30. Aria
Chapter thirty
Aria
The latte in front of me seems like a total waste. Mia has prepared it, making a beautiful heart shape over it with milk, and yet all I want to do with it is to smash it against Elio’s face.
Mia sips her latte, her concerned eyes fixed on me in silence. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she asks, her voice gentle but firm.
The nod seizes my head without thinking while my hands clutch my cup of coffee as if it holds the courage I desperately need. “I have to be. Dad deserves to know what happened to Mario, plus he’s the only one who can put these monsters in their place.”
Mia reaches across the table to caress my hands. “It’s 3 p.m. already. We’d better get moving so we can get to your dad’s on time.”
A sudden wave of nausea hits me as I stand up.
“Are you alright?” Mia’s quick hands grab me while I try to regain my balance. “You need to eat something, Aria. You’ve barely eaten since yesterday. You’re pregnant, for God’s sake!”
My eyes shoot up at her in a mean glare. “I’ve told you not to say that around here. Let’s get moving.”
The expression on her face tells me she’s worried about me, but I don’t care. Right now, the only thing I care about is getting justice for my brother.
I want to look Elio and his allies in the eye when they’re being prosecuted for being murderous bastards. I want to see the look of pride on my father’s face when he hears that I’m in this sham marriage just to help him catch the biggest mafia don in New York.
“Aria?” Mia’s voice cuts through my inner turmoil.
“Mm?”
“Your keys, I’ll drive.”
I’m not sure why I decided to drive my car, today of all days. I give the keys to Mia and she pulls the car door open, helping me in, then heads over to the driver’s seat. “Your father cannot see you looking half demented…”
“Well, that’s how I feel.” Mia turns to me, her eyes wide with worry. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. My husband might’ve killed my brother, and I’m carrying his baby. I’m starting to despise myself so much just thinking that I have been warming the bed of this man.”
One tear slips down my cheek, then another, until a deep sob racks through my entire being.
“You have to get it together, Aria. Somehow, you got what you wanted. You're onto the person responsible for killing your brother, and now you’re going to give your father what he’s always wanted…the biggest mafia don in New York.”
She’s right, but somewhere in between I fell in love with said biggest mafia don in New York. I fell in love with him, married him, and now I’m expecting a child with him.
I wonder if he approached me on purpose that first day, already knowing who I was, and perhaps tried to use me to cover up his tracks.
The bastard.
The drive to my father’s house feels longer than usual, increasing the knot in my stomach. Mia doesn’t fail with the constant reassurance of her fingers brushing lightly against mine.
My father is on the phone, dishing orders to his men when we arrive at his house. He waves us to the kitchen, only taking his phone off his ear to tell us that he’s just made some noodles.
“...Just get me whatever you have on those families in a written report this time. I’ve lost my entire progress on Ezra and everything on my system, in fact. And the stupid mistake I made by not backing up my system…” Dad slaps a hand to his forehead.
My plan, or rather Elio’s plan, worked.
Since everything on the system has been wiped off, it will take quite some time before the information on his system can be restored?if it can be restored at all.
That would give Elio the time he needs to get his shit together, but that doesn’t matter anymore.
When he’s finally off the phone, he beams at us with a genuine smile of excitement. “It’s so good to see you here, Aria. Mia, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Mia throws her head back and bursts into laughter. “Thank you, Deputy Chief Abruzzi.” Ordinarily, I would have thrown my head backward as well and just acted like everything was funny, but nothing seems funny in my life right now, no matter how hard I try to pretend.
Finally, I take a deep breath and meet my dad’s gaze. “Dad, I’ve found something really important about Mario’s death.”
The smile wipes off his face immediately, the air between us thickening. “So, you’ve found out,” he says quietly.
Confusion prickles at the edges of my brain. “What do you mean? Why do you not seem surprised?”
Mia’s hands reach tentatively for my shoulders, stroking me into calm.
His shoulders sag, and he immediately looks older, more fragile than just five minutes ago. “I’ve known the truth about Mario’s death for two years now,” he says, his voice trembling. “I should have told you sooner, but I couldn’t bear to shatter the way you saw him. You always looked up to him. He was…your role model.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. My head feels unsteady. I can feel Mia’s hand dabbing around my thighs to grab mine as the first set of tears spill freely down my cheeks. “You knew?” That’s all I manage to whisper.
“Aria, five years ago when Mario died...I didn’t believe for a second that it was just a random mugging.” My chest tightens with piercing pain. I’ve never heard him say this before.
“I couldn’t prove it then,” he continues, “I was just an inspector who didn’t have the right resources I needed." He leans forward in his chair, eyes taking a guilt-filled look at me, then falling back to the ground. “I tried, but every lead seemed to end at brick walls. I failed, Aria. Time and time again. I failed both you and Mario.”
He just sits there, fingers interlaced, eyes on the floor, looking broken and shattered. I turn my eyes away from him to Mia. She’s wiping tears from the corners of her eyes with a paper towel.
“You should never have kept this away from me...”
“I could never have told you, Aria. How did you want me to walk up to a seventeen-year-old and say that her brother was dealing with drugs under a false name?”
My jaw drops open. Mia’s eyes widen with surprise as words struggle to proceed from my mouth.
“What are you talking about?” The words are a whisper as they finally escape my lips.
“Your brother’s alias was Antonio Bellini, and he used to sell drugs for the mafia. You know your brother, Aria. How he was always going beyond his boundaries in the name of trying new things…” The look in his eyes is strained as his voice cracks. “This is why I’ve been after those miscreants. I want to find those bastards who took my son from me and make them pay...”
My shoulders sag as it seems the weight of the world has just come crashing down on them.
My brother was a drug dealer?
The room seems to tilt. My mind struggles to process the words that crush the beautiful memories of Mario I’ve clung to for so long.
Mario, my brother, the one who taught me how to ride a bike, who told me to chase my dreams, who always protected me…was living a double life? And as a drug dealer for a mafia family, no less?
Fuck!
My voice shakes as I speak. “But why would Mario do drugs?"
“I don’t know, Aria. I found out that it started as an undercover mission to gather information but you know he loved power and freedom. Journalism was supposed to be his outlet, but maybe the lines blurred somewhere in between and he toppled over to the other side before he could stop himself. He underwent the mission alone so it was easy for him to get consumed in that world. I just wanted to protect you from the little I knew,” he says, his own tears glistening on his wrinkling cheeks. “I didn’t want you to lose the brother you idolized.”
“But I have lost him already.” My voice doesn’t help me, so I just mouth the words. “I lost him years ago in ways I never even knew.”
Mia’s grip tightens around my hands, grounding me as my world takes a completely dark and different turn.
I don’t know if I can forgive my father.
I don’t know if I can reconcile the Mario I loved with Antonio Bellini, the stranger he became.
All I know is that nothing will ever be the same.
“I’m sorry, Aria. But I need to show you something.” My father’s hand shakes as he unlocks his phone. He holds it out to me, but I don’t move. Instead, Mia grabs it and holds it in front of me so I can see.
A grainy video is playing on the screen showing a dimly lit warehouse. Mario steps into view first, his physique unmistakable. My heart clenches at seeing him alive again, moving, breathing, even if it’s just pixels on a screen. He’s holding a suitcase, pacing nervously.
Three men arrive minutes later. They’re faceless shadows at first, stepping into the light one by one. None of them look familiar…none of them are Elio, Cortez, or anyone I’ve associated with Elio’s family.
Mario exchanges a few words with one of the men before handing over the suitcase. My stomach churns as I watch the tension escalate, even without audio. Just as Mario turns to leave, one of the men reaches into his coat.
A gun flashes in his hand. Mario raises his arms, taking several steps back. But this man, whoever he is, doesn’t hesitate. He pulls the trigger immediately. My brother collapses to the ground.
I can’t stop staring at the screen. Grabbing the phone from Mia, my grip around it tightens so much that my knuckles ache. The video does nothing but reiterate the fact that my father knew this much…and said nothing. “You knew,” I whisper to myself as cold shivers run down my spine.
My father leans forward towards me. “Aria…”
“You knew!” This time, it comes out louder, my voice cracking. I throw his phone onto the couch like it burns. “You knew what happened to him, yet you lied! How could you do that? How could you let me live a lie?”
Tears sting my eyes, blurring everything. I don’t wait for his excuses. Grabbing my bag, I storm toward the door.
“When I told you that Mario was killed by that politician he was working on...I was just trying to give you something to hold on to.” Dad’s heavy voice slows down my steps and somehow increases the anger I feel.
I hear him take a step toward me, but I don’t turn back.
“Please, Aria. That was the only plausible string I could ask you to hold on to. When I found out the whole drugs thing about Mario...I was ashamed. There was no way I could face it all and lose you.”
I shake my head. I would no longer be a party to his stupid lies.
“Aria, please!” His voice follows me, frantic…breaking. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Aria!”
I ball my hands into fists and continue walking, my heart shattering with each step I take. Mia calls out my name, but I’m already out and almost in the car. I’m tired of the lies and the pain the people I love keep causing me.
In the car, my hands tremble as I grip the wheel. My head is unsteady as the engine roars to life. I cannot stay with my dad, at least not with how I feel, and I can’t go to Elio. I just drive, letting the streets blur past as I roam aimlessly.
The questions won’t stop pounding in my head. Does that mean that Elio wasn’t involved? And if he wasn’t involved, why did he order his lawyer to seal the case? Why did my dad really refuse to tell me about Mario? Is there something bigger than the bits and pieces everyone is serving me?