Chapter Twenty-Four
Aria Bianchi
I couldn’t think through the blind panic as Enzo stormed into the room and did a haphazard check before coming to me. He didn’t check the closet. He didn’t bother looking toward where his sure demise would be waiting. I tried screaming for him to turn around, but the words fell on deaf ears as he took in the state of my body and moved forward.
He didn’t think about his own safety for even a moment.
Not a damn second .
The second I was up, I held the rod in front of me and charged toward the closet where Vito stepped out, an amused smile on his lips.
Amused.
As if killing his brother would be something comical and not devastating. I could never understand how they could grow up with one another and be so cold. Enzo wouldn’t even tell me about Vito when I had asked, and I had no idea what had happened between them.
I didn’t need to know.
I wouldn’t let him get to Enzo.
I charged forward, holding up the rod I clutched in my hand-cuffed palms, and Vito’s eyes went wide as he ducked out of the way. I expected him to point his gun, so I slammed the rod into his hand, and when he dropped the firearm, I kicked it out of the way.
I braced for a return blow—something to knock me off my feet or hurt me enough to back down. But when the blow didn’t come, I found him standing straight, palms out as if to stop another attack.
“Enzo,” he shouted, almost as if asking his brother to help him.
I scoffed and raised the rod again, but it caught on something from behind.
I spared a glance over my shoulder and found Enzo holding the end of it. “Aria, stop. He’s with us.”
I stared at Enzo for a long moment, then at Vito.
Then, back at Enzo.
He couldn’t be serious.
“My father gave the order for him to kill you,” I shouted, trying to pull away the rod.
“I don’t take orders from your father. I take them from my uncle.”
For the first time, I noticed that Vito’s usually cold gaze had a little more warmth as he looked between me and Enzo. He stepped forward, and Enzo stepped past me as they gave one another a tight embrace. Enzo patted Vito on the back, his expression still stoic.
“You know where the sisters are? Alonzo?”
I still stared between them as Vito nodded. “I have the youngest in the room across the hall, ready to go. The other one—Evelina… I couldn’t get my hands on her without blowing my cover.”
“You’re… you’re a spy ?” I asked Vito.
They both looked toward me. Enzo’s gaze caught on the bruise that surely covered my face from my father, and his expression darkened.
“All you need to know is that I am deep undercover, and nobody knows . Enzo, Giovanni, and you. That’s it. I have Livia across the hall, and I will make sure we get Evelina out safely too. You need to worry about getting out of here. Nothing else. Your sisters are in our hands now, and we won’t let anything happen to them.”
Enzo grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. “Thank you, Brother.”
Brother .
It made sense. Enzo had acted cold and distant because that’s how he had to act. He refused to talk about his brother because his brother was working hard for them, not because he hated them.
“Thank you,” I repeated.
Vito nodded and looked at Enzo. “You know what you need to do.”
The corners of Enzo’s mouth tipped down as he shook his brother’s hand. “Thanks, man.”
Vito gave one single nod as Enzo lifted his arm in a flash of motion and slammed his fist into the side of Vito’s face. The sound of my scream overpowered Vito’s grunt of pain as he took two staggering steps backward and clutched his surely bruised—possibly dislocated—jaw.
Enzo didn’t give me any time to consider what had just happened as he pulled me from the room and out into the hall. “What… why?”
“It has to look like I overpowered him.” Two shots fired from the room behind us, and I gasped. “And it has to look like he fired and missed.”
Because Vito was still going to be a mole. Vito had to be a mole until Enzo destroyed my father, because we needed someone inside to warn us about any coming attacks. Because they were going through these measures…
They didn’t know if they would find and take out my father today…
I would consider that later. For now, I would get Livia. I would keep her safe, and I would make sure Evelina was found and rescued too.
Enzo flung open the door across the hall, and my nerves calmed as I found Livia sitting unharmed at the end of the bed.
I rushed for her, leaving Enzo behind me as I flung myself at my little sister.
“We can finally get you out of here,” I told her.
“No.”
I flinched back as I took her in. “What do you mean? You want to stay?”
She shook her head. “I have leverage here. I know what I’m doing, Aria.”
“Livia, he will hurt you. He might marry you off or sell you like he’s trying to do with Evelina—”
She cut me off. “You have to trust me.”
“You’re barely eighteen, Livia. You don’t understand the stakes. What you’re risking by staying. You could be killed.” I didn’t know what to say to convince her. Judging by the set of her jaw and the firm way she spoke, she had already decided. “I can’t protect you if you stay here. I have to keep my family safe now. If you don’t come with us, there’s nothing more I can do to help you.”
She still didn’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. “I will be fine. You don’t have to protect me.”
Enzo stepped forward and looked down at me, his expression serious. “We have to go before Alonzo’s reinforcements arrive. Do I need to carry her out?”
I knew why he was asking. I would get a call from my father within the week, and he would try to use Livia again. He would threaten her to get what he wanted, and I couldn’t be put in that position again.
I looked at her, and I saw every ounce of the rebellious, cunning young woman she had become. Livia had never been reckless or stupid. She had always known exactly what she was doing, and she had to have a reason for staying—one that went beyond this situation.
“I can’t come for you again,” I told her, hand hovering over my belly. “I have to focus on my own family now.”
Her eyes drifted to where my hand rested above my womb, and they widened before meeting mine again. This time, they seemed more intent. More determined.
“I understand.”
Sadness filled me and I considered the merits of having Enzo carry her out. But I knew that it would mean nothing. Livia would come back as soon as she had the chance, and though I didn’t understand her reasons, I knew she had them.
“I love you, Ari. I’m excited to meet the little peanut one day.”
I felt a tear fall from my eye as I stepped forward and held her for just a moment.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Please, be safe.”
When I finally released her and left the room, I knew it would be the last time I saw my sister for a very long time. I didn’t even want to consider what she had endured in that house, but I had to shift my focus. I gave her a way out, and that was the most I could do.
I had to keep my baby safe now.