"Pietro needs to know."
Twenty minutes later, we're gathered in Pietro's office. Not the full family—Vittoria still won't come—but Pietro, Nora, and Nico. Pietro paced behind the desk, a general moving pieces on a map only he could see. Nico leaned over a city blueprint, his finger tracing a route. Their focus was absolute, dissecting my body into a strategic asset.
"You're doing it next week." Pietro paces behind his desk, already seeing angles. "Right before the wedding."
"Convenient timing." Nico's voice carries its usual skepticism. "Save the boy, gain public loyalty, have allies we didn't know existed."
"It's solid strategy." Pietro stops pacing, fixes me with dark eyes. "Giuseppe's second family becomes our asset instead of our weakness if it goes public."
They're dissecting this like a business acquisition. Calculating value, measuring advantage.
"I'm not doing it for strategy," I say, the words raw.
Silence stretches. Then Pietro nods once, sharp and decisive.
"Fine. Save him because it's right. The strategic advantage is just a bonus." He returns to his desk. "Nora, coordinate with the medical team. I want our own doctors involved. Nico, run security protocols for the hospital. No chances."
Dismissed again, but this time it doesn't sting. I leave them to their planning, needing air, needing space.
"Lorenzo."
Sophia stands in the hall, tears carving paths on her face. My first thought isn’twhy. It iswho. Who hurt her. Then the muffled sound of Pietro’s voice from the office clicked into place. She’d heard. Before I can speak, she crashes into me, arms wrapping around my waist, face pressed against my chest.
"You're saving him." Her voice muffles against my shirt.
"It's nothing important." I stand frozen, arms hovering, afraid to hold her where others might see. "People donate them all the time."
She pulls back, looking up at me with honey-brown eyes that see straight through my deflection. "It's redemption."
Redemption. The word suck the air from my lungs. She sees it. Not the strategy, not the power play. She sees the truth of it.
"Don't minimize this. You're literally giving part of yourself to save a boy you've just met once, whose existence proves your father's betrayal. That's not just donation."
My control cracks. I cover her hand with mine, trapping it against my chest where my heart pounds truth I can't speak.
"It doesn't fix what I did. Keeping the secret."
"No." Her fingers curl into my shirt. "But it's a start."
Sophia
The compound sleeps around me, but my mind races. Two weeks of this dance with Lorenzo.
I'm done waiting.
My bare feet whisper against cold marble as I leave my room. The hallway stretches dark and silent. Guards patrol outside, but inside, the family trusts walls and loyalty. My heartbeat thunders in my ears as I reach Lorenzo's door.
I knock before I lose my nerve.
Footsteps approach. The door opens, and there he stands—hair mussed, wearing only pants that hang low on his hips.
"Sophia?" Confusion flickers across his face. "What's wrong?"
I push past him into the room. The door clicks shut behind us, sealing us in shadows broken only by city lights through the window.
"Showing up this late in here is not the smartest thing to do." He says and I try not to smile.
"Why?" I turn to face him, chin lifted in challenge.
