"How long?" he demands. "How long have you been betraying my trust?"
I feel exposed.
Not just my actions, but my very soul laid bare for Alessandro to see.
My training abandons me.
I've faced death countless times without flinching, but never like this.
I’m caught between honor, duty, and the woman I love.
"It's not his fault," Valentina finally speaks, her voice thick with tears. "I?—"
"Silence!" Alessandro roars, making her flinch, and for a moment, I consider drawing on him. He turns back to me. "Answer me, Cristian."
"It began after the ambush," I admit, seeing no point in lies. "When Maksim's men tried to take her."
Alessandro's jaw tightens. “What… you felt that since you saved her, you had the right to fuck her?”
My jaw tightens, hating that he’s characterized what Valentina and I have as something sordid. “It’s not like that, I love?—”
"You've compromised everything. Do you understand what you've done? If Maksim finds out my sister has been with another man, with one of my own soldiers, he won't just call off the wedding. He'll declare war."
I’ve known all along how this could all go sideways.
But now I’m faced with the fact that I'm the threat that could destroy them.
Alessandro's voice drops lower. "How many of our men would you sacrifice for a few nights with my sister? How many innocent people caught in the crossfire when the Bratva burns our territory to the ground?"
I don’t respond.
"And what about Valentina?" he continues. "Do you think Maksim would simply let her go? Or would he make an example of her? Make her suffer before he kills her, to show everyone what happens when you cross him?"
Fear wraps around my heart. I've seen Maksim's handiwork.
The thought of Valentina at his mercy…
"I'll disappear," I offer with a desperation to fix this. "Tell Maksim I acted alone. That I was obsessed with her. He already thinks she’s afraid of me. Tell him you executed me for touching what wasn't mine."
“Is that how it was? You were obsessed?”
“Alessandro—”
“I said be quiet,” he barks at Valentina.
I roll my shoulders to keep from responding.
To keep from doing my job of protecting her.
“Is that why you kept calling me a coward and not stopping the wedding? Because you thought you could have her? Like there is any chance of that.”
I realize now that I’m a dead man walking.
It’s confirmed when Alessandro’s hand moves to his waistband where I know he keeps his gun.
This is it. I've served the Dantes faithfully my entire life, and this is how it ends.
Executed in this office for the crime of loving Valentina.
