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“Have you had something to eat?” I ask.
She nods, but Jess intervenes.
“Not nearly enough,” Jess says. “And she’s barely slept in days. She was just getting some decent rest when you arrived. Aria, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect he would show up here tonight already.”
“It’s okay,” Aria says softly. “I suppose he needed to find out eventually, and I simply didn’t have the courage to say anything.”
She is so beautiful, and when she approached me at the club she simply exuded confidence. The woman that sits before me now seems completely different. I know it is her father who has made her this way. The couch she is sleeping on is small.
“Do you have any idea what you’ll do yet?” I ask.
“Not at all,” she admits, keeping her eyes cast away from me. “He’s cut me off completely. I have no access to his money. I’m banned from the property. He’s kept me so safe inside that house … I’ve never worked. I don’t have any skills. I don’t know how I’m supposed to get a job with no experience and a baby on the way.”
Tears start streaming from her eyes and it completely breaks me. Gabriele has kept her so sheltered that he’s made it impossible for her to have a life without him. What’s worse is that I am positive he knows this, and he kicked her out anyway.
“You’re not the only one responsible for this baby,” I say, placing a gentle hand on her leg.
Her eyes shoot up at me. For a moment I think that she looks afraid of me. I have no way of knowing what Gabriele has told her about me and our history together. And now is not the time to have that conversation either. I want to reach out and hold her. I want to wrap my arms around her and tell her that everything will be alright.
But I am still a stranger to her, and it might not be as comforting as I think it will be. So, I simply rest my hand on her leg a little longer before pulling it away again.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, as if any of this is her fault.
“Are your things still packed?” I ask.
She nods in the direction of two suitcases in the corner. Is that really all she has to her name? Just two suitcases filled with clothes. The thought of it makes me so angry that I begin to shake. I need to stand up and pace for a moment to calm myself down.
“Right, well, Mattia, take her bags,” I say, stopping in front of Aria. “You’re coming to live with me,” I say.
“Please,” she scoffs. “He’ll kill you.”
“Who? Gabriele?” I ask with a laugh. “He kicks you out with nothing! It seems to me that he doesn’t know what he’s doing at all!”
“Really,” she argues back. “It’s alright. I’ll just stay here for a little while until I figure out what to do. You don’t need to feel obligated to help me.”
I understand where she’s coming from, but I willnotbe like her father. I won’t leave her out here to fend for herself. I got her into this mess. The part I played was as innocent as the part that she played. It isn’t fair that she takes all the struggle, and I simply get to walk away.
I am a better man than that. Seeing the way that she is now fills me with rage at Gabriele. How could he not care for his daughter?
“Your mother,” I say. “Did she not fight for you to stay?”
“My mother died years ago,” she answers, and I can see her heart break as she says it.
My heart sinks. The last I had heard from her was when she let me know that she was alright, and that she was thinking of starting a family. I knew then that Gabriele wasn’t aware of the letter she had written to me. Auriet was a kind woman underneath the feisty exterior, and I know that she felt some guilt toward what Gabriele did to me. It is only clearer to me now that Aria truly has nowhere else to go. When I speak again, I find it hard to keep my anger suppressed.
“You’re not the only one in this mess,” I growl. “You’re coming to stay with me until you’ve got a better plan. Got it?”
When Aria looks up at me again all I see is pure fear in her eyes. She thinks my anger is directed towards her, and I can’t find the words to explain to her that it isn’t. Not at all. She simply nods and gets up to say goodbye to her friend. When Mattia walks out with her bags, she follows closely behind him, her arms wrapped around her own waist and her head tilted down.
She looks like a prisoner in her own life and it makes me feel so sad. I know that inviting her into my home is potentially dangerous, given who Gabriele is as a person. It’s still a risk I'm willing to take. I need to make sure that I look confident in this decision.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her,” I assure Jess, before pulling the front door closed behind me.
It’s another long drive back to my penthouse. Aria sleeps in the back seat for most of the drive home. She must be really tired if she can sleep through the noise of all the traffic and the music pounding from night clubs as we drive by them. I don’t know the first thing about caring for a pregnant woman, but everything inside me wants to make sure that she is well taken care of.
When we make it back to my building, I don’t want to wake her. So, I signal to Mattia to bring the bags up. Then, I carefully lift Aria into my arms and carry her the distance to my penthouse. Once we’re inside, I lay her on my bed and make sure she’s comfortable before setting up a bed for myself on the sofa.
“Are you sure about this, boss?” Mattia asks. “If Gabriele finds out—”
