Chapter 9 - LIAM FINALLY TOLD ALESSANDRO WHY HE HATED HIM

The two men tolerated each other badly.
Then one evening Liam said:
“You know why I hated you?”
Alessandro looked up from assembling a crib.
The crib had taken three hours.
Billionaires apparently did not understand flat-pack furniture.
“Because I slept with Elizabeth?”
“That helped.”
I threw a pillow at Liam.
He continued:
“When her parents died, she stopped eating properly for months.”
I went still.
“Liam.”
“No.”
“He needs to understand.”
Alessandro listened.
Liam continued:
“I watched her change her name because every employer googled Daniel Monroe.”
“I watched her leave nursing school.”
“Watched her work doubles.”
“Watched her pretend she didn't care.”
Then:
“And suddenly the richest Vitali walks into her life.”
His voice hardened.
“I thought your family was going to take something else.”
Alessandro looked at me.
Then back at Liam.
“Fair.”
That ruined Liam’s argument.
He frowned.
“You’re supposed to get defensive.”
“I’ve learned not to.”
“Annoying.”
Very.
Then Alessandro held out a crib screw.
“Can you explain where this goes?”
Liam stared.
“You run a multibillion-dollar real-estate company.”
“Yes.”
“And this defeated you?”
“It lacks zoning documentation.”
I laughed so hard I cried.
That was the night something changed.
Not dramatically.
Alessandro stopped being the dangerous billionaire from Room 1520.
He became a man sitting on my bedroom floor losing an argument with a crib.
I could imagine a life with that man.
Not because he was powerful.
May you like
Because he looked ridiculous and did not mind me laughing.
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