sneers as he snatches the documents from me, leaning over his desk as he begins to sign each one. I turn to Alexander, eyeing him. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“None of your business,” he says flatly.

“A lot of things aboutmycase seem to be none of my business,” I chuckle. “But that’s nothing new, I guess.”

“You are such an unruly child,” Lorenzo snorts, straightening and handing the documents back to me. “I would never let a son of mine speak to me this way.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not Alexander’s son then, isn’t it.”

Lorenzo scoffs. “It is good for him, I think. Nothing but a disappointment, your whole life. So ungrateful when he raised you as his own. And your whore mother—”

I crowd him, fisting his tie roughly in the blink of an eye. “Don’t you say another fucking word about my mother.”

“He isn’t saying anything that isn’t true.” Alexander laughs cruelly from behind me.

I turn on him, curling my lip. “You’re just pissed that shefinally found the good sense to try to get away from you. She realized what a piece of shit you are.”

“Careful, boy.” Alexander’s expression darkens. “You don’t want to say anything that you might regret.”

I hear his warning, and I know exactly what it means. I know that it’s notmewho will regret my outburst, and the thought turns my stomach. I can’t say why today is different, why I can’t brush off the casual threat, but my heart is hammering now. But my skin feels too tight and my blood feels too hot, and my vision blurs until I can hardly see anymore.

It’s Lorenzo’s callous insults. It’s Alexander’s blasé tone in regard to holding me under his thumb. It’s Dani’s voice in my head, telling me that even if I had good reasons to follow him, I stilldoit. Even knowing how evil he is. It’sallof it.

And I realize all at once that I’ve had enough.

“And what are you going to do, Alexander?” I release Lorenzo’s tie, stepping closer to the other man. “Are you going to threaten me? My mother? Are you going to push her so hard she wants to die again?”

Alexander looks unruffled, and that only makes me angrier. But not nearly as much as what he says next.

“It would have probably been easier on everyone if she had,” he says coldly, his face devoid of emotion. “At least then I wouldn’t still be putting up with the pair of you.”

I hear a roaring in my head, my body moving before I even recognize what’s happening. One second I’m standing a foot away from the man who has made my life a living hell, made mymother’slife a living hell, and the next, he’s crumpling to the floor, blood streaming from his nose. That same blood covering my knuckles.

“You worthless piece of shit,” Alexander snarls, clutching his bloody nose. “I’ll fucking end you. I’ll lock your mother up in a hole and make sure sheneversees—”