AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But the way Arabella is looking at me, like she has hope I might one day put that part of me in the past, it doesn’t sound like I’d be giving anything up at all. In fact, I’d be gaining so much more.
Too fast.
I’m letting my mind wander to life decisions way too fast. This woman has some sort of spell over me, and I need to stay strong until I’m sure everything will work out the way I want it to. No decisions can be made until Ferro is taken care of and I know her father isn’t going to give me any kind of shit when I make his daughter mine in every capacity.
Then.
That’s when I’ll make plans for the future, evaluating which new path in life to take with Arabella by my side.
17
Arabella
“…so what I propose is you come to the Annual Ruin Masquerade Ball, because Ferro must attend, as one of the leaders of the Cosa Nostra. He’s in hiding; not even my resources have been able to locate him, but he has no choice but to make an appearance the night of the ball this coming weekend. At that time, we can make our move,” my father tells DeLuca from the leather chair across from where we sit on a matching sofa in the living room.
The crackling sound coming from the fireplace nearby is the only noise in the room while we take in my dad’s words. It sounds like the perfect plan, but for some reason, I have a bad feeling about it. It’s almost… too easy.
“Why is he in hiding? Has he caught wind that you know he hired me?” DeLuca asks him, tracing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb as he holds it atop his thigh.
My father’s eyes watched the movement for a moment when we first sat down, but he must’ve sensed the closeness DeLuca and I have formed in the week since we saw him last, because he didn’t demand for him to remove his hands from his daughter.
Dad clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “We um…” He glances up at me, regret in his dark eyes. “We were able to find out the real reason he hired you to make it look like my daughter committed suicide.”
DeLuca’s hand tightens around mine as he stiffens next to me. The men in the room don’t say a word, and my heart begins to beat hard in my chest.
“What is it?” I ask, my voice low. When they don’t answer, I nearly shout, “What was the reason?”
My father eyes DeLuca, as if wanting his go-ahead to explain in front of me, and if it weren’t for DeLuca’s immediate nod of approval, I would’ve thrown a fit that these assholes even thought to keep this information from me.
“He knocked up one of the whores at the tanning salon,” my dad says, wincing as he looks over at me.
It takes me a moment to realize why he’s being weird.
“Let me get this straight. He wanted to kill me off because he finally got someone pregnant?” At my dad’s nod, I rant, “He finally got his heir. Since I wasn’t giving him one, and he got this other chick pregnant, he was going to make it look like I killed myself. That way he could be with her and the child wouldn’t be illegitimate.”
“Yes, that makes sense. He was very adamant about it looking like you did it yourself, because he knew if you were murdered, your father would have immediately suspected him once he came out with this other woman and their child. It would’ve been way too much of a coincidence to ignore. He wanted to make it look like you overdosed so Marcello wouldn’t question anything,” DeLuca expands.
My dad growls. “I would’ve though. I would’ve known my baby girl wouldn’t take her own life. She treats her body like a goddamn temple. I would’ve known she didn’t take any drugs. She refuses to take even Tylenol.”
DeLuca and I share a look, and then I turn a mischievous smile toward Dad. “Well, there is one drug I’ve been taking for a few years now, Daddy.”
He lifts a brow in question. “Arabella—”
“Birth control,” I cut him off. His other brow rises to match the first. “He didn’t know. I was sneaking birth control pills so I wouldn’t bring his child into the world. He’s awful, a terrible human being. Anything spawned from that man would be the antichrist. Mark my words. And I did what I had to in order to make sure that didn’t happen.” I let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, it seems this other woman did. Which is odd, seeing as the women at the salon are forcibly sterilized upon Ferro’s orders when he quote-unquote ‘hires’ them,” I add, using finger quotes, since very few of the girls who work there come into the business of their own free will.
