Chapter 63
Sixty-Three
“I was forged in blood, now I’m the reckoning, and I’m coming for what’s mine.”–Aria Boschett.
It’s been five weeks since what the Boston news called the largest drug bust in the city’s history. Lorenzo Rizzotto, wanted for RICO charges in New York, was killed in a shootout with police.
Not a word about Cyan, not a word about the Irish Fist. Power like that still unnerves me.
I thought killing Lorenzo would haunt me.
That guilt would creep in when things got quiet.
It hasn’t. The alternative was losing Cyan.
I’d do it again. I spent a week in the hospital after surgery on my hand and a brutal infection.
When I was discharged, Johnny brought me back to Crescent Bay.
Cyan stayed behind in Boston. The water laps softly against the pool’s edge, but it doesn’t calm me.
Sunlight pours through the glass walls of the pool house while laughter echoes around me.
Still, I feel adrift, separate from it all.
My gaze drifts to the water, where Rosa splashes Tasha playfully.
“Oh, hell no! Do you know how long it takes to dry these?” Tasha yelps, pointing at her dreadlocks.
“Rosa, if I wanted to deep condition today, I would’ve scheduled it into my calendar!
” Rocky barks and jumps into the pool, making Evie’s infectious laugh bubble up, light and carefree.
Seeing her smile warms my heart. That little gap between her teeth reminds me of everything we’d lost. Gracie should be here, laughing with us.
But Gracie suffered a sudden brain aneurysm.
She’s in a coma now. The doctors say her prognosis is uncertain.
Life has a way of throwing curveballs—poor Gracie.
I keep waiting for the grief to feel smaller. It doesn’t.
“Aria, you’re awfully quiet,” Tasha calls, her voice slicing through the fog in my head. She’d suggested this little get-together, likely trying to give us all, especially me, a moment of joy.
“You should go join them,” Saaha says from my side. She’s busy inflating a small bouncy castle for Evie.
“Yeah, go in, Aria,” Judit chimes in from where she’s helping Saaha. She came by for a visit and to talk. She received an offer for Simon’s job. Officially, he died in a car crash, burned alive while trapped in the wreckage. But I knew better.
Judit felt guilty for being promoted over me since I’d done most of Simon’s work. But I told her to take it. I don’t want the job. I have other plans.
“Yeah, come join us,” Rosa adds, splashing water in my direction while wearing a bright smile.
I offer a faint smile in return, but don’t respond right away.
The heaviness of Gracie’s absence claws at my heart.
Intertwined are thoughts of Cyan’s distance and the weight of news I’ve been keeping to myself for over a week.
A soft sigh slips out as I shake my head, trying to dispel the gloom.
“I’m okay here,” I say, forcing brightness into my voice.
Saaha pauses in her castle construction to glance at me. “You sure? We’re all here for you.”
“I know, I know,” I murmur, my mind still tangled in worries about Gracie, about Cyan, about the future.
Evie swims over, her tiny hands gripping the pool’s edge.
Her wide, curious eyes look up at me. “Are you sad, Auntie Aria?” Her question is so heartbreakingly honest. “I’m sad too.
I miss my mommy. Daddy won’t say if she’s coming back, and I wish Auntie Gracie would wake up. I really like spending time with her.”
My heart twists, and a lump forms in my throat. “Yeah, I’m a little sad, sweetie,” I offer a small smile.
Evie scrunches up her face, thinking hard. “The lady my dad takes me to every week says, ‘When I get lost, I should find a way to express my feelings. Like drawing or dancing. You should try!”
How can something feel so right and so wrong at the same time? I wish Gracie could see this. That smile. That spirit. She deserves to be a part of this. Then, as if from nowhere, her voice echoes in my head. See the good in the bad.
Tasha laughs, her voice warm. “See, Aria? Even Evie knows how to find joy in the little things.” The others nod and smile, their support wrapping around me.
Gracie wouldn’t want me sulking here, letting Cyan decide what’s best for me.
She’d tell me to fight. To see the good in the bad. I look down at Evie.
“Thank you, sweetie. I owe it to you and Gracie. I’ll find my joy again.
Just like you suggest.” I turn to the group, my voice ringing stronger now.
“Listen up, ladies. I’m done sitting around feeling sorry for myself.
I’m going to get my man, and no one, absolutely no one, is going to stop me.
My life will no longer be dictated by anyone, not even Cyan.
I love him. If he will not do it, I’ll fight for our future. ”
“It’s about damn time, Ari,” Tasha says with a grin, as everyone nods in approval. I turn away to go find Johnny. First, I need to see Gracie. Then I’m getting my man back.
***
Later that day, Gracie’s hospital room is quiet. I stand at her bedside; my fingers curled around hers.
“Gracie, I wish you could see me right now. I wish you’d wake up. All your dreams are waiting for you.”
No response. Just the beeping machines and the hum of grief.
I wish her parents would let Thomas visit.
His familiar voice might help. But her mother said no.
No to Thomas. No to the Irish Fist. Thomas is struggling.
It’s killing him to be kept away, and yet he honors it.
We are all hurting. Cyan told us what Lucilla had told him about Evie’s birth.
The DNA tests confirmed it. Lucilla still hasn’t been found either.
But the guys discovered a hidden side door at Lorenzo’s hideout.
Johnny thinks she escaped through there.
Given the history between her and Gracie, this room now has twenty-four-hour security.
I bend and kiss her cheek, my voice cracking. “You have my word. I won’t let you down. I promise.” Squeezing her hand, I step away and walk toward the door before looking back. “Evie knows how amazing you are. Your daughter is waiting for you, Gracie. Please wake up.”
Then I walk into the hallway, resolve hardening in my chest. Johnny stands waiting, along with four of his men. My constant shadow now is a security detail of ten men who are with me every time I leave the estate.
“Johnny, take me to Cyan.”
He hesitates. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. Cyan said, If you asked, I’m supposed to tell you no. He said Crescent Bay is the perfect place to start over.”
Cyan, the mule-headed idiot, is clinging to his promise to let me go. But I’m not about to accept that. He belongs to me, after all. “Listen carefully, Johnny... I’m going to see Cyan, with or without your escort. I don’t give a fuck what he told you.”
“I’m sorry, Aria, but—”
“No fucking buts, Johnny. You’re taking me to him. He’s my man. Besides...” I pause, pointing at my flat stomach. “Do you want this baby growing up without a father?”
His eyes widen. “A... what? You’re pregnant?”
“That’s what I said. Now let’s go.”