Giovanni POV

“I only said those words out of anger,” she thundered, voice sharp enough to slice the air. “Yes—I don’t want you to leave. But Mark has been the one holding this family together since we lost your father.”

Her words burned. She always made me feel like the outsider.

“Then let Mark be your pillar,” I shot back, colder than I meant to be. “Stay with him if that’s what you want. Don’t tell me how to live. I’m done. Let me decide my life.”

I was already ...