For a split second, it looked like he was about to explode, years of dignity and restraint collapsing into pure rage. But I moved faster. I grabbed his arm, pulling him back with all my strength before the situation spiraled completely out of control.
"This is too much," someone whispered, their voice trembling. "They even hit Don Valente?"
"How could they disrespect him like that?" another voice rose, louder this time. "Don Valente is a great man. He's built churches, funded scholarships, kept families fed when times were hard. How dare they treat him like this?"
"Seraphina threw her entire life away for that man," someone else added bitterly. "Doesn't she understand? A woman can't undo that kind of sacrifice. Men can become fathers at seventy, but a woman… once it's gone, it's gone."
"If my daughter had done something like this," another muttered darkly, "I would've knocked some sense into her a long time ago."
"This couple, Nico and Giada, they're disgusting," someone said, unable to hide their contempt. "And now they're sitting on the Valente fortune? Running Valente territory? What a joke."