Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
ARIA
Being locked in a room felt a lot like being buried alive, except worse because I was still breathing.
The guards outside my door changed shifts every four hours. I'd been counting. Listening to their footsteps. Their low conversations about sports and women and mundane things while I was trapped inside slowly losing my mind.
Physically, I felt like garbage. My stomach had been churning since yesterday. Nausea that came in waves, usually in the morning but sometimes randomly throughout the day. I'd thrown up twice already. Couldn't keep food down even when I tried.
Stress, probably. Or maybe my body's way of rejecting this entire nightmare situation.
Mentally? Even worse. My thoughts kept circling back to Kai. The blood spreading across his shirt. The way he'd looked at me as they dragged him away. The promise in his eyes that this wasn't over.
Was he okay? Had he gotten medical attention? Was he bleeding out somewhere while I sat here helpless?
The not knowing was torture. Pure psychological torture.
I'd always thought dying for the person you loved was romantic. Read about it in books. Watched it in movies. Swooned over characters who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Turns out, real life was nothing like fiction.
There was nothing romantic about watching Kai step in front of that bullet. Nothing beautiful about the way he'd jerked when it hit him. Nothing poetic about the blood or the pain or the fear that I'd just watched the man I loved get killed.
It was terrifying. Horrifying. The worst moment of my entire life.
Because I loved him. Truly, deeply, catastrophically loved him in a way I hadn't understood was possible until that moment.
I'd rather live in this hell with him than exist in any heaven without him. That's how much he meant to me. That's how completely he'd become part of my soul.
And that scared me more than Salvatore. More than the wedding. More than anything else.
Because now I finally understood what love actually felt like. Not the butterflies and romance novel version. The real thing. The kind that made you willing to burn down the world. The kind that hurt so much you could barely breathe.
The kind worth dying for.
Except I didn't want to die. Didn't want Kai to die. I wanted us both to live. To survive this. To have a future that didn't involve bullets and blood and locked rooms.
I was still lost in these thoughts, staring at the ceiling from my position on the bed, when I heard the lock click.
My entire body tensed. Was it Salvatore? Coming to gloat? To hurt me? To remind me exactly how powerless I was?
The door opened. Lia slipped inside quickly, closing it behind her.
Relief flooded through me so intensely I almost burst into tears.
"Lia." I was off the bed and across the room in seconds. Threw my arms around her. "How did you get in here? The guards..."
"Bribed one of them with my mother's jewelry. He's keeping the others distracted for ten minutes. That's all we have." She hugged me back just as tightly. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"Just my face." I touched my cheek where Salvatore had hit me. Still tender. Probably bruised. "How did you know?"
"I have my ways. Mrs. Rossi keeps me informed when she can." Lia pulled back, studied my face. "Kai is alive. Marco got him out. Got him to a doctor. The bullet went through clean. He's going to be okay."
I collapsed. Just folded in on myself. All the fear and worry I'd been holding in for the past twenty-four hours releasing at once.
Kai was alive. Alive. Not dead. Not bleeding out somewhere. Alive.
Lia caught me before I hit the floor. Guided me to sit on the bed. Held me while I sobbed with relief.
"I thought Salvatore killed him. I saw all the blood and the way he fell and I just... I couldn't..." The words wouldn't come properly. Just broken fragments between sobs.
"I know. I know. But he's tough. Takes more than one bullet to kill my brother." She stroked my hair. "He's planning something. Marco sent word through Mrs. Rossi. They need us to hold on. Stay strong. Don't give up."
"I'm so scared, Lia. So scared of losing him. Of never seeing him again. Of being forced to marry your father while Kai is out there somewhere and I can't reach him." I looked up at her through tears. "Is this what true love feels like? Because it's terrible. It hurts so much."
Her expression softened. Sympathy and understanding in her eyes.
"Yeah. That's exactly what it feels like.
The real thing. Not the fairy tale version we read about in books.
The kind that terrifies you because losing them would destroy you completely.
" She squeezed my hand. "But it's also what makes life worth living.
What makes fighting worth it. You love my brother enough to endure this hell.
That's not weakness. That's the strongest thing I've ever seen. "
I wanted to believe her. Wanted to think that love made me strong instead of vulnerable.
But sitting there in my locked room, knowing Salvatore held all the power, I felt anything but strong.
"What if Kai doesn't get here in time? What if the wedding happens and I'm trapped?"
"Then we fight anyway. We never stop fighting.
Because giving up isn't an option when you love someone the way you love Kai.
" Lia stood. "I have to go before the guards notice.
But Aria? Hold on. Just a little longer.
Kai will come for you. I know my brother.
He'll move heaven and earth to save you. "
She slipped out as quietly as she'd entered. The lock clicked back into place.
And I was alone again.
But this time, I had hope. Fragile. Tentative. But real.
Kai was alive. He was planning something. He hadn't given up on me.
That had to be enough to keep me going.
That afternoon, I was sitting by the window when I heard the lock again. My heart leapt. Was it Lia coming back?
The door opened. Salvatore walked in. Terror flooded my system. Ice cold. Paralyzing.
Oh good. Just what I needed. A visit from Satan himself. Maybe he brought party favors. Or a personality. Either would be an improvement.
The internal sarcasm was my brain's way of keeping me from completely losing it. Because externally? I was trying very hard not to show how terrified I actually was.
I stood up from the window seat. Backed away instinctively. My body knowing what my mind refused to accept yet.
He was dangerous. A predator. And I was trapped in a room with him.
Salvatore moved slowly. Deliberately. Each step measured. Calculated. He wasn't rushing. Didn't need to. We both knew I had nowhere to go.
My back hit the wall. Nowhere left to retreat.
He stopped in front of me. Close enough that I could smell his cologne. Expensive. Suffocating.
His hand reached up. I flinched but couldn't move away. Trapped between him and the wall.
His fingers touched my bruised cheek. The one he'd hit yesterday. No apology in his eyes. Just cold assessment. Checking the damage like I was property he'd accidentally dented.
"You bruise easily." His voice was conversational. Like we were discussing the weather instead of the evidence of his violence. "I'll need to be more careful. Can't have you looking damaged for the wedding photos."
I couldn't speak. My throat had closed. Every survival instinct screaming to get away from him.
"The wedding is in three days from today, you'll walk down that aisle in a white dress and marry me in front of everyone who matters.
You'll say the words. Exchange the rings.
Become my wife in every legal and binding way.
" His thumb brushed across the bruise. I bit back a whimper.
"After what you did with my son, you're lucky I'm still willing to take you. Most men wouldn't want damaged goods."
Rage cut through the fear. Hot and clarifying.
I gathered saliva in my mouth. Then spit directly in his face.
"I'll never willingly be yours. You can force me to say words but you'll never have me. Not really. I belong to Kai and I always will."
For a second, I thought he'd hit me again. His hand twitched. His eyes went dark.
Then he smiled. Slow. Cruel. Terrifying. He wiped his face with one hand. Brought his fingers to his mouth. Licked my saliva off them while maintaining eye contact.
I was going to be sick.
"Willing or not doesn't matter to me, Aria.
You signed the papers. The arrangement is legal and binding.
In seven days, you become my property whether you walk down that aisle singing hymns or whether my men have to drag you there unconscious.
" He leaned closer. His breath hot against my ear.
"And on our wedding night, I'm going to erase every trace of my son from your body.
I'm going to fuck you until you forget his name.
Until the only name you remember is mine.
Until you understand completely who owns you. "
Bile rose in my throat. Nausea so intense I had to swallow hard to keep from vomiting right there.
"Kai will come for me." My voice shook but I forced the words out anyway. "He'll stop this wedding. He'll save me."
Salvatore laughed. Actually laughed. The sound made my skin crawl.
"Kai is half-dead and exiled. I shot him and threw him out like garbage.
He has no resources, no allies, no way to get to you.
He's not coming for anyone, little girl.
He's probably bleeding out in some alley, or maybe Marco will be smart and put a bullet in his head to put him out of his misery.
" He pulled back, looked at me with something like pity.
"You're pathetic for believing in love. This isn't a movie.
There's no knight in shining armor. No happy ending.
Just reality. And reality is that you're mine now.
Accept it or don't. Either way, the outcome is the same. "
He walked toward the door. Paused with his hand on the handle.