Chapter 24

Alessandro’s POV

“Hijo.”

You would think that I’d have at least gotten used to his term of endearment. I thought so, too, but apparently, I was wrong. If anything, it only infuriated me the most. It made my blood boil. I never got that as a child, not from him or anyone else, so why now?

“Son, come on. We don’t have to do this.”

“Actually, we do.” I twirled a ballpoint pen between my fingers. “We really do.”

“Why?” I could practically taste the begging and desperation in his voice. It wasn’t tasty enough, but a little more spice, and we’d get there. “Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to me? To your familia?”

“Familia?” I scoffed as the pen slipped from my grip. Familia? I’d stopped believing in that word a long time ago, and funny enough, my ears were this close to bleeding from hearing it all the time.

Familia. Familia. Familia.

Like it actually meant anything to any of