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As Aria’s snores echo from the living room, my stomach lurches again. There is no way that I am going to let anything happen to either of them. I won’t use them as bait. I would throw myself at Antonio’s feet and suffer a lifetime of torture before that happened.
Damien starts talking about the work that he is doing while working with his father, keeping the details vague. He knows how to talk without saying anything that might incriminate himself.
Good.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to protect him when the time comes.
The only person I know that I will protect is Aria.
Aria walks into the kitchen, stretching and looking between the two of us. She drops down into an empty chair and leans back with her arms crossed.
“Want to tell me what’s going on in here?” Aria glares at me. “It looks like you’re keeping secrets from me again. If this is about my father, I should’ve been woken up.”
Damien rolls his eyes and gets up. He goes to the fridge and grabs a bottle of water, handing it to Aria before taking his seat again.
“Calm down, Ari.” Damien smiles at her as she drinks her water. “It’s nothing that you don’t already know. At least, not the important parts. There is a lot that you don’t need to know yet and you’re just going to have to deal with that.”
“I’m tired of everyone treating me like I’m glass.”
“Nobody is treating you like glass,” I say. “But you were just knocked on your ass by an explosion.”
“So were you!”
I sigh and run a hand down my face. Aria continues to glare at me. Even though I know that I keep messing things up with her, I can’t seem to stop. I need to know that she is safe and that’s not going to happen if she keeps trying to throw herself into the line of fire.
“You’re right. Which is why neither of us should be talking about this right now. Why don’t you go back to sleep?”
She snorts. “And let you and Damien scheme behind my back some more? Like hell.”
Aria kicks her feet up on the table even as her brother glares at her. She returns the look, a silent challenge to do something about it.
To my surprise, Damien backs down and takes another sip of his beer. Aria gives me a smug smile and nods.
“Alright, boys, let’s figure out what we’re going to do about daddy dearest.”
* * *
By the timeDamien leaves later that night, I’m exhausted. I didn’t think I’d spend most of the afternoon talking to the oldest Russo son and trying to figure out how to trap Antonio.
Once he’s gone, I turn to Aria. She’s leaning over the stove, cooking some pork belly. My mouth waters at the smell as she turns around and starts digging through the cupboards for some pasta.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, getting up to stir the pork belly while she rummages through the fridge.
Aria shrugs one shoulder and pulls some cream from the fridge. “Hungry.”
“Damien keeps this place stocked well.”
She nods and hums to herself as she turns down the heat on the pork and takes the spatula from my hand.
“Aria, what do you want from me?”
She sighs and puts the spatula down. Her arms cross as she leans against the counter. I hate the way she’s looking at me like I keep disappointing her at every turn.
I don’t want to disappoint her but I know I’m not the man she thinks I am. I don’t know if I couldeverbe that man.
“I want to know that the father of my baby is going to love them the way that I love them. I want to know that you are going to start trusting me and stop treating me like a child.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you.”
