Alberto's face flushed scarlet.
He didn't want Ririko to know he had done something so spineless.
Nor had he imagined that his father had already uncovered the scheme he had laid in secret.
He had thought those late-night calls and the money passed through a third party's third party under the pretext of a vacation would escape everyone's notice.
Who had betrayed him? Sofia, or someone else?
He was beside himself with rage, every word forced from deep in his throat, an accusation tasting of blood:
"You always say I'm not capable! When have you ever really trusted me? When have you ever treated me as your heir?"
Carmine watched him calmly, so calmly that Alberto felt afraid-
His father was more terrifying when he wasn't angry than when he was.
"If you hadn't colluded with that man, you would still be my son. But now, you no longer deserve to be."
Humiliation turned Alberto's anger vicious. With his hand exposed too soon, his face darkened to a livid purple.
He spun toward Ririko and reached out, intending to seize her wrist and take her away.
In an instant, a black figure blocked his path to Ririko.
Victor had appeared silently in the room.
Alberto froze for a moment.
Though Victor was employed by the Falcone Family, his father was Victor's only true master.
He obeyed only Carmine, because Carmine was the only person he acknowledged as stronger than himself, someone worth bowing his head to.
Victor didn't even draw his blade. He merely watched Alberto's trembling body with cold indifference.
Carmine spoke, as though laying down a rule of the underworld for his son:
"Since you've chosen to betray me, use your own abilities to take what you want from my hands."
Alberto stared into Victor's shadowed eyes. Though