12. Lia
Chapter 12
Lia
I find solace in this place.
I don’t like the humidity, though. It's so bad that my skin feels like there's a tap on the top of my head, and I don't want to even think about how much my hair is a damp mess.
I suppose it's because I don't care about how I look right now. Yet as deep as the hurt I’m drowning in, I can’t wallow any more. She’d not like that.
My mother.
It still feels surreal.
Not that I know her, or remember her, but as I glance down at the letter on my knee. The one I’ve read over and over.
The letter from my mother to me.
Antonio gave me three envelopes, one for each of her daughters.
I should have given Milly hers, but I have to be strong enough to talk to her and Amara first.
Picking up the paper, I read her words again. Probably for the hundredth time since the moment I’ve been alone.
Reading about her sorrow at what she planned to do. And the wishes she had for me to be free. Telling me she had no choice. Her love for her children was greater than the role she’d been born into. Telling me how she loved her home in the Swiss mountains. How safe she felt there. But she knew one day they’d find her.
She told me how much she wished she could have married Antonio. The only man she thought she would love until she fell in love with my dad—Fredrico Rossi. Not that she mentioned that. I suspect it was something they agreed upon.
After everything I learned, I’m thankful Dante did it his way and not as the Syndicate would have liked.
And despite me running as far away from the Syndicate that I can, there is a part of me that would love to change how it’s organized.
My mother was the ring that bound the Syndicate, because the Moretti female was the most powerful of all the families.
Will running away mean everyone died for nothing?
Not only my mother, but her family.
My heart feels heavy as I sit and mull over her words. Only the gentle murmur of water provides a soothing backdrop to the tumultuous thoughts swirling in my head.
Because I was resolute that I was leaving it all behind, but if I do, I’ll be on the run with my babies forever, or I can change everything.
I glance up. The boat is moored up against the harbor, but it sways a little more than it has for the past few hours.
I’ll always love you.
Mom x
My finger slides over the words and her elegant signature when I hear a sound.
My senses become attuned to a slight movement before I notice a faint noise on the deck, like someone is tiptoeing or barefoot.
Instinctively, my hand reaches for the gun tucked against my thigh, my constant companion since I became embroiled in this world.
I crouch low, before tucking myself behind the leather sofa and bracing myself. Ready to defend my life and my babies.
A man in black creeps along the deck.
His large hand holds the handle for a few seconds before he slides open the salon door.
I crouch lower, so he can't see me, then I point and aim my gun.
“Hello, wife.”
I gasp as Dante emerges from the shadows, his eyes full of tenderness.
My stupid heart flips, and I stand. "I could've shot you."
"As long as I die in your arms," he breathes.
He still wants me.
My breath catches in my throat, and time seems to stand still as our eyes meet.
"How did you find me?" My hand shakes with the weight of the gun and of his presence.
"I'll always find you. You know that." His eyes fall to my right hand and at the gun I’m still holding. I lower it and place it on the top of the letter. Relief flashes over his features. “You won’t kill me?”
“Not yet.”
The side of his mouth curves upward. “Noted Lia.”
He moves toward me a few seconds later, slowly at first, then faster, until the distance between us is one irrevocable step.
"You know you can't hide from me," he says, taking that step closer, his gaze never leaving mine. Although his presence is unexpected, my body relaxes so much it's like I've longed for him.
“I’ll never be Lia again.” How can I be? Lia would never kill a man. She’d never had those thoughts less than six months ago.
“You’ll always be Lia to me.”
I wish. But he knows it isn’t true. I know Dante knows everything about me.
Today I’m Aurelia Moretti, the woman who’s determined to take control of her life. The woman who was thrust into a life her mother tried to hide her from.
But can I be what Antonio asked of me?
“She killed herself for me and I trampled on her sacrifice when I moved into this world,” I breathe. Wrapping my arms around myself, I try to chase away the icy fingers that are clutching my skin. “The least I can do for her is to be her daughter, Aurelia Moretti.”
“Lia.” His voice is low in warning.
“No Dante. She died for me, and my plan was to kill all those men who were instrumental in her death, but instead, I’m going to change everything.”
He swallows.
“I…” I hesitate as I watch his eyes to see his reaction. “I am the ring that binds.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I am the boss of all bosses. Am I not?”
He nods.
“I rule over all the other syndicate leaders.”
“Which puts your head on the block, Lia. What the fuck are you thinking?”
“But I know I have Antonio on my side. And you…”
“The Bianchi’s, the Gallo’s, the Rossi’s. They’ll all be ready to take you down.”
“You brought me into this world, Dante.”
“Not for you to take over.”
“I know. It was for your own selfish reasons. You wanted to get one over on your father.” I stroke my stomach. “These babies and Rafe’s vote topples your father, but you should never have picked the Moretti daughter to do that.”
“I could only pick you, not only because you were promised to me, but because you always felt like mine.”
I take a shaky breath. “But you must have had a plan. Tell me what it was and I might stop the divorce.”
He laughs. “You can’t stop it.”
“Try me?”
His eyes pierce into mine before he sighs.