Snapping Point||Book 1

63.

Romano De Rossi

The expression on each of their faces only fueled my fury. I wanted to feel more fear than anger, because anger rarely served me well, but I couldn't control the sudden turn of this meeting. I couldn't control the twists in my gut or the burning beneath my skin.

Ten videos of Amato. Seven of Rossi. All erased within three days. I had reviewed those files the night Xenia's urgent call interrupted me. Before drifting off at Luciana's vanity, I had scanned my computer screen as I organized my files in anticipation of a pivotal moment like this.

I rarely left the door to my quarters unlocked. It had to be someone from within who did this. The only person who had access to those files while I slept was Luciana. Damn it.

Ottavio's gaze locked onto mine. Although I was tempted to summon my alibi now that the contents of this drive couldn't aid me, I didn't want him to intervene on my behalf. If they still didn't believe my story afterward, Ottavio would be implicated for collusion.

Clapping involuntarily, I found myself saying, "Impressive move. Very well executed, Rossi."

The sickening thing was that he didn't bother hiding the triumphant smile that played on his lips. I wished someone would scrutinize him, ask why he looked so victorious when his son's life hung on the line.

"You accessed my data with the help of my wife, the same woman you've manipulated for your schemes, and then ordered her to erase... you-know-what," I spoke, my voice trembling but filled with restrained fury. The overwhelming anger threatened to push me towards impulsivity. "And not only that, you replaced them with this?"

"I'm glad you're not denying it's you in those videos, just as you lied she has a twin."

My anger growing as I watched the man who had raised me turn against me, disparaging me as if I were worthless.

"Go ahead then, say something," he barked, "Where did you bury the body?"

I chuckled bitterly. He knew there was no body because Xenia and Joanna were very much alive, but he clung to the lie about her not being a twin to trap me.

Where the nerve to chuckle at the moment he sealed my fate came from, I couldn't say. But I did it anyway.

"It's been what, nearly three months since your inauguration?" I nodded in confirmation as Morelli pressed. "Then that body should be recognizable, at least her hair. So where did you bury her?"

Fuck me.

Reality crashed down with lightning speed. The last image in my mind was of myself covered in blood, and Morelli's thugs dragging Xenia out here to finish her off.

My pulse stopped. Then it quickened, syncing with my aching temples. I had to refrain myself from placing my hand there, feeling a silent sense of horror. Panic and terror lingered in the air and a wild sensation of worry clenched at my gut.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

The word kept hammering in my head. An idea sure as hell was there, getting it out had become problematic.

"He's speechless because there's no body to be found anywhere," Rossi cut in, capitalizing on the tension. I fought the urge to curse him. "All we have is a supposedly dead woman running around town, screwing him. You're pathetic, Romano." My father's voice echoed in his words, and I kept my head bowed. Defeat settled over me, shame lingering as an aftertaste. "I thought you were better than this. Ignoring the Don's orders for a criminal. I thought you were smarter—"