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“That’s perfect!” Gabriele laughs. “Aria, honey, since you want to be so grown up and you no longer want your father’s help. Here’s the first decision for you to make. Which one of us will you send to jail?”
Gabriele tucks his hands into his pocket, despite the police asking him not to. I know that they’re too afraid to take the shot at him unless they absolutely have to. There are too many lawyers that could get involved if either of us are shot and found without a weapon in hand; all of them could face some serious repercussions.
Gabriele knows it too. Which is why he seems so relaxed. He seems confident that his daughter will choose his side. I was always raised to believe that family comes first, and so a large part of me expects her to choose him too.
It is not a fair decision for her to make. She should have left us to kill each other. Somehow, I think that might have been easier for her to deal with.
Gabriele laughs loudly again. “Who will it be? The man you barely know, who is the reason for all this trouble in the first place? Or the man that raised you and fed you and gave you everything you’ve ever had?”
“Stop talking!” the police officer shouts.
Gabriele shrugs his shoulders in surrender, but his smile doesn’t fade. I do not know what she will choose, and I try not to look as she makes her decision.
But whatever words come out of her mouth next will dramatically change the balance of things here today.
Chapter 25
Aria
Ittakesonlyamatter of seconds as I look at the madness that surrounds me. There are bloody bodies scattered all over the place and my father smirks at me as if he has somehow won me over. But he will not bully me anymore.
My body aches, and my heart is pounding in my chest. There are weapons pointed at the two men from every angle and I am caught in the middle of it. That’s been how all this has happened since the start. Two men who do not like each other, with me caught in the middle.
I don’t know if my father would have been happy if I’d fallen pregnant with any other man’s child. Would this still have happened to that man? Or is it only Edoardo that has made him so infuriated? I don’t know, and I don’t have the strength to find out anymore.
I look my father dead in the eye as I tell the officers to place him under arrest.
“My father is the one who should be arrested,” I say sternly. “All of this has been his doing. He is a dangerous man.”
I watch as my father’s face twists with anger, and the police officers waste no time putting him in handcuffs. He tries his best to wriggle free as they drag him toward the police car.
“How dare you do this to me?!” he screams in my direction. “I have given you everything you deserve. Is this how you repay me?! You will pay! You will both pay!”
But I don’t say a word back to him. I have nothing left to say. I deserve so much more than what he has given me, and he knows it. He cannot threaten me anymore. I am no longer afraid of him and I refuse to be afraid of him ever again.
He is still screaming at me as they close the door. He yells something about it being my fault for destroying the family and our good name and suddenly I wish I could change my name and pretend as if I never knew him at all.
But there is still time for all of that. The rush is over. He has been taken away, and I am free, and so is Edoardo. That is all that I want. That is all that I worked for.
I turn to Edoardo and I want to fall into his arms. I’m about to when two officers stop me.
“We need to question you both,” he says. “Separately.”
Down the street, the ambulances have started to arrive, and nosy neighbors have gathered like a crowd to see what is going on. Large men are treated for cuts and concussions as those who have been beaten down in the fight start to wake up again.
The police follow the remaining men everywhere. Each person on the scene will be questioned. This is still far from over. But at least, for now, I am not in any danger.
“Oh, okay,” I say quietly as the police officer guides me to one of his police cars.
“We’ll take you down to the station and get you a cup of coffee,” the officer says.
“Tea, rather, please,” I say as I walk next to him.
I get into his car and the door’s about to close when I heard Edoardo call my name. He runs up to the car and explains to the officer that he needs only a small moment of my time. The officer allows it.
Edoardo leans down to look at me. “I love you too,” he says with a smile.
I look at his bloodied clothes and the mess that is all around me with blood on the driveway and ambulances everywhere, and I chuckle.
