Page 206 of Lorenzo

He is right.

Legally. Logically. Probably morally too.

I did not force Angelo to commit crimes. I did not prosecute him. I did not send him to prison. I did not kill him.

But I did take away Marcello’s ability to protect his son.

I think of my own sons, and how it felt, however briefly, to be unable to protect them.

Mario watches me from behind his desk.

“Marcello does not care about the distinction.”

“No. In Marcello's eyes, I arrived, took Lakeview, his money, his influence, everything that allowed him to protect his son. Therefore I killed Angelo.”

The logic is twisted, but grief does not need logic.

I look toward Alessio.

“He didn't choose you because you were a convenient target. Maybe between my two sons, you were the more convenient,” I say. “But he wanted me to feel what he felt. He wanted me to watch you go through what Angelo went through. Arrest. Trial. Prison.”

Edoardo takes one step closer to Alessio.

“And then?” he asks angrily.

“Then he planned to have you killed.”

Around the room, I witness several different reactions to my words.

Edoardo’s face hardens beside him. Matteo swears under his breath. Tomasso looks like he wants to put his fist through something.

Mario is the only one who does not move.

Ricardo leans forward, forearms braced on his knees.

But Alessio's expression remains very still. He continues looking into my eyes.

“Did you find evidence of this?” he asks.

“No,” I say. “But I know Marcello Greco.”

Killing me first would be too easy, and it wouldn't have given him what he wanted.

Marcello wanted me desperate.

He wanted me spending every resource I possessed trying to save my son and discovering that none of them were enough. Then standing by, helplessly, while he was killed.

And he may think he nearly succeeded too.

But I'm no Marcello Greco.

My son may have been arrested that first night, but I still have my power and influence. That is where Marcello miscalculated. I would never have let him go to prison.

He would have been out of the country before that could ever have happened.

But he would never have been a free man again.

Donna is the reason he is.