Dean pulled the scalpel a millimeter deeper.

"Then whose idea was it?"

"My dad's!" Alex choked out, tears mixing with the blood on his cheek. "My dad told me to get close to her! He said... he said De Luca threatened him about the presidential campaign, and he needed leverage! So he told me if I could get Rosalia drugged, compromise her, and record it, he would have Giovanni by the throat!"

Giovanni’s eyes narrowed into dark, lethal slits. Your father used you as a pawn to target my fiancée. His blood boiled beneath his skin, though his icy composure remained terrifyingly still.

"Yes! Yes! But it wasn't just him!"...