Chapter 52

Alessandro

I’d seen the way he held her, the way his hand slipped to the lower part of her waist. It’d slipped lower than normal, too, and I didn’t miss the smirk he threw my way. It was too sharp, and too knowing, too—like he had something on me, something incriminating maybe. The last part may or may not be true, but if there was one thing I could make a bet on, it was the fact that he was waiting for me to make a move.

Anger simmered deep in my bones, and I fought the urge to punch something. With the impromptu meeting I’d just gotten out of, this was the last thing I needed to see—or even think about.

It wasn’t news that I wanted nothing more than to strangle the guard that had cut into me and Isabella’s private time. I wouldn’t exactly call it that; I was just showing her a tip of the punishment she would get if she dared to go against me. Apparently, she hadn’t been paying much attention to me, nor to whatever I had to say.

Not only was she froli