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‘Move or I’ll make you.’ The man blanched and Alex softened his tone. ‘I only want to talk to him.’

‘He’s not alone,’ the guard whispered.

Oh, of course he wasn’t. Alex smiled. ‘Don’t worry, you won’t be in trouble.’

A second later he strode through the door to his father’s private apartment. ‘Make yourself decent, Domenico. I’ve come to chat.’

‘What are you doing?’ His father turned puce. ‘It’s—’

‘Time to move,’ Alex said as Domenico shrugged a plush robe over his frame. ‘Excuse us, ma’am, I need a private moment with…’

There was no need to finish the sentence—the mortified woman had grabbed a robe and fled.

‘Alex?’

The rage in Domenico’s eyes transfixed him momentarily but Alex slowly regulated his breathing. He’d not been alone in a room with the man in years. Not because he’d been afraid of him, but afraid of himself. For a long time he’d wanted an eye for an eye. Now he would have something better. Now he would just take.

‘What do you want?’ Domenico snapped.

‘You’re going to abdicate. Today.’

‘What?’ His father’s jaw dropped. ‘What?’

Of all the things he’d expected to hear, it clearly wasn’t that.

‘I’ve cleared your secret debts to Francesco Sandrelli,’ Alex said.

‘Pardon?’ The purple drained from Domenico’s face and he surged forward. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘You know.’ Alex glared at the man.

His father hesitated, then stepped back. Alex began to enjoy himself in an icy, brutal way. ‘Bad behaviour is generally motivated by one of three things, Domenico—money or power or sex. In this case it’s all three. You love power but you’ve let your love for money compromise the Crown. You needed cash to fuel your gambling and took it from Francesco, who in turn wanted influence. Then he wanted Tilly. You’re both losing out today.’ Alex would make damned certain of it. ‘You’ll abdicate swiftly, gracefully. Retire to the mountain lodge and live your best retirement life—within your new means, of course. No risky deals, no consorting with businessmen who operate on the wrong side of the law. Your judgement is impaired. You will disappear from public life. Today.’

‘You can’t…’

‘If you don’t agree to my terms, I’ll expose every single one of those debts—the paintings that were supposedly gifted and secretly sold, the disastrous investments that were little more than a desperate gamble and the influence you allowed your benefactor to have. There’s a statement ready to go to press together with all the evidence. As it is, some will become public. There’s no avoiding accountability, but the fallout for you can be mitigated with my clearing the debt and your public apology and immediate retirement. You’ve obviously been under a lot of stress and made poor choices.’

‘If you expose any of this you’ll destroy the monarchy of Montaurella,’ Domenico railed.

‘You would be the one doing that if you don’t step down. You will destroy it more than you already have.’ Alex shrugged carelessly. ‘I’m financially secure. Erik is financially secure. Sadly, you are not. I have your accounts. I have your receipts. If you want to be secure, then you’ll do as I suggest. Immediately.’

‘There was nothing directly fraudulent. They wouldn’t put me in prison.’

‘But I could make that happen and for good reason.’ He could have the man locked away for cruelty. Neither Montaurella nor its citizens would suffer from the man’s narcissistic entitlement any more.

‘You wouldn’t dare.’

‘Try me.’ The rage he’d held too long now seeped out. ‘You hurt people. You use them. You’ve been using Tilly for years. You’ve kept her within your power by not paying her, by guilt-tripping and gaslighting her into thinking she owes you everything. Francesco wanted her and you engineered his access to her. You tried to use her as collateral when your deal went bad. Did you order Hugo to share that video?’

‘You have feelings for her?’ Domenico sneered.

That wasn’t an answer but he knew he would never get an honest one. ‘Abdicate with dignity or face full humiliation and be forced into it anyway. It is your choice.’ He cleared his throat. ‘You’re not fit to be King.’

‘You think you’re any better?’ Domenico asked.

Alex had thrown recompense at Tilly to assuage his guilty conscience but there was no getting over the fact that he’d rushed her to the altar to satisfy his own need to thwart his father. He’d ‘helped’ her but only on his own terms. And those selfish reasons he’d not admitted to himself.

Domenico lifted his head as if he’d scented blood. ‘You’re as manipulative as I am.’