page32 (2/2)

Giovanni walked into the sitting area, his body vibrating with his faodson—the boy I taught everything—is a backstabbing cheat” A string of Italian fell fro Raphael had done

However pale he o on the defensive “Have you no explanation for why you are trying to push me out of my own company?”

“I’o”

“You’re the bloody CEO, Raphael What more could you want?”

“You and I are both aware that a quarter of the board o behind my back I’ll not tolerate any dissent This is my company now, Gio”

“No one would dare question your coher Your reputation is fierce And if they crawl back to me, it’s because they know you loathe them”

“I loathe the” Half of the the hour of his need “I’ll not allow any vipers on the board”

He was deceived by the very people he trusted

Pia’s words wouldn’t leave Raphael alone In eighteen years, he’d not once looked at it that way He’d only seen his father’s actions from the perspective of a seventeen-year-old boy But never as a man who’d been betrayed, as a man who’d been honorable until his last breath

“Your work consu else This cooals…”

“It is what keeps my family in the style they’re used to”

“Si, exactly This wealth, retrieving your fa, it’s an obsession Marco wouldn’t have wanted you to sacrifice your personal happiness”

Hands clenching into fists, Raphael turned away “I’ like my father”

Gio’s head jerked toward him as if Raphael had committed blasphemy “Businesses fail, Raphael Men make unwise investments, bad choices”

His throat raw, Raphael gave voice to the pain he had bottled for years, the complaint he hadn’t let hihts “He took the coward’s way out He should have been a stronger man” For me Shame choked those tords