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“Ihatehim.” I infuse as much passion into the word I can muster. “But I want to be better than him. He blamed me for my mother’s death for the past ten years. I’ve had to live with his constant torture. He doesn’t deserve the peace of death, Dario. He doesn’t. He deserves to feel what I felt. I want him tofeelevery bad thing that he made me experience. But if we kill him, we’re no better. I really will be the problem daughter he accused me of being if you kill him because then I’ll be responsible for my father’s death. And I refuse to be responsible.” I’ve never spoken so many words in one go before. It’s beginning to make me lightheaded.
Dario’s eyes search mine. “You won’t be responsible ifI’mthe one who kills him.”
I cup his cheek. “No. That’s not true. You’re fighting him for me. You told me that when you first took me, it was to hurt my father, but you had no intentions of wanting him dead. It’s only because of me that you want him dead now—to save me. So, yes, if you kill him, I will still be responsible. So, please, Dario. Don’t kill him. Find a different way to stop him. For me.”
“You’re asking a lot from me.”
“I know.” I inhale deeply and say the words I’ve wanted to say for some time now. “But I love you. Isn’t that enough?”
Dario sucks in a breath as his hands grip me tighter. “I guess it’ll have to be. If you truly want this, Pia, then … ok. I won't kill your father for you. I’ll figure something else out.”
“Thank you,” I say, sinking into his arms. “Thank you.”
He squeezes me tight. “Well, I love you, too, so there’s that.”
I still. He loves me?
I pull back, searching his face for the truth. “You do?”
“I do.” Dario grips my face and presses his lips to mine in a simple kiss. “I have for a while now. I want you to know that I’ll never leave you. That I’ll always protect you.”
“I know.”
We pause for a moment, content in each other’s arms. Finally, Dario breaks the spell and says, “Your voice is beautiful, Pia.”
Tears spring to my eyes. “Really?”
“I always tell you the truth.”
I smile through my tears as I kiss him. We cling to each other like we might die without the other one.
Eventually, we pull apart, and Dario helps me to stand up. I wince as my wounded feet press into the ground, and Dario scoops me into his arms.
“I’ll need to bandage your feet, too. Then you, me, and my sisters are getting out of here before Tommaso finds us.”
We’re in the foyer, me in Dario’s arms, when a car zooms down the road and into our driveway. Before either of us can react, the car plows into the front of our house.
Dario jumps out of the way, shielding my body with his.
Wood and plaster fly into the air as the car stops, now inside the foyer.
I land hard on the ground as Dario and I fall. I huff as he lands on top of me.
“Are you ok?” Dario asks, smoothing my hair back from my face.
I nod. I don’t feel seriously injured, just banged up.
“It’s sweet how you care for my daughter,” a familiar voice says as a man steps out of the car.
It’s my father.
CHAPTER18
Pia
It’s only been a few weeks since I’ve seen my father, but I swear he’s aged ten years in that time. I guess the stress of losing me got to him. He now knows what it’s like to not be in control. It’s a satisfying thought.
The problem isn’t his looks, though. It’s the fact that he’s here, in Dario’s and my home, having blasted his car straight through the front of the house.
