My love,
I put these thoughts to paper in the hope that I might one day have courage to share them with you. In time, you'll no doubt learn that I betrayed Giovanni, labeled him a traitor and sentenced him to die.
History will likely judge this to have been a matter of politics and greed. Know that it was not hate that forced my hand, but fear. When the Medici robbed us of all we owned, I found myself afraid. For you. For our son. For the future. What hope in this world for a man without proper means?
They offered me money, land, and land in exchange for my collaboration. And so this is how I came to betray my closest friend. Gowever unspeakable the act, it seemed necessary at the time. And even now, looking back, I see no other way...