22. Dario
DARIO
I pace around the house like an idiot, trying to figure out what to do. I can’t let her leave. But she won’t tell me anything.
Why was she snooping around in my office? Why did she try to kill me?
If she’s not working for Beth, then why does she hate me so fucking much?
And I’m fucked because I love her. I want her in my life. Her and the boy. I feel so fucking guilty for spooking him.
I’d never hurt him. Or his mother.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and when I pull it out, I realize my hands are trembling.
I take a deep breath and it helps a little.
“Hello?”
“Boss, I have some updates for you.”
“About Beth?”
“No,” Giovanni says quickly. “About the other thing you asked me about. Liana’s ex?”
My heart drops into my stomach.
“I’ll bring it over.”
My throat tightens as he hangs up. He’s bringing it over? Does that mean he figured out who the father is?
What am I going to do if I find him? Hang him up in chains, torture him for abandoning her? For daring to touch what’s mine?
I wait in the foyer for Giovanni to arrive and when he walks in the door I stare at him.
“What’s the news?”
“There’s no news at all,” he says flatly, and something like relief settles over my shoulders. “I managed to get her records from the hospital, Mount Sinai General. The father wasn’t there. There’s no signature on the birth certificate.”
I frown. Does that mean he abandoned her before Sonny was even born? What a fucking waste of space.
Now I’m almost mad I didn’t get a name instead of relieved I don’t have to deal with it.
“Fuck, okay, thanks anyway.”
“Also... we’re still on for Friday, right?”
I nod, my jaw tightening. “Two days.”
I have to keep Liana away from her best friend, my cousin, for two days.
“I might need your help,” I say quietly.
Giovanni raises an eyebrow. “Now?”
I nod again tersely. “I need to keep Liana here.”
He frowns. “What do you mean, keep her here?”
I huff out a breath. “I mean, she can’t leave. She’ll go to Beth’s and that might put her in danger. Besides...”
Giovanni glares at me when I trail off.
“I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Fuck, okay. So once, she kind of... tried to kill me.”
“What?” he hisses.
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” I deadpan, and he snorts out a laugh.
“Alright, I don’t care what kind of freaky thing you’ve got going on with Liana, I’ll follow orders, boss.”
I smile. “That's more like it.”
So Giovanni posts up outside Liana’s door.
I don’t sleep that night, and the next morning, I take a plate for Liana and Sonny and bring it upstairs to them.
I knock lightly on the door before opening it.
Liana sits up against the headboard, her gray eyes flashing. She doesn’t look like she’s slept either.
“What are you doing here?”
“I just... I wanted to bring you some breakfast.” I say dumbly.
She scoffs. ”So what, I’m a prisoner here now?”
“It’s not like that.”
“You accused me of something insane and now you’re acting like it never happened? Get out.”
“Li—”
“I said get out!” she yells, throwing a pillow at me. I duck and slam the plates down on the nightstand, whirling around and leaving the room.
I could scream. I could punch walls.
Instead, I go down to my basement gym, blasting music in my earbuds and running on the treadmill until my legs go weak.
I walk it off and head to the punching bags next, nearly knocking the stuffing out of one of them.
It doesn’t help as much as I was hoping it would.
My mind is still racing.
I thought I knew Liana better than I knew myself. But now, I’m not sure I ever knew her at all.
When I try again to bring lunch, Liana has locked the door.
I huff out a breath, shaking the door handle. I stop, draw in a breath and knock on the door.
“Go away!” a muffled shout comes through the door.
I squeeze my eyes shut, annoyed. Liana can be so fucking stubborn when she wants to be.
“I’ll explain everything, and you’ll understand that I’m just trying to protect you.”
It’s quiet for a moment. “You’ll explain? Everything?”
“Yes.”
She slowly opens the door, just a crack, one gray eye peering at me.
“So explain.”
I sigh. “I will. I promise. On Friday.”
“What do you mean on Friday?” she hisses. “You better explain right now, Dario, or I—”
“Don’t threaten to leave again, Liana.” My voice goes low. “Because you’re not going anywhere. Not until I’m sure you’re safe.”
“How is my safety even in question? What’s going on?”
“I swear, you’ll understand everything. Just... be ready to come with me at midnight on Friday.”
“To come with you? Where?” she sounds exasperated.
“You’ll see. Just... trust me, Li. If you’ve ever cared about me, just trust me.”
There’s a pleading edge to my voice that I don’t like, but I can’t seem to help it.
She takes in a deep breath. “Okay. Friday, at midnight. But I’m taking my own car.”
“That’s fine. If you still want to leave after... you can. I won’t stop you.”
Her hand flexes on the door. “You won’t? You swear?”
“I swear.”
“Alright. See you Friday.”
She closes the door with a click and I groan, rubbing a hand across my face.
Two days, living like a ghost in my own house.
Great.
She comes down to the gym on Thursday night, late, and I’m drinking water over by the mini-fridge when she clomps down the stairs.
Her eyes trail up my body before settling on my face.
I smirk at her and she flushes red across her nose and cheeks.
It’s cute. She’s cute in her sports bra and yoga shorts, the little swell of her belly poking out.
I think about what she must have looked like pregnant, all swollen with child, and it makes me flush. Someone else experienced that. Not me.
It makes my blood heat up.
“I did some poking around,” I say finally. I’m not sure why I’m even telling her this.
She raises an eyebrow as she steps onto the treadmill.
“Poking around?”
She starts off at an even walking pace, holding on to the sides of the machine.
“I got Sonny’s birth certificate.”
Her steps stutter. “You had no right—”
“There’s no name on the birth certificate. No signature.”
“I told you, he took off.”
“When?”
“As soon as I told him I was pregnant,” she huffs out, but she won’t look at me.
Is she embarrassed or is she lying to me?
I walk slowly back up the stairs, tugging off my shirt, which is soaked in sweat. I can feel her eyes boring into my back as I shut the door.
Giovanni stands there, arms crossed over his chest, clearly waiting for her. He nods at me and I nod back.
It’s a good thing I didn’t do what I wanted and bend her over the nearest available surface. Giovanni might have heard.
I don’t even know if I can trust her, but I still want her.