“Oh, brother,” Raya sighed. “You’re in for a world of pain.”
I glared at him, shoving the pillows aside to find my phone. He grabbed it from my hand, and I swear I nearly punched him in the face.
“You can’t call him.”
“Why not?”
“They are most likely listening in on all his calls.”
“I have to know he’s okay, Sani.”
“I’m telling you he’s okay. Look…” He reached for my wrist and yanked me back onto his lap. I let him, but kept an angry scowl on my face. “I’ve told him I’ll find out who’s behind this and protect him, but right now we have to pretend nothing is amiss to keep him as safe as possible. The men who attacked him told him he had two days to get me arrested. That means we have two days to find them. Alessio, Gio, and Max are all on it. We will find them and torture them until they give up who they’re working for. You don’t need to worry,Ribelle.”
I folded my arms across my chest and stared at him. He gave me those puppy-dog eyes that melted me again. “Fine.”
“What if he’s playing you?” Raya asked, voicing the scary thought that had also entered my mind.
Sani narrowed his eyes. “He’s not. He wouldn’t betray Aria or do anything to jeopardise her safety.”
“But what if he’s not betraying her?” Raya argued. “He thinks he’s actually saving her by getting rid of you. He could be framing you, Sani. Use your brain.”
“I am using my brain,” he snapped back. “I told Piero to play along so they won’t suspect he’s helping me find out who’s behind this. This is the only way to protect him right now.”
“Isn’t it obvious who is behind it?” Raya shook her head at us both.
“You mean, Callum?”
“If that’s even his name.”
I glanced at Sani, who was frowning deeply at his sister. “Yes, Callum is our number one suspect, but we have no proof and not much motive.”
“But you do!” Raya swung her legs off the sofa to face us both, her hazel eyes wide, as if it were obvious. “You’re all overlooking the most obvious thing.”
“Raya. Spit it the fuck out before I die of old age,” he grumbled.
She glanced at me. “Who knew about your and Callum’s wedding before Santino found out?”
I looked to the ceiling, thinking hard. “My father. Callum. Me. Allegra. The vicar. And I guess anyone I spoke to about the wedding plans, like the florist and the bridal dress assistant.”
She peered over at Sani. “She’s missing one other name.”
I looked at him as a dark cloud appeared over his face. “Damiano.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I agreed to the wedding after Damiano went miss– I mean, you took him. He couldn’t have known.”
Sani glanced at me, and his nostrils flared. “But he knew. Before I killed him, he told me you’d been promised to him after the wedding.”
My stomach dropped.
“Exactly,” Raya said with a shrug.
“Promised to him? What does that mean? And how would he know when the wedding hadn’t even been planned before then?”
“Someone had promised that he could rape you after you were married to Callum,” Raya said, cutting through the loaded silence.
“Fucksake, Raya. No need to put it so bluntly,” Sani growled at her, wrapping his arm around me as I sat frozen in his lap, my face draining of colour. Bile rose in my throat. “Hey, I was never going to let that happen. That sick fuck’s gone. He got what he deserved.”
“Only two people could have known the plan was to get Aria to marry Callum before she’d even agreed to it. Callum and Piero,” Raya continued. I turned to look at her.
