Chapter 11
GIANA
“ C aelian’s not here with you?” Cristiano makes a face when he says the words, but there’s a little note of worship in his voice. He always did look up to the Del Rossa brothers.
I’m not sure how to answer it, so I don’t. “I’m back. For a while, at least.”
He flops on my bed, playing toss with himself, using my blue bear as his ball.
His dark, unruly waves cascade down his face in a chaotic yet alluring manner. I can practically hear the girlish giggles and see the fluttering eyelashes of admirers chasing after him, captivated by his rugged charm. Which is how it should be.
He’s so young, he needs to be living his life like any other teenager, girls and exams being his only worries. He’s my brother, and I’m fiercely protective of him. But the fact that I had my choices taken away from me makes me more determined not to see the same happen to him. I don’t want him to be a part of this world.
I’m also not naive enough to think he won’t be affected, that our dad won’t force him into the life. He’s the heir. The one who will carry the Belucci name.
Odds are he’ll eventually get all caught up, but for now, I’m going to do what I can.
We chat about school and the girls, his sports teams and whatever latest outrage on social media that has caught his attention. Laughter and gossip abound, and if some of my laughter’s a little forced, if the joy of being with him isn’t quite able to fill the empty chasm in me, I don’t say a word.
I like catching up with him.
Downstairs, the front door slams, and Cristiano frowns but continues his story. When it’s done, when his efforts to talk about events in my life suddenly stop becoming a game of dodgeball, he, in true Cristiano style, smashes right into it.
“Look,” he starts, “I’m not an idiot. There’s no way you’d be here if there weren’t trouble.” He stops, sits up on his elbows, still sprawled, and pins me with a look. “I’m sorry I didn’t go to the funeral and shit.”
“Did Dad say why?”
He shrugs. “He only says what he wants. I wasn’t allowed to change my schedule, which is bullshit.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I sit on the edge of the bed and put a hand on his knee. “It’s fine.”
“What’s going on?” He narrows his eyes. “Why are you really back home?”
I stand, folding my arms in front of my chest. “I just…I need to deal with some things.”
“What things?”
“Things,” I say, frustrated because I don’t want to give him the straight answers he seeks.
Cristiano has zero idea of the threat to his life or even why I’m here. And I need to keep it that way.
He sits up properly now, legs crossed and arms thrown in exasperation. “Why is no one telling me what’s going on around here?”
“Because we’ve got it under control, and you don’t need to worry about it.”
“I’m not a fucking idiot, Giana.” He breathes out. “You don’t think I’ve noticed the extra security at the gates, and Dad’s…”
“Dad’s what?”
He shrugs. “I dunno. Dad’s been…different,” he finishes, avoiding my eyes now. “And since when do I need two bodyguards to take me to school? Today, they were there the entire time, just…hovering around campus.” Finally, he looks at me. “Are we in some kind of danger?”
“No,” I lie. “No one’s in trouble. Dad’s just being overprotective. You know how he gets sometimes.”
His eyes cut to me. I carefully ignore the unspoken inquiry and the bag of statements there.
“I know you’re hiding something from me. You and Dad.” He gets up and straightens. “I also know there’s more to your marriage with Caelian.”
“There’s no?—”
“I’ve heard the rumors, Giana. It’s all over the city, about you and Caelian. How you were supposed to marry someone else.”
My heart races. “You shouldn’t listen to rumors.”
“Maybe I won’t if you and Dad include me in shit around here. Then I won’t have to make my own assumptions.”
“Cristiano,” I say, trying to find the words to throw him in a less dangerous direction. “We don’t want you to worry, that’s all. Dad and I, want you to get through school, focus on grades and girls. Not?—”
“Not what? Family business?” He rises, much taller than I am, and places a hand against his chest. “I’m family.”
“That’s exactly why we’re keeping you out of it,” I argue, looking up to meet his furious gaze. “You’re the most important person to us, and I need you to trust me that I’ll always protect you.”
His dark brows slant inward, and I see I’ve only created more questions by trying to avoid straight answers. He opens his mouth, as if to argue, but then closes it again, turning away to stare out the window as he sighs. “I'm not a child anymore, Giana. And eventually you’re going to have to start including me.”
He’s right. There will come a time he’ll be more involved, learn our family ways. Even if I don’t want him to, Dad will make sure he steps up as the Belucci heir. I won’t be able to protect him forever, but while I’m able, I will.
Cristiano pulls his hand through his messy hair, the dark curls falling back to his face. “Do you love him?”
I still, and my mind whirls as I search for a response to the one question I didn’t expect. The answer is a resounding yes, but it’s too raw to say it out loud. I’m afraid to say it, afraid it will only make it hurt more.
With my gaze flitting along the lavender walls, I try to pick the right words. “My relationship with Caelian?—”
“Is none of my business, I know.” He presses his lips in a thin line, pulls out his phone, and checks it before sauntering toward the door, but then he stops. “If you love Caelian, don’t be here.” And then he walks out.
My gaze fixates on the door, my mind racing with conflicted emotions.
I do love Caelian. My heart aches for him in ways I can't begin to explain. But there's much more at stake here than my heart alone, and even if it wasn’t for my brother’s life being in danger, Caelian and I…it won’t work.
We’re too destructive.
We’re a tragedy rolled up in passion and dynamite.
We’re a dangerous blend of fiery desire and chaos, always on the brink of self-destruction.
I sink onto my bed, pressing a hand to my throbbing temple. The room is silent, but in my mind, there's a deafening roar of emotions trying to fight their way out.
Self-doubt, fear, love, guilt—they wage a silent war inside me.
I wish it were as simple as just loving Caelian and rushing back to him. But life isn't that simple, is it? There are greater concerns than simply racing into the arms of the man I long for.
Cristiano doesn't understand; he's too young, too untouched by the cruel grasp of adult problems—and I want it to stay that way for as long as possible.
I inhale deeply, steeling myself, gathering every ounce of strength I have in me to do what needs to be done.
To think, the last time I was in my room, I planned on running away from Aurelio. And now…I have no choice but to run to him, and I need to be stronger now than ever before, because in this twisted game of ours, the stakes have never been higher.
It's no longer just a battle of wills, a fight for my freedom. It's about survival. About saving the one person who still means the world to me, even if he can't see it. My brother.
After freshening up, I find my dad in his study staring at his computer.
“Dad?”
“That ass you married—” He shakes his head and fumbles for his drink, the bottle open next to it.
I step inside and close the door. “You mean the ass you made me marry?”
His eyes shoot to me, and they’re slightly unfocused. “He should be happy I gave you to him. He should help. Hot-headed, irrational, and reckless, that man. And they’re up to something.”
He downs his drink, refills the glass, and finishes that one in record time.
“Dad, no one’s up to anything. They lost their mother.”
“And Alexius?”
“You heard them. He’s on his way back.”
My father grabs the bottle and tops up his glass, but I try to take it from him. “I think you should slow down.”
“Let go,” he snarls. “You are the child. I’m the adult here, and if I want to drink, I’ll fucking drink.”
“Fine.” I let go and hold up my hand in mocking surrender.
“All they had to do was agree to an alliance.”
“They’re the Dark Sovereign, Dad. They aren’t exactly known for their willingness to align themselves with anyone.”
“Not even to the family of Caelian Del Rossa’s wife?”
“It’s not like he married me out of love or loyalty. I was a goddamn favor, that’s all. Hardly enough reason for them to go against generations of self-preservation.”
He pours another drink. “It’s unacceptable behavior. I don’t know why I ever thought they’d help.”
“They did help,” I say, crossing my arms. “And they paid the price for it.”
“It’s not my fault Alexius got shot. That their mother was too weak to handle her precious boy being grazed by a bullet.”
“He almost died, Dad,” I snap. “And Mrs. Del Rossa did die. And now they have an enemy they didn’t have before you asked them to correct a mistake you made. That’s enough motivation for that family to cast us aside and not lift another finger to help us.”
“Bunch of incompetent idiots,” he sneers. “The lot of them. They’re going to destroy everything their father sweated blood to build. Fucking Del Rossa spawn. All they do is fuck and fornicate their way through life with that goddamn whorehouse of theirs. They can’t tell their brains from their cocks.”
“Dad, stop.”
“Those godforsaken Del Rossa boys have ruined me!” He hurls his glass across the room, anger seething beneath his reddened face. It shatters against the stone fireplace, splintering into a thousand shards that glitter like deadly stars on the floor. “Tiny, cock-sucking pricks!”
“Dad, calm down.”
His angered glare cuts to me, fury seething beneath his reddened face. “Do not tell me to calm down.” He grabs my shoulders, squeezing hard, shaking and ignoring my wince of pain.
“Daddy, you’re hurting me.” I try to break free, but his fingers only bite deeper into my bones, his eyes gleaming with a manic light.
“Maybe if you had done your duty as a wife, fucked your husband better, we wouldn’t be sitting ducks, and your brother would be safe!” With a violent jerk, he lets go of me, and I stumble backward, crashing into a chair. I almost fall but manage to grip the armrest just in time.
He plops down in his chair. “What use do I have for a daughter if you can’t even please a piece of shit like Caelian Del Rossa?”
And for the first time, I think I see him.
Truly see him.
A seething, frothing-at-the-mouth rabid dog, all semblance of composure lost.
He’s not the regal. He’s not a powerful patriarch, the man I looked up to and always thought could do no wrong.
Rather, he’s a pathetic drunk. A pitiable man wallowing in his own failures and blaming everyone but himself.
Tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision, but they're not tears of sadness. They’re teardrops of fury and helpless contempt. The man before me is not my father; he's a stranger with my father's face. He’s a hollow shell filled with acidic bile of resentments and failures.
With anger rising by the second, I cross the room and place my palms on his desk, leaning forward, wanting to look him closely in the eye.
“You know what you are?” I say with a venomous calm. “You are an old, weak man. A man so desperate to cling to power he never even had by running roughshod and making questionable deals. Selling his only daughter to the devil himself, a man whose family we both know murdered my mother.”
“Shut your goddamn mouth.”
“And now,” I press forward, “the daughter you have no use for, the one who can’t please her husband, she needs to do what you can’t. Do what you don’t have the goddamn spine to do. Protect this family.”
“Don’t you dare speak to me?—”
“I will speak to you in any manner I deem fit,” I cut him off, a cold flame ignited within me. “You lost the right to demand respect from me the moment you traded my freedom to make my own choices for your vanity. I see that now.” I straighten. “It’s too late for me. You already ruined my life, but I will not let you do the same to Cristiano.”
He doesn’t say a word. He just sits there, silently seething, his knuckles white as he grips the arms of his chair so tightly, his veins bulge out. And his eyes, they’re practically deadly.
But I match him, stare for stare, challenge for challenge. His silence is pregnant with unspoken words and barely veiled threats, but I no longer care.
All I care about is doing the right thing, something my father doesn’t know how to do. Sacrificing my happiness for someone I love.
“Call Aurelio,” I say, not taking my eyes off my dad. “Tell him your daughter is ready to keep your end of the deal.”
His lips thin to a grim line, his eyes narrowing so minutely, and then he nods once.
“But he has to meet my demands,” I continue.
“Which are?”
“Tell him Cristiano is off-limits to him. He will not even sneeze in my brother’s direction. And he’s to keep his distance from us until Caelian and I are divorced. I won’t be the new hot gossip as the local adulterer. I won’t do that to Caelian or his family. They stepped in to save your ass. Now your ass is hanging in the wind. So I’ll save it as long as you do that. And one more thing.”
He just looks at me.
I narrow my eyes. “If you ever lay a hand on me again, I will use every ounce of power at my disposal as the new Mrs. Aurelio Le Fonti…to destroy you.”