Chapter 49

ALESSANDRO

At the peak of summer, two years after I had first encountered Rhiannon, my stepmother and brother came to the Villa at father’s request.

“I won’t let you try to take him away…” my stepmother said, urging her son behind her, who was already fifteen at the time.

“He’s not a child anymore,” my father yelled back, showing no remorse. He had never been a man of soft tones.

I stood by the door, hiding and peeking only just a little so my eyes could watch it all unfold—for punishment would be given if I was caught not training.

“He needs to learn the tenets of a man. You’ve pampered him way too much. You and that family of yours have made him soft!” Father roared.

Unlike me, my half-brother lived a life of luxury and love. He was always cared for by his mother and her family, while she had always hated the sight of me the moment she stepped into the house a year after my mother’s death. She should have been the one afraid, but instead I becam