When Love Finds Its Way Back (Cassienne and Dreston) novel Chapter 385

At the Virelli estate, Viviana watched the statement from the sitting room. Lucien stood near the window with his arms folded.

Neither of them had spoken since Alessandro’s arrest.

The news had already reached every social circle connected to the Virelli family.

Some friends had called.

Others had disappeared.

Business associates had begun releasing carefully worded statements denying any knowledge of Alessandro’s activities.

Viviana lowered the volume. “Did you know?” she asked.

Lucien turned toward her. “No.”

His answer came immediately. She looked at him for several seconds.

“Do you believe him?”

Lucien knew she meant Alessandro.

He looked back toward the television. “I don’t know what to believe.”

Viviana’s eyes filled with pain. “He said there had been a misunderstanding.”

“He says many things.”

The bitterness in Lucien’s voice surprised even him.

Viviana looked away.

Lucien stepped closer. “I am not responsible for what Father did.”

She looked at him again.

“And neither are you.”

Her lips trembled. “But people will look at us and see him.”

“Then they can look.” His voice remained controlled. “I will not defend what I do not understand. And I will not protect him simply because he is my father.”

Viviana closed her eyes.

Lucien looked toward the dark television screen. For the first time in his life, the Virelli name felt like something placed around his neck.

But he refused to let it drag him into the same darkness.

…….

At the police station, Alessandro was formally processed on the new charges. His lawyer arrived with two assistants and immediately began challenging the basis of the arrest.

Alessandro returned to the interview room once more, but Justice Elena did not question him again.

There was nothing left to ask.

He sat beside his lawyer while the charges were explained. His expression had returned to calm control.

Yet the silence around him was different now.

No one waited for him to answer.

No one needed his clever explanations.

When his lawyer argued that the case relied too heavily on the testimony of criminals, Justice Elena responded without emotion.

“The court will examine the evidence.”

When the lawyer said Alessandro had never directly ordered a murder, she answered,

“The court will examine intent.”

When he said Alessandro’s words had been deliberately misinterpreted, she replied,

“The court will examine the circumstances in which those words were used.”

Alessandro watched her quietly.

He had spent years making sure every road ended with someone else.

Now every road was being examined. Not separately. But together. That was the one possibility he had never respected enough.

He believed truth could be broken into fragments until no one could see the complete picture. But once the pieces were placed side by side, they formed him.

Donatus remained in custody.

He had stopped demanding protection from Alessandro, and he no longer asked whether someone from the Virelli family had contacted the police.

The truth had finally reached him. He was used, and nothing more.

Tina was informed of the charges against her from her hospital room.

She listened without crying.

Her lawyer explained that her cooperation and medical condition would be considered, but the attack on Cassienne could not be ignored.

Tina turned her face toward the window.

For years, she had blamed everyone else for what her life had become.

Her parents, Ethan, Joseph., Cassienne, Dreston, and Alessandro.

Some of them actually lied to her, and some failed her. Some actually used her.

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