Chapter 336: Your Son Didn’t Respect Our Alliance Either

"That’s not fair," Lorenzo said, anger creeping back into his voice. "Your son didn’t respect our alliance either. We formed this alliance when they were kids. We wanted to unite our families. We wanted them to be together. But what did your son do? He ran up to New York. He started dating that American woman. He rejected Isabella publicly. He humiliated her in front of everyone."

Antonio felt a flash of anger at the accusation, but he controlled it.

"Yes," Antonio said coldly. "He did. My son made a choice. He chose to pursue his own path rather than the path we’d laid out for him. And you’re right....that was a betrayal of the alliance we’d formed."

He paused.

"But the difference between my son and your daughter is this: my son pursued his choice openly. He didn’t hide. He didn’t sneak around. He didn’t participate in schemes and conspiracies. He simply chose a different woman. Your daughter, on the other hand, has been actively conspiring against my son. She’s been working with his enemies. She’s been participating in kidnappings and psychological warfare."

Lorenzo went quiet again.

"So no," Antonio continued, "I don’t think the blame lies entirely with me or with Dimitri. I think your daughter made choices, and now she’s facing the consequences of those choices."

"What do you want from me?" Lorenzo asked finally, his anger replaced by exhaustion.

Antonio sat back down in his chair.

"Well, what has been done has been done," Antonio said. "The only thing we can do now is to make him release her."

"Good," Lorenzo said. "Then we can move forward from...."

"And that is IF he chooses to release her intact," Antonio interrupted.

The word hung in the air.

"Intact?" Lorenzo asked, his voice suddenly filled with fear. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Antonio said carefully, "with everything your daughter has done, I don’t know if my son will let her go unpunished. Dimitri doesn’t take kindly to betrayal, particularly when it involves people he cares about. But I’ll talk to him and see what we can do."

Antonio took another sip of wine.

"I can’t make any promises," Antonio continued. "But I can try to negotiate her release. I can remind Dimitri of our alliance. I can ask him, as his father, to show mercy. But understand this, Lorenzo: your daughter is not innocent in any of this. Whatever condition she’s in when she leaves New York will be a direct result of her own choices."

"I understand," Lorenzo said quietly.

"Do you?" Antonio asked. "I’m not sure you do. But listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you."

He paused, making sure he had Lorenzo’s full attention.

"I want you to promise me something," Antonio said. "When your daughter is released....and I will work to ensure she is released, you’re going to take her back to Rome. She’s going to stay there with you. She’s going to reform. She’s going to get her head together and get herself back in shape. You’ve raised her for all these years. I once saw the perfect daughter-in-law I wanted in her. But she’s become... compromised. It’ll be better if you can get her back in shape. Rebuild her. Make her worthy of the alliance we’ve built."

"You want me to keep her in Rome?" Lorenzo asked.

"I want you to take responsibility for your daughter," Antonio said flatly. "I want you to understand that this alliance is fragile now. It’s been tested. And if we’re going to repair it, we both need to ensure that this kind of betrayal doesn’t happen again. Your daughter needs to understand the cost of her choices. She needs to be in Rome, under your supervision, rebuilding herself and her understanding of what the alliance means."

"Does the alliance still stand?" Lorenzo asked quietly. "Even with everything that’s happened?"

Antonio was quiet for a long moment.

He thought about Dimitri. He thought about the woman Dimitri loved. He thought about the complicated future of two families that had been bound together since childhood.

"Yes," Antonio said finally. "Of course. The alliance still stands. Our families are still bound together. That hasn’t changed."

"But he’s with the American woman," Lorenzo said. "He’s rejected Isabella. He’s nearly killed my daughter twice now because of her. How can the alliance stand if our children aren’t going to be married? What’s the point of the alliance if it’s not cemented by marriage?"

Antonio took a deep breath.

It was the right question. And it was the question Antonio had been asking himself since the moment Dimitri decided to pursue Eve instead of Isabella.

"He’s my son," Antonio said simply. "I will take care of that part. I will have a conversation with him about his choices. I will remind him of his obligations to this family. But for now, let’s get Isabella back to Rome and get her fixed. We can deal with the larger questions later."

The implication was clear: Antonio wasn’t going to force Dimitri to give up Eve. But he was going to try to repair the alliance in other ways. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

"How long will that take?" Lorenzo asked. "How long until you can get her released?"

"Give me a day," Antonio said. "Maybe two. I’ll talk to Dimitri. I’ll remind him that Isabella is still part of the alliance, still part of our families, even if she’s made mistakes. And I’ll work to negotiate her release."

"And if he refuses?" Lorenzo asked.

"Then we’ll deal with that when it happens," Antonio said. "But I don’t think he will. Dimitri understands the importance of alliance as well as you and I do. He may not like Isabella. He may be angry with her. But he understands that keeping her captive indefinitely would strain the relationship between our families beyond repair."

"I hope you’re right," Lorenzo said.

"I am," Antonio said with absolute certainty. "Now go back to your business. Don’t call Dimitri. Don’t try to contact Isabella. Don’t do anything that might escalate the situation. Let me handle this."

"Fine," Lorenzo agreed. "But Antonio, if he hurts her..."

"He won’t," Antonio said. "Not in any way that matters. And if he does, you have my word that I will make him answer for it."

The line went quiet.

Then Lorenzo hung up.

Antonio set down his phone and returned to his wine.

He looked out at the Rome skyline, understanding that the game had shifted. The alliance was no longer about marriages and family unification. It was about something far more complicated, about two families bound together by history and necessity, trying to navigate the complications of love, ambition, and personal choice.

Dimitri had chosen Eve.

Isabella had chosen Dante Romano.

And Antonio was left to pick up the pieces and try to make sure that the alliance he had built still stood when all the smoke cleared.

He took another sip of wine and picked up his phone.

It was time to call his son and have a very difficult conversation about the future of everything they’d built.