Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
ARIA
The night Kai held me had been a stolen moment of paradise before descent into hell.
I hadn't realized how prophetic that thought would be.
The next week became a masterclass in psychological torture disguised as wedding preparation.
Every waking moment was scheduled, controlled, designed to mold me into Salvatore's perfect wife.
Wedding planners invaded my space with fabric swatches and flower arrangements.
Dressmakers pinned and tucked and measured until I felt like a doll being dressed for display.
Caterers presented elaborate menus I had no appetite for.
And through it all, Salvatore watched. Always watching. Those cold blue eyes tracking my every movement, assessing, cataloging any deviation from the perfect bride performance.
I barely saw Kai. Caught glimpses of him in hallways, at dinners where conversation was stilted and formal. Our eyes would meet for a fraction of a second, enough to convey everything we couldn't say out loud. Then we'd look away, playing our roles, pretending we meant nothing to each other.
It was killing me. Slowly. Methodically. Like dying of thirst while someone held water just out of reach.
I'd moved into Salvatore's wing on Monday as commanded. The suite was beautiful in a cold, impersonal way. Expensive furniture, silk curtains, marble bathroom. Everything perfectly arranged and utterly lifeless.
A gilded cage. That's what it was. And I was the canary expected to sing on command.
The physical distance from Kai was bad enough. But the emotional distance, the inability to touch him or talk to him or even look at him properly, it was destroying something inside me. Like part of my soul was withering from lack of sunlight.
I'd started feeling physically ill. Nausea in the mornings that had nothing to do with pregnancy and everything to do with stress. Headaches that pounded behind my eyes. Loss of appetite that made Mrs. Rossi fret.
My body was staging a revolt against the situation my mind had resigned itself to.
Lia was my only real comfort. My only connection to sanity in a world rapidly spinning out of control.
We spent hours together when Salvatore's schedule allowed. She'd slip into my suite, curl up on the window seat, and we'd talk. About nothing. About everything. About dreams we probably wouldn't live to see fulfilled.
She was sitting there now, legs pulled up to her chest, staring out at the gardens with haunted eyes.
I missed Kai with an intensity that physically hurt. Missed his voice, his touch, the way he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered. Missed feeling safe and wanted instead of trapped and owned.
Seven days since I'd been properly alone with him. Seven days that felt like seven years.
How was I supposed to survive four more weeks of this? How was I supposed to stand across from Salvatore at an altar and pledge my life to him when every cell in my body belonged to someone else?
"Aria?"
Lia's voice pulled me from my spiraling thoughts. I looked up, saw tears streaming down her face.
I was across the room in seconds, pulling her into my arms.
"What happened? What's wrong?"
She sobbed against my shoulder. Full body shaking, the kind of crying that came from somewhere deep and broken.
"He's going to announce my engagement at your wedding.
To Captain Antonio Moretti. He's forty-three.
Known for being cruel to his wives. The last one died in a suspicious fall down the stairs.
" The words came out between sobs. "I'm going to end up just like our mother.
Married to a monster. Dead before I'm forty. "
Ice flooded my veins. Horror and rage warring for dominance.
"Does Kai know?"
"Yes. He's trying to stop it but Father won't listen. Says it's good for the family alliance. That my personal feelings are irrelevant." She pulled back, looked at me with red, swollen eyes. "I don't want to die, Aria. I don't want to be married to someone who'll hurt me. I'm so scared."
I held her tighter. Stroked her hair. Made soothing sounds while my mind raced.
This was Salvatore's leverage. His way of keeping Kai in line. Lia's fate hanging over his head like a sword, ready to drop the second he stepped out of line.
"We'll figure something out. Kai is working on a plan. Gathering evidence to take your father down. We just need more time."
"Do you really believe he can do it? Take down our father? The man has the Council in his pocket. Has connections everywhere. How can Kai possibly win against that?"
The question hung heavy between us. The same question I'd been asking myself every night when I couldn't sleep.
"I have to believe it. We all have to believe it. Because if Kai can't pull this off, if his plan fails, then we're all lost. You, me, him, everyone. So yeah, I believe. I have to."
Lia nodded against my shoulder. Her crying had subsided to hiccups and shuddering breaths.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall apart on you. You have enough to deal with."
"Don't apologize. We're in this together. Sisters in suffering." I tried for levity. Failed. "Besides, you've been my lifeline this week. The only thing keeping me sane. Let me return the favor."
She managed a watery smile. "You really love him, don't you? My brother."
The question caught me off guard. I'd been so careful not to acknowledge it out loud. As if saying the words would make everything more real, more painful, more impossible.
But sitting here with Lia, both of us trapped in situations we hadn't chosen, both of us loving people we couldn't have the way we wanted, the truth just spilled out.
"Yeah. I really love him. More than I thought it was possible to love anyone. It's terrifying and consuming and probably the stupidest thing I've ever felt. But yes."
"He loves you too. I've never seen him like this with anyone. He's always been so controlled, so careful about who he lets in. But with you, he's different. Softer somehow. More human."
Her words made my chest ache. Made me miss him even more.
"Come on." I stood, pulled her toward the bed. "Let's not think about doom and gloom for a few hours. Let's just be two girls dreaming about impossible futures."
We lay side by side on the bed, staring at the ceiling like we could see our futures written there.
"If you could do anything, go anywhere, be anyone, what would you choose?" I turned my head to look at her.
Lia's eyes went distant. Dreamy. "I'd study art in Paris.
Live in a tiny apartment in Montmartre with a view of the Sacré-C?ur.
Spend my days in museums and my nights in cafés arguing about philosophy with people who didn't know or care about my last name.
I'd paint. Actually paint instead of just sketching in secret. Maybe even sell a few pieces."
The longing in her voice was palpable. A whole life imagined in vivid detail, knowing it would probably never happen.
"That sounds perfect. You'd be amazing at it. Your sketches are incredible."
"What about you? If you weren't marrying my father, if you could choose your own path, what would it be?"
I thought about it. Really thought about it instead of just pushing the dreams down where they couldn't hurt.
"I'd teach literature somewhere quiet. A small college town where everyone knows everyone.
I'd have a little house with a garden and too many books.
Spend my days discussing Shakespeare and Austen with students who actually cared.
Come home to someone who loved me. Someone who chose me. " I paused. "Someone like Kai."
"You'd be a great teacher. Patient. Passionate about the material. The kind of teacher students remember years later."
We fell silent. Both imagining futures that felt more like fairy tales than possibilities.
"Maybe when Kai takes down our father, we'll both get our dreams." Lia's voice was small. Hopeful in a way that hurt to hear.
"Maybe. Or maybe we'll create new dreams. Better ones that we can't imagine yet."
She reached over, laced her fingers through mine. We lay there holding hands, two girls trapped in a nightmare, trying to keep hope alive through sheer force of will.
"Thank you. For being here. For being my friend."
"Always. We're in this together, remember?"
Lia's breathing eventually evened out. She'd fallen asleep, exhausted from crying, still holding my hand.
I extracted myself carefully. Covered her with a blanket. Stood there watching her sleep, this girl who'd become more sister than friend.
We had to survive this. Had to find a way out. For her sake as much as mine and Kai's.
I slipped out of my suite quietly. The hallway was empty, guards stationed at their posts but not paying attention to me. I was supposed to be in Salvatore's wing, after all. Where else would I go?
I needed to find Kai. Needed to tell him about Lia. Needed to see him, touch him, remember why we were fighting so hard.
I found him in the east corridor, reviewing security reports with one of the guards. He looked up when I approached, and something in his expression shifted. Softened for just a fraction of a second before the mask slammed back into place.
"Miss Romano. Is something wrong?"
So formal. So distant. It hurt.
"I need to speak with you privately. About my Italian lessons. I'm having trouble with the subjunctive tense and Mrs. Rossi suggested you might help clarify."
The lie was transparent. But the guard didn't question it.
Kai nodded curtly. "Of course. My office. Five minutes."
He dismissed the guard, waited until the man was out of earshot, then started walking. I followed at a careful distance.
Once inside his office with the door closed, everything changed.
He crossed to me in three strides, hands cupping my face, forehead pressed to mine.
"God, I've missed you. It's been seven days and I'm losing my fucking mind."
"Me too." I breathed him in. Memorized the feel of his hands on my skin. "Lia told me about the engagement announcement. To Moretti."
His entire body went rigid. Hands dropped from my face, clenching into fists.
"That bastard is using her against me. He knows I'd do anything to protect her. So he dangles her fate in front of me like bait. Step out of line and she gets married to a monster who'll probably kill her before their first anniversary."
"What are you going to do?"
"Accelerate everything. I've been meeting with Marco and a few trusted men. We're close to having enough evidence. Two more weeks and we can move against him. Present everything to Father Benedetto and the Council. Force them to act."
Two weeks. The wedding was in four weeks.
"That's cutting it incredibly close, Kai. What if something goes wrong? What if you need more time?"
"We don't have more time." He started pacing. Caged animal energy radiating off him. "The wedding is in four weeks. Lia's engagement gets announced at the reception. If I don't move soon, both of you are lost to men who'll destroy you. So yeah, it's close. Too close. But it's all we've got."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to point out all the ways this could go wrong. But what was the alternative? There wasn't one.
"What do you need from me?"
"Keep playing your role. Be the perfect bride. Don't give my father any reason to suspect. And trust me. Can you do that?"
"I can try. It's getting harder every day to pretend I'm excited about marrying him when all I want is you."
He crossed back to me, pulled me against his chest. I melted into him, absorbing his warmth, his strength.
"Two more weeks. Then we move. Then everything changes."
"And if it doesn't work? If your father finds out about the evidence before you can present it? If the Council doesn't act?"
"Then we run. All of us. You, me, Lia. We disappear and never look back." His grip tightened. "I'm not letting him have you. I don't care if I have to burn down everything I've built. You're mine. And I protect what's mine."
The possessiveness in his voice should have bothered me. Instead, it made me feel safe. Wanted. Worth fighting for.
"I love you." The words slipped out. Unplanned. Uncensored. "I know I haven't said it before. I know the timing is terrible. But I love you, Kai. I need you to know that before everything goes to hell."
He went completely still. Then his mouth found mine, hot and desperate and claiming.
This wasn't gentle. This was need and desperation and the acknowledgment that we might not get many more moments like this.
His hands tangled in my hair. His tongue swept past my lips, tasting, claiming. I pressed closer, trying to eliminate any space between us.
When he finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard.
"I've been waiting to hear those words. Thought I'd never actually hear them." He pressed his forehead to mine again. "I love you too. More than I've ever loved anything. You're the only good thing in my life. The only thing worth fighting for."
A knock on the door made us spring apart.
"Kai? It's Marco. We need to discuss the shipment schedules."
"One minute." Kai's voice was steady. Controlled. Completely at odds with the way his hands were shaking.
He looked at me. Memorized my face like he was storing the image for later.
"Go. Before someone sees you here too long."
I nodded. Slipped toward the door. Paused with my hand on the handle.
"Two weeks. Then we're free."
"Two weeks." He repeated it like a promise. A vow. "I'll save us, Aria. All of us. I swear it."
I believed him. Had to believe him. Because the alternative was unthinkable.
I left his office, walked back toward Salvatore's wing with my head held high. Passed guards who didn't question my presence. Smiled at staff who offered greetings.
Played my role perfectly.
Back in my suite, Lia was still asleep on my bed. I sat in the chair by the window, watching the gardens darken as evening approached.
Two weeks until Kai made his move. Four weeks until the wedding. Five weeks until Lia's engagement was announced.
The clock was ticking. Loud and relentless and terrifying.
But for the first time in days, I felt something other than despair.
Hope. Fragile and tentative, but real. Kai had a plan. He had evidence. He had allies.
And I'd finally told him I loved him. Finally acknowledged out loud what my heart had been screaming for weeks.
Two weeks. Everything would change in two weeks.
For better or worse, the waiting would finally be over. And then we'd know if love and evidence and careful planning were enough to overcome a lifetime of violence and control.
I closed my eyes. Said a prayer to whatever deity might be listening. Asked for a miracle we probably didn't deserve but desperately needed.
Please. Just let us survive this. Let Kai's plan work. Let us all make it out alive.
That's all I asked for. Survival and freedom and a chance at the futures we'd imagined.
Was that too much to hope for?
In this world, probably.
But I hoped anyway. Because hope was all we had left.
And I refused to let Salvatore take that too.