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“Enough!” Aria shouts. “This isn’t about you, father.”
She’s right and a small smirk appears upon my face.
“And this isn’t about you either,” she shouts in my direction. “But somehow, the two of you have managed to make this a personal problem between yourselves, forgetting that this is about me.”
When she says those words, my heart shatters into a million pieces. I point my gun away, and release the magazine from it, then pull back the slide to drop the bullet in the chamber. It’s a sign that I am giving up this fight. And, by the look on Gabriele’s face, it takes him by complete surprise. But he still does not do the same.
“I have every right to live my own life, and you know it,” Aria says to her father. “I can make my own decisions. You knew this day would come, and perhaps it didn’t work out the way you thought it would, but that’s just too bad.”
A pang of guilt hits me and I almost drop to my knees from shame. I know the role that I have played in this. I have also lied to her when I came to see Gabriele without telling her about it. I have launched this attack that has brought us to this moment.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
I can tell by the look on Gabriele’s face that he thinks my apology is a joke.
“This has happened because you can’t make the right decisions,” Gabriele accuses her. “This has happened because you went out and climbed into bed with the enemy. None of this is my fault. This is what happens when a silly girl like you thinks she’s ready for the big wide world.”
“Is it so hard to believe, father, that Edoardo might take good care of me?” she asks. “Forget about the competition the two of you had over mom. You were friends once. You know that he is a good man. He got on your bad side, yes, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of being a caring human being.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Gabriele shouts.
“You are the only one who has played dirty,” Aria says. “You locked him away, twice. All he’s done is try to do the right thing. This entire thing is ridiculous!”
Aria waves her arms at the chaos around us. Unconscious bodies litter the property, and I feel ashamed for being the cause of it all.
The hand that holds his gun is shaking as Gabriele stares menacingly at his daughter. But she doesn’t budge. She stares him down, as if she is threatening him to take the shot. I know that if he kills her, he will kill me too.
But before he gets the chance to do or say anything more, the air fills with the sound of sirens. A team of police cars show up at the property, and the men that still stand flee. It’s what I instructed them to do should the police arrive.
Armed officers come fleeing out of their cars with their weapons drawn.
“Drop your weapons!” they scream.
I know that neither of us can do a thing. If we make one wrong move, we’ll both be gunned down and Aria will be caught in the middle of it. She’s right. This has gone way too far. But if I must go to jail, it will be for something that I am truly guilty of.
I throw my weapon one side and it lands a few feet from me. Gabriele looks at it and I can see what he is considering. I know that he is calculating whether or not he has paid the police enough money in order for him to shoot me and get away with it.
But he looks around and sees just how many police officers there are. And then he throws his gun too. Aria breathes a sigh of relief as soft tears stream down her cheeks.
“What have you done?” she cries, a question that I know is directed at both of us.
“Officers! This man attacked my house! I was only acting out of self-defense!” Gabriele shouts as loudly as he can.
“Check the footage,” I say calmly. “You’ll see that I only came to talk. His men attacked first. I was acting out of self-defense.”
One of the officers recognizes Aria from the news reports of her kidnapping, and he motions for her to walk toward him. She follows his request and walks to safety behind the officers. She looks like a shell of the woman that I met at the club.
I have not known her much, but somehow I have managed to ruin her life and happiness. I do not deserve all that she has done for me.
The police officer asks Aria if she is hurt and she shakes her head.
“It’s Aria, right?” he asks.
Aria nods, but she keeps her eyes on me. I know that look. She feels guilty for all of this, when it wasn’t her fault. It hurts me to know that she might blame herself.
“Right,” the officer continues. “Perhaps you can tell me what has happened here.”
This is an odd situation to be in, especially when those in question happen to both be Dons of two separate mafia families, and rivals on top of it. The police are likely weary to touch either of us, knowing they could be in trouble for it later. But, they need to do something.
