43. Games
Games
Throwing the file onto my desk, I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. Was now the right moment to tell Aria that her mother had been murdered after her own near-death experience? Probably not. But there would never be a perfect time for something so devastating.
I rubbed at the sharp ache in my chest. Even though I had Aria home and safe by my side, the fact that Callum was stupid or desperate enough to kidnap her in the first place didn’t sit well with me.
Why? What did he gain from taking my wife out of Italy?
He spent years calculating and manipulating the mayor to take me down, and when he thought he’d finally achieved it…
he was going to run? What was the point of it all? It wasn’t making sense to me.
Exhaling, I threw my phone onto my desk after reading the encrypted message from Alessio, telling me Callum’s disappearance from Rome was already being dealt with.
Fortunately, since the man had already planned to leave the country, it wouldn’t be hard to prove he was responsible for the explosion and fleeing.
I dragged both hands down my face. Callum was the only man who could give me the answers I needed, and he was locked up in one of my cells, waiting to be tortured for the information.
I’d never felt so riled up to make a man bleed and beg for mercy that it was actually painful to keep the darkness at bay for a little longer. But Aria came first.
I heard her sweet voice drifting down the corridor as she finished her call with the hospital. Adjusting myself higher in my chair, I waited for her to appear in the doorway, my heart pounding and stomach twisting at what I had to do: break my wife’s heart.
“Ciao,” she said, smiling as she hung up the phone and breezed straight into my office.
She looked adorable with her hair piled on top of her head from the bath she’d just had and a fluffy dressing gown wrapped around her body.
“They are waking my papi tomorrow. They’re positive he’ll make a full recovery. ”
“That’s amazing news, Ribelle.” My smile felt forced even though I was genuinely relieved.
She paused as she reached the corner of my desk, the frown line between her eyebrows deepening. “What’s wrong?”
“Come here.” I reached for her hand, pulling her to me until she fell onto my lap. With a deep breath, I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes, burying my face against her shoulder.
“Sani?” Running her fingers through my hair, she forced my head back to look at her. “You’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”
“There’s something I need to show you.”
She stared at me, her body turning to stone on my lap as she waited for me to continue.
“I had Nero look into your parents’ backgrounds.”
“Okay. Why?”
“Because I wanted to be certain your father was truly innocent in all this mess with Callum. And after what you told me about how your mother died… I grew suspicious.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Suspicious? Of what?”
“That her death might not have been an accident.”
She swallowed, her pupils dilating. I reached around her and carefully placed the file in her hands. “It’s all in there. Nero gave it to me the day before the gala, but I wanted to wait until I’d spoken to Piero before showing you, in case he knew about any of this.”
She stared at the unopened file in her trembling hands. “It wasn’t an accident, was it?”
I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her shoulder. “No, mia amore. It wasn’t.”
She lifted her head, gazing at the wall as a tear escaped from the corner of her eye, and she pressed her lips together.
Every fibre of my body longed to shield her from this pain, but I knew I couldn’t.
All I could do was hold her through it and promise that I’d find whoever was responsible and make them pay with their life.
She opened the file and read the report, her fingers pressed against her lips as small sobs broke through.
When she finished, she turned to me, burying herself in my chest and curling up on my lap.
Seeing someone I loved so emotionally shattered always sparked the deeply unhinged, overprotective side of me.
It made my body tremble with fury, and I wanted to set the entire world alight for letting it happen.
I knew it stemmed from my past, from being a child with a vulnerable Mamma who struggled with her mental health, and a younger sister who preferred to hide her brilliance from the world because she never felt safe.
Gio had his own wife and children to protect.
Alessio protected Elle. But Mamma and Raya?
I took it upon myself to be their protector—always caring for their wellbeing and safety above my own.
And now, I had my Bella Ribelle, too. There was nothing I wouldn’t do and no line I wouldn’t cross to keep them safe.
I’d always be the man who would throw his body in their path to ensure no harm could ever come to them.
“Why?” Aria choked, rubbing her tears away.
“Why would someone murder my mum? She never caused anyone any harm. She was so lovely and kind and…” An anguished sob tore from her chest, and I pulled her into my arms, kissing the top of her head as I closed my eyes.
“It was because of me, wasn’t it? They were after me. ”
I cradled her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me as I frowned. “Why do you say that?”
“Callum. He said…” She shuddered, inhaling a deep breath.
“That I had no idea who I was. I was lucky not to have known all this time. That some people are born into wars they never asked for. It felt like he was talking about me, himself, or maybe both of us. I don’t know.
But he knows something about me that I don’t.
” Her eyes suddenly widened. “Oh, God. Do you think he killed my mum?”
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to stay calm as my heart pounded like a sledgehammer in my chest. I knew this was more than just a dent to my family’s empire. It was also personal. Not just for my family, but for Aria’s as well.
She shook her head, twisting her hands in her lap.
“When Callum took me, the things he said and the way he was behaving… was almost as though he didn’t want to do it but felt he had no choice.
He called me the most valuable piece. He said he was done with Rome.
That a score had been settled and he was leaving. ”
“Where was he planning to take you?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t think his interest in me is what we thought it was. I think he was taking me to someone else and then leaving. He said by the time you’d find me, he’d be far away, starting a new life.”
So he was working for someone. Had someone hired him to take Aria? Likely the same person who killed her mother. “Did he say anything else to you?”
“Something about burning down one empire to free another?” She shook her head.
“He was talking in riddles. None of it made any sense to me. But… someone is after me, aren’t they?
” When her teary blue eyes met mine, my nostrils flared.
Her lower lip wobbled. “I’m scared, Sani. What if they want me dead too?”
I pulled her into me, holding her so tight that I hoped it would be enough for her to feel safe. I’d never let them near her.
“They don’t. They waited for you to leave that house before setting fire to it.
Callum has had plenty of chances to kill you over the years, but he hasn’t.
He’s waited until now to take you. Everything was carefully planned.
But they failed.” I forced her head up to look at me again.
My jaw was pulsing as I tried to keep the maddening fire inside me from burning her.
“Do you hear me? They failed. Because I found you. And from the moment I saw you, you became mine to protect. I don’t give a fuck who they are, or what they want; no one will ever hurt you.
As long as I am breathing, you will always be safe. You’re my priority. Understand?”
She nodded slowly and sank back into my embrace. I gazed at the wall above her head as I gently stroked her hair to soothe her, contemplating everything we thought we knew. We were still missing something crucial.
“Your mamma never said anything about her past? Her family or parents?”
“Not really. She said she ran away from home when she was a teenager because they weren’t good people, and she’d never seen or spoken to them since.
I think that’s why she liked to move around a lot.
I remember she used to get agitated if we stayed in one place for too long.
I believe that was the reason my parents split up because she wanted to leave Italy but my father didn’t. ”
“Do you know her real name? The one she was born with?”
Aria shook her head, running her finger over the photograph of her mother in the file. “No. I didn’t even know she’d changed her name. I’d always known her as Quinn Brown.” She pressed her lips together as fresh tears emerged. “Now, I’m not sure I ever really knew her at all.”
“Aria,” I said softly. “A name doesn’t make a person. You knew her. She was obviously trying to protect herself and you from someone she was very afraid of. She loved you.”
“I know,” she whimpered, nodding with a gentle smile. She raised her fingers to touch the necklace, gazing at the sapphire locket. “She never actually wore this.”
“What do you mean?”
“She used to keep it in a velvet box. Sometimes, late at night when she thought I was in bed asleep, she’d take it out from beneath her bed and stare at it.
Almost in a trance-like state. I thought she loved it so much that she didn’t dare wear it.
That it was that special, or just really expensive or something.
It was the only thing of hers that survived the fire, so I wore it every day to feel close to her. ”
I glanced at the sapphire, already knowing it was real. It was worth a fortune. How could a woman constantly on the move possess something so valuable?
“Did your father give it to her?”