AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As I speak, Alister’s eyes darken, and his lips press into a flat line. I haven’t even told him about finding my mother’s photograph taped to the wall of one of his strip clubs, but the look in his eyes tells me I don’t have to. He knows as well as I do my mother was killed in a hit, one that his father ordered. At that, I twitch. It’s as if I’m back there, desperately wanting to fight them off her, help her, save her, but I can’t. I can’t do anything.
“Ariana, we’re going to play hide and seek, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.”
“I remember my mom running from the kitchen to the windows that overlooked the street. She must’ve heard something. Whatever it was, I didn’t. I was at the table drawing. Knowing now what happened next, I guess she heard the men drive up because immediately, she grabbed me and told me we were going to play hide and seek. She said, ‘Don’t make a sound and don’t come out for anyone except me.’”
As the memories flood my mind, tears drench my cheeks. My lip quivers. I do my best to control myself, but I can’t. When I finish telling Alister what his father did to my mother, I don’t see his face. I don’t gauge his reaction. My tears have blocked him from my view. Perhaps it’s for the best.
“And I didn’t. I didn’t come out. Not that I even could’ve. She put me inside an air vent and moved a piece of furniture in front of it to hide me. She moved so quickly that she must’ve known they would come for her. She must’ve prepared to hide me. But…if she knew, why didn’t she run? Why didn’t she have a gun or some other way of protecting herself?”
This is why I’ve never told anyone this before. Because with the memory of my mother’s murder comes questions. The pain of not knowing why my mother was killed is almost as great as the pain of her absence. I cover my face with my hands, allowing all the emotion I’ve kept inside me to escape.
She didn’t save herself. She saved me. No matter what she did to get involved with the Amatos, no matter how bad, she always protected me. Though her efforts that night didn’t stop me from witnessing her murder. They only hid the faces of the men who beat and killed her and kept me alive to remember it in all its horror.
I jump as Alister moves his hand to my knee. His unexpected touch sends electricity coursing through me. I quickly wipe the tears from my eyes and place my hands at my sides. “What are you doing?”
“I’m…I’m sorry,” he says. And I can tell he is. His golden-brown eyes are now dark like honey as empathy shines through them. But I don’t need him to be sorry for a crime he didn’t commit. I need him to help me understand why it was committed. And I need him to help me find the men who took part in it.
“Do you see now why I need your help?” I ask him. “I’ve waited eighteen years to understand the truth. I can’t wait anymore, Alister. I won’t.”
9
As Ariana speaks,a million thoughts race through my mind. I’m pissed that she clearly used Sophia to get close to me. Thoughts of Sophia make me feel helpless and like the last place I should be right now is this dungeon. And yet, I feel Ariana’s pain. I’ve suffered my own share of tragedy, even witnessed my mother’s murder like Ariana. But she was so young when tragedy struck her. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like and what the past eighteen years have felt like not knowing the truth. And yet, if I believe her and what she said about her mother being killed in the Amato style, then I also must believe my father was involved. Only victims of the Blood King himself or of a hit ordered by the Blood King are executed in this way.
I don’t want to believe it’s possible my father ordered a hit like this—an entire group of men to kill one woman—but as I look into Ariana’s eyes, there’s no glimmer of deception. There is only heartbreak and a desperation to know the truth. And yet, I have my own truth to uncover.
The men who came after Sophia tonight were organized. They knew enough about my property to sneak in and off the compound using a boat. And whether it was dumb luck or they’re just that good, they managed to dock in a location without surveillance. To top it off, they were skilled fighters, as is evident from the wounds on Ariana’s body. From the looks of it, she’s lucky to be alive. And yet, as much as I empathize with her and appreciate her for saving my sister, I can’t turn my back on the threat facing my family now. For these men to be as organized and skilled as they were, it lets me know their abduction attempt was a hit from a powerful enemy. They didn’t get what they came for, which means they’ll try again. They can’t afford to fail if they plan to live, as is the way of our world. I have to find them before they make another move against Sophia.
“Do you see now why I need your help?” Ariana asks. “I’ve waited eighteen years to understand the truth. I can’t wait anymore, Alister. I won’t.”
Ariana looks at me with pleading eyes, her lips parted as she awaits my response. The simple movement draws my attention to the bruising on her cheek. From there, my eyes drift until I find the cut across her collarbone. Even lower, I find another cut above her left breast. Through the sheer fabric of her dress, I find more bruising and redness, especially around the area where she keeps her hand positioned. No doubt she’s got a broken rib, or at least a fracture. I remove my hand from her knee and stand, putting distance between us as if it’ll make what I have to do easier.
How can I turn my back on her? The woman who saved the most important person in the world to me. On any other day, I’d pledge my life to her in gratitude. But…
“Please, I’m begging you,” Ariana says as if she knows I will deny her request. “It wasn’t that long ago that you went to someone asking for their help. Now it’s your turn to return the favor.”
At the mention of Emma, the hairs on my arms rise. She’s right. When I learned it was the brotherhood who took Cara, I went to Emma and made a deal with her. Because we had a shared enemy, our arrangement worked in both of our favors. Sort of. Turns out Emma didn’t trust me as much as I thought she did, as much as I trusted her. I guess after what I did in pretending to hand her over to the brotherhood I can’t blame her. She turned on me and started working with the FBI behind my back. Even though I managed to make a deal with them to avoid immediate prosecution, I didn’t come away from our arrangement completely unscathed. Exhibit A—Ariana.
When I look at Ariana, I see Emma. Not physically, but emotionally. They are both innocent women who by some tragic twist of fate got mixed up in this world of darkness to which I unfortunately belong. The only difference—Emma was in deeper than Ariana from the start. She had no choice but to face off with the brotherhood to earn her freedom. But Ariana? She’s only gotten a glimpse of the pain that waits for her if she keeps digging into her mother’s past—a past no doubt filled with secrets and trauma that will rock her to her core.
My father wouldn’t have ordered her mother dead if she was innocent. Ariana knows enough about my world to know this must be the case. Though I don’t think she’s accepted it, that her mother could’ve done something to deserve—
I stop myself and take a deep breath. I’m losing it. I’ve been the Blood King for only a year, and I’ve buried more bodies than I can count. But it wasn’t the day my father died that my life became tainted with an unshakable darkness. No. It was the day my mother was killed. For sixteen years, I’ve been so consumed by revenge and the need for control that I’ve actually convinced myself some people deserve to be tortured and killed for their crimes. Even as the logical, humane part of me realizes how ridiculous that sounds, there’s another part of me that knows I don’t regret a single life I’ve taken. Which is why Ariana can’t get anywhere near the truth, whatever the truth is. She can still walk away without any more bloodshed, without any more hurt, without losing herself to her quest for revenge. She can still save herself from this world. At least, that’s what I tell myself to justify my turning her away.
At that, I turn to Ariana. It’s clear exhaustion is weighing on her as she struggles to keep her head upright. “You’re not going to help me, are you?” Her voice is shallow. I have to move closer just to hear her. Though, before I can respond, unconsciousness consumes her. Her body slips and—
I lunge forward and place my hands beneath her head as she collapses onto the floor. As my hands caress her delicate yet damaged body, I feel an unwelcome chill.
“Ariana.” I brush her dark hair from where it covers her face. “Ariana, wake up.” I shake her but she doesn’t move. Like my mother and Sophia, Ariana lies cold and still in my arms in the wake of an attack waged on my home. She isn’t family, but in my home, she is my responsibility. And like Hell am I letting her die on my watch.
I move my hands from underneath Ariana’s head and slowly back away from her. “Gio,” I say into my comms.
“Yes, Boss?”
“How is Sophia?”
“She’s stable, resting now.” I close my eyes and exhale in relief.
