Chapter 16 - Go Home...

Alessandro

☩══♛══☩

I didn’t have the stomach for incompetence. I wasn’t running some bleeding-heart charity here—I had an empire to maintain.

If you couldn’t handle the heat, you weren’t worth my time. The weak were meant to be crushed, not coddled, and I had no patience for anyone who couldn’t pull their own weight. I had no interest in holding anyone’s hand through the cruelties of our world.

But a part of me got a certain thrill from it—watching people crumble, seeing them realize just how deep they were in. The way their faces twisted, their confidence shattered, every ounce of hope they had left turning to dust.

That was the part I lived for.

People had to learn the hard way that this world chews you up and spits you out. And me? I enjoyed the chewing. Watching them fall apart, one piece at a time, was practically an art form. Most people cracked like eggshells—too easy, really. But every crack, every twitch of their pathetic hope dying out, was still satisfying. It neve