AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He turns to look at me with interest and I already feel bad for having lied to his face about my name.
“I have to admit that I gave you a fake name last night,” I say, tucking some stray hair behind my ear.
“Oh?” he says with an interested grin. “Any particular reason?”
“Yeah, my dad is kind of well-known, and often when people learn my real name, it scares them off,” I admit, realizing how ridiculous it really sounds.
Edoardo laughs. “Are you telling me I have the pleasure of spending the morning with the gorgeous daughter of a celebrity?”
“Not a celebrity exactly,” I say, chuckling a little. “But since you don’t seem too concerned, and you’re being so nice to me, I’d like to be honest about it.”
“Right, well, why don’t you introduce yourself to me then?” he laughs.
“Right,” I say, feeling a small amount of apprehension. “My real name is Aria Morino. I’m sure you’ve heard of my dad.”
Edoardo’s face pales, the color leaving his face in a flash, just as it does for everyone else.
“Your father isn’t Gabriele Morino is he? Don of the Morino family?”
It never feels good to admit who my father is. He is disliked by most. So, I simply give Edoardo a curt nod. His entire demeanor changes and before I know it, he has put my jacket and my shoes in my hands and is leading me toward the front door.
“You need to leave. Forget everything about last night. Forget about me,” he says before closing the door in my face.
Chapter 2
Edoardo
Icanhearherfootsteps disappearing down the hall as I sink into my sofa. I rub my eyes as I contemplate the potential trouble I have gotten myself into. I’ve never kicked a woman out like that, but she couldn’t spend another second in my home. In fact, I wish I could erase every second that she has already spent here.
I fully understand why she gives men fake names. Her father is a dangerous man and notoriously protective of his family. That’s something that I have learned the hard way. This just wasn’t the reminder I was expecting. It is his protectiveness over the people that he loves that makes him such a foul man. It turns him into a barbarian, and he will stop at nothing to remove anything that he feels is a threat. Any man that even looks at Aria is likely in danger because of his wrath, but I’m in more danger than any of them. Aria’s revelation takes me back to the awful years that I spent in jail thanks to her father.
As I lean my head back and wait for this creeping headache to strike at full force, I remember the time when Gabriele and I were best friends.
There were years when we thought we’d be unstoppable together. Until Aria’s mother came along, that is. I think I can safely assume that Aria is the daughter of Gabriele and Auriet; that’s probably why she looked vaguely familiar last night. I’m sure that they’ve had a happy and long life together. It’s hard not to be bitter about it when he is the reason I spent twenty years in jail.
She was so beautiful and friendly. As I sit and think back to it, I remember the way she made me feel each time she walked into the room. It was no surprise that both of us developed feelings for her. I told Gabriele that it should be Auriet’s choice, that either of us was fair game to her.
I suppose he disagreed, because a week later, I was in handcuffs. One of his contacts had listed me as a person of interest in some big case I’d never even heard of. He acted as a witness, placing me at the scene of the crime. I barely had the chance to defend myself before I was found guilty and locked away for twenty years. I now know that the judge who had overseen my case is another one of Gabriele’s friends, one who only seems to get richer by the minute.
God, my head is really pounding. I think I’m out of headache tablets, but if I am going to leave the house today, then I need more protection. He might have had her followed, in which case, he will waste no time trying to get to me.
I don’t know if anyone saw her coming home with me, but I can’t take that risk. I’ve spent enough of my life paying the price for his possessiveness over those he loves.
As far as the rest of the world is concerned, I really am a criminal. Already, since my release, there have been numerous news articles about me. I can’t stand to think what might happen if one of them mentions Aria and I leaving the club together.
I run my hands over my face as my concern grows for not only my safety, but hers. I spent so much of my life behind bars because of a woman. A woman that he hadn’t even won over yet. But I suppose, it worked out in the end. A few months in he sent me photographs of the two of them in bed together.
Auriet was a beautiful woman back then; for a long time, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever known. But she had as much strength as she had beauty, and that is precisely what was so enticing.
If that is how he treated me over a woman he wasn’t even technically with yet, I hate to think what he might do to me if he finds out that I had sex with his daughter. The thought of it makes my blood hot with anger and I need to shower to calm myself down again.
As I shower, I wash away the scent of Aria on my skin. It is disappointing, to say the least. She was so exciting for me to experience. I should have known there was a catch to such a good night.
My hands trail over the scars on my back as I wash my body. I know that Aria had felt them last night. I felt the way that she reacted to them. Something about my scars excited her. Unfortunately, they carry only a painful memory to me. When you’re the Don of a mafia family, you are guaranteed to run into some enemies in prison.
Aria has no idea who I am, and I couldn’t tell her either. It doesn’t surprise me that she doesn’t know her father has a rival like me. I can’t imagine that I have ever been a topic of conversation in Gabriele’s house. I wonder if she still would have come home with me if she knew that my full name is Edoardo Lorenzo, Don of the Lorenzo Mafia Family, her father’s greatest enemy.
Even so, it feels terrible to have kicked her out like that, without an explanation. But she is still a stranger, and I have no idea if I can trust her. She could easily tell her father precisely where to find me. I’ve had enough trouble with him.
