He held up the phone and played the recording.
Hearing her own voice, Livia’s face finally fell.
She knew there was no point in denying it anymore.
Her mask didn’t just crack; it shattered.
She straightened, the vulnerability in her eyes replaced by a chilling, defiant calm.
“So what if it is? Did you really think I would sacrifice myself for the Falcieri family for nothing?”
“Your brother died and left me a widow. What did any of you ever give me?”
“If I hadn’t found my own way, you all would have thrown me out on the street!”
Caius roared.
“So you seduced my CFO? Got pregnant with his bastard to trick me?”
“Seduce?”
some
via’s laugh was sharp and brittle. “Silas knows how to have fun. At least he doesn’t spend his nights pining for bitch who makes jewelry.”
“Marco!” Caius yelled to the guards outside.
Two men entered the room.
“Put her under house arrest,” he ordered. “No one is to see her without my permission.”
“Wait!” Livia struggled. “The baby is innocent!”
“Innocent?” Caius’s gaze was glacial. “You don’t even know the meaning of the word.”
“Caius!” The Madre rushed into the room. “What are you doing?”
3/4
Caius turned to his mother, his eyes filled with disappointment and rage.
“We were wrong, Madre. All of us. We mistook a viper for a dove and drove the true Donna of this house to her death.”
He handed her the DNA report.
The Madre stared at it in shock.
“This can’t be…”
“It is,” Caius’s voice broke. “Alessia knew. She tried to warn me, and I didn’t believe her.”
“And now she’s dead, Madre. Because of my stupidity, she’s dead.”
The Madre’s hand trembled, and the report slipped from her fingers.
“That child… it’s really not…”
“No! It never was!” Caius closed his eyes in agony. “I lost the only woman I have ever loved for a lie.”
Just then, Livia let out a sharp, mocking laugh.
“You think putting me under house arrest will solve anything?”
She pulled a USB drive from her pocket.
“I’ve copied the family ledgers. Everything. The money laundering, the records of your hits, all of it!”
“You touch me or this baby, and this USB stick lands on an FBI agent’s desk by sunrise.”
“Your entire family will be finished!”
The Madre’s face went pale.
“You… how dare you!”
“How dare I?” Livia smiled triumphantly: “I have nothing left to lose. Why wouldn’t I take you all down with me?”
Caius looked at this woman.
This woman he had once trusted completely, the woman for whom he had lost everything.
The only thing left in his eyes was a cold, murderous intent.
