Chapter Fifteen
Aria Bianchi
“A bullet was inches from taking out Uncle Giovanni this morning.”
My heart skipped a beat as Enzo told me what had happened to his uncle, and I focused keenly on schooling my expression. I knew who the culprit was, but Enzo couldn’t know that.
“Your uncle?” I gasped. “Is he okay?”
I had told my father about the misstep, and he had been furious. He had ended the call immediately, not bothering to give me feedback or direction. I didn’t know what I would have done if he had told me the truth.
I had failed, and he told me what would happen if I failed him.
Was Evelina going to suffer because of my decision? I had never known my father to bluff…
Enzo leaned into the countertop in the center of the kitchen as he analyzed my expression. He had only come in a moment ago, tensely telling Jaimie she was free to go. The energy between us had been relaxed and almost easy over the past few weeks. There were things that we both had hidden from one another, but the marriage had become something less than a burden.
And not hearing from my father for that long… it eased something within me.
“Enzo,” I pushed.
But the hard line of his mouth didn’t soften. “We assume your father was the one behind it.”
“Of course, you would. He probably was.”
Enzo still didn’t seem to know what to think about it. He continued staring accusingly at me. I clasped my hands in front of me. I had nothing to hide about this situation, at least. I hadn’t been the one behind the bullet, and I genuinely knew nothing about it. Hell, I hadn’t even known that he had something in motion beside me.
But I did remember what he had told me he would sell in order to pay for a backup plan.
“Enzo, why are you staring at me like that?” I asked.
“We have all our sources digging into this, and they will find the truth. They are going to find the person who did this.”
“You know I didn’t do this,” I replied, shaking my head. “Why are you talking to me like I was the one who orchestrated this whole thing.”
Enzo walked toward me slowly, each step meticulously behind the last. For the first time, I was terrified looking at Enzo. Seeing the underboss of the mafia approaching me with scorn in his eyes made me feel like his true enemy. It made me realize precisely how dangerous he could be if I were ever caught.
“I need to know everything about him and his plans, Aria.”
I shook my head and took a small step back. The counter pressed into my back.
“There’s nothing more to tell you. I have been here. I don’t know what he has planned.”
Lie. Lie. Lie.
Why had my entire life become an endless lie for a man who didn’t deserve that kind of loyalty?
“He is my greatest enemy, and anyone who works with him is on that same list. I lost my father and mother because he was pushing the buttons of a man who was too powerful to handle. Because he made an enemy out of someone who already wanted us both dead.”
“That would have happened without his involvement,” I countered.
“You don’t think that Noemi’s presence influenced it? You don’t think Petrov learned about your father’s shortcomings and used my father to send a message?”
I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I knew my sister, and I knew she wasn’t capable of murder. She would have never used Anton to hurt another person. “My sister had nothing to do with any of this.”
“Do you?”
I leaned back as he placed his hands on either side of me and locked me against the counter.
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m threatening anyone who works with your father. Is that you?”
I scoffed and shook my head. “I know you’re used to disloyal people, but if you continue accusing me of betraying you, maybe one of these days, I’ll have to give you a reason to be suspicious.”
His eyes narrowed. The green of his eyes pierced through me, and it felt like he could extract everything I knew from just that look. A wavy strand of hair broke away from the rest of his hair and fell down his forehead. My hand moved involuntarily, sweeping it back upward.
His hand caught my wrist. “Tell me about him, Aria.”
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
I had so many options, and so few at the same time. If I came clean about my involvement, everything would fall apart. I may have been married to Enzo, but I knew it wouldn’t matter in the scheme of things. He would kill me, and he wouldn’t hesitate. It didn’t matter that I could feel our connection strengthening with each day and each subtle brush of skin.
“I have a choice to disclose whatever is necessary for you to keep your family safe, but my information won't do that.” I paused. “And frankly, Enzo, there is no reason for me to sit here and spill all my family’s history to you when you’re interested in nothing from me besides maybe sex. If you are not willing to invest in me as a wife, I am not willing to spill the darkest parts of my past for your leisure.”
His jaw ticked as if he was trying to keep his frustration in check.
But I realized something as his eyes darted around the kitchen. I didn’t have many choices—especially not given my sisters and their safety—but I could play the game too. I didn’t have to make my father out to be a decent person. If anything, it would serve my purposes better to tell the truth.
If they knew even a fraction of the truth, they might finally use their forces to strike and take him down. If I gave them enough information, Enzo could see it through before my sisters were ever caught in the crosshairs. It would be a gamble, but it might be my only chance. I couldn’t go through with killing Giovanni, so it was only a matter of time until there were consequences.
And there was only one thing I could tell him to motivate his family to take action.
One truth I had never told anyone.
“I can’t be sent back to him.”
Enzo shot his gaze to me, but I didn’t meet his eyes as I relived the images that I was about to reveal to him. Admitting to this had the potential to backfire irreparably. I had known about his lies without ever telling a soul, and it had gotten people killed. It had drawn unrest in both peoples. I wasn’t sure if Enzo would understand the reason I kept the secret. He didn’t have any full siblings. He had a half-brother who worked for my father, but they hadn’t talked in years.
He didn’t understand the love I had for Livia and Evelina, and he never would.
“There is one thing I know, and it’s something I swore to never tell anyone. If my father finds out that I told you, he will torture and kill the two people who mean more to me than life itself. Enzo, if it gets out what I am about to tell you about my father, innocent people will die. My father will make sure of it.”
A crease formed in Enzo’s forehead.
“What did he do to you?”
I took a deep breath before opening my mouth and telling him.
I told him that I barged into the garage and discovered what he had been doing to his own employees’ wives and daughters while framing Enzo and his family for the cruelty. I told him about the woman and her crooked fingers. I couldn’t stop the description from leaving my lips. The pool of blood. The fingernail that sat halfway across the garage. The bruises that had started forming before she died.
And then I told him about my own bruises after trying to run that night.
I told him about the threat to my sisters’ lives if I ever told a soul what I had seen.
“I didn’t have a choice. I can’t fight him, and I won’t risk losing my sisters. Not when I knew what he was capable of.”
I didn’t feel the shaking of my voice or the tears that streamed down my cheeks as I relayed the worst night in my entire life. I only noticed the visceral reaction when he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest wordlessly. I held onto his shirt tightly, clinging to the reality of here and now. I stared at the fabric of his shirt, trying not to see that damn fingernail sitting on a garage floor.
I tried to push all the images away.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“I can’t—” I took a shaking breath and squinted my eyes together. The woman’s bent fingers slammed into the dark images of my closed eyes, and I forced them open. “I can’t see them be hurt, and I’m not there to protect them anymore. I need them to be safe, and I’m afraid that keeping this secret won’t ensure that anymore.”
It was all true, just not the whole story.
Enzo didn’t say anything, but I felt the slight tremor in his entire body as he held me tightly. I knew he was angry. I knew he was enraged, but somehow, I still felt safe in his arms. Maybe it made me an idiot, but I couldn’t imagine him taking out that rage on me.
Yeah, I was definitely an idiot.
“I’m going to kill him,” Enzo growled into my ear, stroking a calloused palm down the back of my hair. “And he’s never going to be within five feet of you again.”
A shudder ran down my spine at the promise in his predatory tone. I believed him. I had always been good at reading people and situations, and Enzo was no enigma. I had hated him before ever meeting him because of the things he had done. But I knew from the moment I met him that my misconceptions didn’t add up. There was always something that wasn’t innately evil.
“I’m so fucking sorry.”
His grip tightened, and I pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. A vein pulsed at his temple, and his teeth clenched together tightly. On instinct, I stood on my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his.
He remained just as rigid, but he pulled me into him tighter, winding a hand in the hair at the back of my head. His mouth devoured mine, and I sank into the embrace, allowing it to sweep all the memories away.
It was the only thing that had ever worked. I lost myself to the sensations of him and shut out everything else. All the lying and deceptions. All of everything.
He gripped both of my hips and lifted me until I sat on the cool countertop, and he nestled himself between my legs. He deepened the kiss, pulling the back of my head into him. His body remained rigid with both fury and hard muscle, and I couldn’t think of a time I had felt safer.
“Enzo,” I moaned as the hard length of him ground between my legs. I involuntarily moved forward and wrapped both legs around his waist. He groaned, his hand tangling more firmly in my hair as he pulled me away.
“We can’t do this right now,” he said, though he didn’t sound convinced.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, running my fingers down the prickles of his cheek. “We can.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever let you leave my bed again if we do this right now, Aria.” I chuckled lightly, but his expression remained grave. “I’m not kidding. The thought of him hurting you… manipulating you—”
He shook his head and rested his forehead against mine as he took a deep breath.
“I’m here now,” I countered. “Safe and happy.”
Damn it, it wasn’t a lie. He made me too happy, and it cut through me like glass to know that I would destroy that happiness and trust.
“He’s never going to touch you again. And he will never touch your sisters again, either.”
He took a step back, and I could feel the effort it took to do so. He looked me up and down as if something deeper was eating at him, and then he turned and walked away. Within a moment, I heard the front door slam shut.
My shoulders fell forward.
This was a gamble. One that could have grave consequences. Telling Enzo the truth was something that I had never considered doing, but the way he looked at me—touched me—was something I couldn’t ignore. I knew he said he would never love me and that we would never be more than married in name. But something had shifted.
I trusted him.
And I trusted he would do everything to get my sisters out of there.
I hopped from the counter and headed for my room. I reached beneath the mattress and grabbed the burner phone my father had given me, flipped it open and gasped at the text that sat there.
An image stood on the screen—one of Evelina’s straight, scared face on a computer screen. Beneath her face, I read the caption that had me holding my breath to keep tears at bay.
Auction Countdown: 2 weeks, 1 day, 13 hours, 49 minutes.
Starting bid: 500,000 USD
Then, I read the message directly beneath the photo.
I have the sniper. You provide the location and the target. You have 2 weeks.