Chapter 49

ALESSANDRO

It was the peak of summer, two years after I first met Rhiannon, when my stepmother and half-brother came to the villa at my father’s request.

“I won’t let you take him away!” my stepmother snapped, clutching her son protectively. Charles stood behind her — fifteen, tall for his age, but trembling all the same.

“He’s not a child anymore,” my father thundered. “He must learn discipline.”

I hid by the doorway, barely peeking through the narrow gap. If my father caught me eavesdropping instead of training, I’d be punished for a week. Still, I couldn’t look away.

“He needs to learn the tenets of a man,” Father continued, his tone sharp and unrelenting. “You’ve pampered him too much. You and your family have made him weak.”

Unlike me, my half-brother had been raised in comfort — a mother who doted on him, a home full of warmth. Meanwhile, from the moment she entered our h