Chapter 21 #2
She jumped, dropping the book. Her head whipped around. When she saw me, her entire face transformed.
The smile that spread across her features made my chest ache. Like I was the answer to prayers instead of the complication making her life harder.
"Kai." My name on her lips sounded like coming home. "What are you doing here? If your father finds out..."
She stood, moving toward me. The nightgown she wore was silk, clinging to curves I'd memorized with my hands. Her hair was loose, falling around her shoulders. She looked soft and sleepy and so fucking beautiful it hurt.
I met her halfway. Pulled her against me. Buried my face in her hair and just breathed her in.
Jasmine and something sweet. The scent that had been haunting me for weeks.
"I couldn't stay away. Needed to see you. Touch you. Make sure you're real and not something I dreamed up."
She wrapped her arms around my waist. Held on tight. "I've missed you so much. It's been five days and I feel like I'm going crazy without you."
"I know. Me too." I pulled back enough to look at her face. "But that's not why I'm here. I found something. Something you need to hear."
The happiness in her eyes shifted to concern. "What? What did you find?"
I guided her back to the chair. Sat her down. Pulled out the recording device.
"This is a conversation between my father and your uncle. From the night your parents died. I need you to listen to the whole thing. Can you do that?"
Her face went pale. "Kai, what..."
"Just listen. Please."
I hit play.
Watched her face as Vincent's panicked voice filled the room. As my father gave orders for murder. As they planned her father's death like it was a business transaction.
The color drained from her face completely. Her hands started shaking.
When the second conversation played, confirming the bombing was done, she made a sound. Small. Broken. Like something inside her had shattered.
The recording ended. Silence filled the room.
Then she collapsed. Just folded in on herself, sobs tearing from her throat so violently her whole body shook.
I caught her before she hit the floor. Pulled her into my lap. Held her while she fell apart.
"He killed him." The words came out between sobs. Broken. Anguished. "My uncle killed my father. His own brother. And your father helped. They murdered him because he wanted to protect me. Because he was trying to save me from this nightmare."
"I know. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
"I trusted him. When Papa died, Uncle Vincent was there.
Held me while I cried. Told me everything would be okay.
And the whole time he'd murdered him. Planned it.
Executed it." She was shaking so hard I could barely hold her.
"All of this. My grief. My guilt. Being trapped here.
It was all because of their conspiracy. Because they wanted power and money and me. "
I held her tighter. Let her cry. Let her rage. Let her break because she'd been holding it together for too long.
"My father thought he was going to die while I was at that club. He was trying to save me and I was..." She couldn't finish. The guilt was eating her alive.
"No." I gripped her face, made her look at me. "Your father wanted you to be happy and free before everything changed. He wanted that for you. None of this is your fault."
"But if I'd been home..."
"You'd be dead too. They would have killed you both. Or found another way to force the marriage. This isn't on you, Aria. This is on them. On my father and your uncle and their fucking greed."
She stared at me. Tears streaming down her face. Then collapsed against my chest again.
I held her. Stroked her hair. Whispered things I wasn't sure she could hear over her crying.
Time passed. Minutes or hours, I didn't know. Didn't care. Just held her while she grieved properly for the first time. Not for the father she thought died in an accident. For the father who'd been murdered trying to save her.
Eventually, the sobs subsided. Her breathing evened out. She pulled back, wiped her face with shaking hands.
When she looked at me again, there was something new in her eyes. Not just grief. Rage. Cold. Determined. Dangerous.
"What do we do with this? How do we make them pay?"
"We take it to the Council. It's our only real shot. The Council rarely interferes in family business but this crosses lines even they can't ignore. Murder of another Don for personal gain. Conspiracy. Cover-up. They'll have to act."
"When?"
"Soon. I need a few more days to prepare. Make sure everything is perfect. Get Father Benedetto fully on board. Then I request an emergency session and present everything."
She nodded slowly. Her hands clenched into fists. "I want to be there when they take him down. I want Salvatore to know that I know what he did. That he didn't break me. That he lost."
Pride swelled in my chest. This was the Aria I'd fallen in love with. Strong. Fierce. Ready to fight.
"You'll be there. I promise. We'll stand together and watch him fall."
I pulled her close again. Pressed my lips to her forehead. Let myself have this moment of holding her. Comforting her. Being what she needed.
She tilted her face up. Her eyes met mine. Then her mouth found mine and everything else disappeared till we settled in the comfort of the familiar taste of our lips intertwined in each other until they weren’t.
"Thank you." She touched my face. "For telling me. For giving me the truth even though it hurts. For being here."
"Always. I'll always be here for you."
We sat there in the quiet. Her in my lap. My arms around her. Both of us lost in our own thoughts about what came next.
Footsteps in the hallway broke the moment. We both froze. Looked at each other with wide eyes.
I had just enough time to shove the recording device in my pocket and help Aria off my lap before Luca appeared in the doorway.
His eyes took in the scene. Me in Aria's sitting room at nearly 3am. Both of us looking guilty as hell. Aria's face still streaked with tears.
Luca's expression didn't change. Stayed perfectly neutral. But I knew.
We were caught.
This time, there was no explaining it away. No legitimate excuse for why I was here in the middle of the night with my father's bride looking like we'd been doing exactly what we'd been doing.
"Mr. Accardi." Luca's voice was carefully neutral. "I believe you're in the wrong wing. Don Salvatore's orders were explicit about maintaining proper boundaries with Miss Romano."
"I was checking on her. Heard crying when I walked past. Wanted to make sure she was safe."
The lie was transparent. We all knew it.
Luca's eyes flicked to Aria's tear-stained face. Back to me. "And is Miss Romano safe?"
"She's fine. Just missing her parents. I was offering comfort. As family should."
"How thoughtful." The word dripped with sarcasm. "I'm sure Don Salvatore will appreciate your dedication to family values when I inform him of this in the morning."
My blood went cold. But I kept my face blank.
"You do what you need to do, Luca. I was helping the girl who will soon be my stepmother through a difficult moment. Nothing more."
"Of course not." He stepped aside, gestured to the hallway. "Don Salvatore wants to see you in the morning, Mr. Accardi. Early. I'll have someone come get you at seven share. Sleep well."
I looked at Aria. Tried to convey everything I couldn't say. That I loved her. That I'd fix this. That we'd survive.
But I knew. We both knew.
The clock had just accelerated. Either we moved against my father immediately, or this all came crashing down.
Two weeks until the wedding had just become however long until Luca reported what he'd seen.
Time had run out.
CHAPTER TWENTY -TWO
ARIA
We were so fucked.
The thought kept circling in my head like a vulture over roadkill. We were completely, utterly, catastrophically fucked.
Luca stood in my doorway, his expression unreadable but his eyes cold with knowledge. He'd caught Kai in my sitting room at nearly 3am. Had seen my tear-stained face. Had witnessed everything he needed to confirm whatever suspicions he'd been harboring for weeks.
And now he was going to destroy us both.
"Don Salvatore wants to see you in the morning, Mr. Accardi. Early. I'll have someone come get you at seven sharp." Luca's voice was perfectly neutral. Professional. Like he was delivering a routine message instead of a death sentence. "Sleep well."
He left. The door clicked shut behind him with a finality that made my stomach drop.
For a moment, neither of us moved. Just stood there processing what had just happened.
Then I started spiraling. Kai went to the door to make sure Luca was gone and hurriedly came back because he knew we had minutes.
"Oh god. Oh god, he knows. He knows everything and he's going to tell your father and we're dead.
We're both dead. He's going to kill us or worse, he's going to torture us first to make a point and then kill us and Lia will be forced to marry that monster Moretti and everything we've been fighting for is gone.
It's all gone. We're so fucked, Kai. We're so completely. .."
"Aria. Breathe." Kai gripped my shoulders. "Just breathe for a second."
"How can I breathe when Luca just caught us and is going to report everything to your father and..."
"Maybe he won't. Maybe he was just doing his rounds. Maybe he didn't see anything suspicious."
But his voice lacked conviction. We both knew he was lying. Trying to make me feel better when we both understood the truth.
We were out of time.
"We need to move up the plan." Kai's jaw clenched. "I'm going to Marco tonight. Right now. We're taking this to the Council tomorrow whether we're completely ready or not. Father Benedetto will have to move fast.Present all the evidence. Force them to act before my father can retaliate."
"And if they don't act fast enough? If your father moves first?"