Page 25

CHAPTER 25

Aurora

W ith ever-increasing horror, I watch Gio go down. A scream rips out of my throat but is muted by the tape over my mouth. Tears pour from my eyes as I watch him lie there, unmoving and still…so horribly still.

No, he can’t die. He simply can’t.

It’s all my fault. I’m the one who messed with that pimp in the first place. I brought this on us. I should have been patient with Gio instead of running off in the dead of the night to dig for further information about him.

Why did I even trust an unknown person enough to meet up with them in a spooky location just because they promised to tell me about Gio’s life with Giordano?

It was an obvious trap, and any other person would have smelled it a mile away.

I’m a damn idiot, and now, because of me, Gio’s dead.

A sob catches in my throat, and I’m unable to look away from him.

“It’s a pity, isn’t it?” Giordano says in a deceptively soft voice.

I turn my head slowly to face him, showing him the full force of my hatred in my expression. He chuckles, unfazed, and even steps forward to rip the tape off my mouth.

I bite back a pained gasp as the tape is ripped off painfully.

“You bastard,” I spit at him as tears continue to blur my vision. “You’ll never get away with this.”

“And who’s going to stop me?” he asks mockingly. “After I’ve killed you and disposed of your father, no one would be the wiser about what happened today. Vitale will be too stricken by grief because of his dear sister’s death to notice me taking over his city one trade at a time."

He walks around me, and I follow him with my gaze, straining my neck. With a flourish, he grabs the two edges of the dark curtain behind me and throws them open, revealing a part of the castle wall that’s broken off, leaving behind a gaping hole from which I can see the ocean behind us.

“It’s a beautiful view, isn’t it?” he taunts. “You’re lucky the last thing you’ll get to see in your life is the sea.”

I gasp as his meaning becomes clear. Giordano plans to throw me off the building.

“I’ll haunt you for eternity,” I promise darkly, venom lacing my words.

“Don't waste your time,” Giordano replies dismissively. “I’m not afraid of ghosts.”

He moves and stands before me, smiling deviously. “It wasn’t meant to end this way.”

I scoff. “Let’s not pretend this isn’t giving you a major hard-on. Get on with it already, asshole.”

Something unidentifiable flashes in his eyes. “You could be worth millions, Miss Vitale. I know men who would give everything for the chance to break you in.”

I shudder in disgust. “Good thing I’m not a horse then. I don’t need to be broken in,” I retort icily.

He laughs wryly. “Would you rather die then?”

“I’d rather choose the most gruesome death you can think of,” I inform him.

“Then die.”

Just as he reaches for me, the sound of a gunshot rings in the air, and red blooms on Giordano’s shirt. He gasps, looking down at himself and touching the rapidly spreading blood with a sense of disbelief.

I look over his shoulder to see Gio with a gun pointed at Giordano, his eyes narrowed in fury.

“Gio!” I cry out in shock and elation.

“Wha—how?” Giordano stammers in disbelief.

“You’re the one who taught me to always aim for the head,” Gio says coldly, opening his shirt to show a bulletproof vest. I let out a breath of relief.

Giordano drops to his knees, gasping in pain as his blood continues to flow.

“It’s a good thing I paid attention to your lessons,” Gio continues, his eyes blazing.

Giordano collapses onto his back, breathing harshly. Then, he coughs, blood spluttering from his mouth and running down his chin.

Gio steps forward to stand over him. “It’s time to end this.”

And then he raises his leg in the air and brings it down hard on Giordano’s head. I watch in grim fascination as his head explodes like a watermelon, blood and brain matter flying everywhere.

My stomach lurches at the horrifying act, but I don’t avert my eyes for a second. I need the assurance that this man, who has been out of me, is finally dead and gone for good.

Gio walks over to me and cuts me out of my bindings, and as soon as he does, I rush over to Giordano’s dead body and spit on it.

“Bastard,” I hurl venomously. “This is for Gio.” This is for breaking his heart one last time. I can’t even begin to imagine how Gio must be feeling right now. The man he respected, believed in, and trusted turned out to be nothing but a fake.

Gio had been disappointed by the less-than-sterling performance of his real father and had trusted Giordano to be different, only for him to be far worse. My heart ached for him.

I grab Giordano by the legs and drag him toward the edge of the building.

“What are you doing?” Gio asks in a panic.

“Ending this,” I tell him as I push Giordano over the edge. Gio comes over to watch with me as Giordano’s body disappears below and sinks into the ocean.

Then, Gio pulls me into his body, his scent surrounding me. I relax into him, filling my lungs with his heady scent.

I immediately burst into tears—huge, racking sobs that cause my whole body to shake as the whole mess of the past few months and my emotions finally hit me.

I’ve been on a rollercoaster of emotions for a while now, and I haven’t even stopped for a second to examine it, too busy jumping from one feeling to the other. I used my love for Gio to distract me from my fear of Il Sguardo Nero, and I used my anger at him rejecting me to distract me from my love for him.

It has all been one endless cycle, and now it has all finally come together to hit me. I almost died, and I watched the man I love die right before my eyes. Or at least I thought and believed he died.

“It’s alright, baby. It’s alright,” he breathes soothingly into my hair.

I don’t know how long we stand there, the sounds of the waves crashing beneath us.

“I was so scared,” I admit.

With everything that just happened, I think it’s time some truths were shared between Gio and me. I don’t want to spend more time second-guessing our relationship. We both could have died today, and he would have never known what he meant to me.

“But I knew you were coming for me. That’s the only thing that kept me sane,” I add.

He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “I’ll always come for you, princess, but it doesn’t mean you should make a habit of running off in the dead of night without informing me or the men I put in place to keep you safe.”

I wince. “I know, I know. It was stupid of me. I put myself at risk all because of a stupid text.”

He frowns at me. “What text?”

I blink up at him innocently, hoping it will lessen his anger at me. “Well,” I drawl, “I received a text from an unknown number promising me information about you. In my defense, if you weren’t so tight-lipped about yourself, I wouldn’t have been so easily tempted.”

He sighs loudly and exasperatedly. “Next time you are tempted, tell me.”

“You’ll only try to stop me and thwart my efforts.” I cross my arms stubbornly.

Gio gives me a hard look, and after a few beats, I relent and huff. “Fine, I won’t run off like that again.”

“Good girl.”

My heart melts like ice cream on a hot summer day, and at the same time, heat washes through me.

“I love you, Gio,” I rush to say before I can change my mind about telling him. “And I believe you have feelings for me too, and I don’t care how long it takes you to admit it. I’m in for the long haul.”

He’s quiet for a while after my admission. Then, he mutters, “When I stood before Giordano, and he told me I was just like him, I was struck by the thought that maybe I was.”

“You’re not,” I snap. “You’re nothing like that monster.”

“I know,” he says quietly. “My primary motivation hasn’t been ambition for a while now. It’s been keeping you safe and happy.”

“Oh, Gio,” I sigh with a smile.

He wraps my hair loosely around his fist. "Giordano was good for me in the sense that he gave me what I needed at a time in my life when I was full of gaping holes. Those feelings of grief, hurt, and abandonment? He took them all away. He gave me a purpose and taught me that this world we live in is a survival of the fittest.”

“He should have let you grieve. You deserved to grieve.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” he says, shrugging. “Anyway, it’s all in the past now. Thinking about it now and knowing what I now know, Giordano took advantage of me. All my life, he was the monster in the closet wearing the face of a friend.”

He sighs, and there is no anger in his voice when he speaks, just a deep sadness that he doesn’t bother trying to hide. “I used to be proud of what he made me into. A killing machine. I was his trump card, killing mercilessly in his name. He gave me names on pieces of paper, and I didn’t ask questions. I just went in, butchered his enemies quickly and quietly, and got out before anyone was the wiser.”

I stare at him with wide eyes as he keeps on talking.

“They called me Giordano’s reaper. Women and children, I killed them without batting an eyelid. I can only wonder how many innocents died at my hands,” he mutters, looking down at said hands.

“You didn’t know,” I say softly.

“I didn’t care,” he replies brokenly.

“You were used and manipulated by a man who was the source of all your misfortune in the first place,” I insist. “You were just a child when he took you in and molded you into what he wanted.”

“You don’t understand,” he says with chagrin. “I was weak, and I was being bullied by Salvador and his boys?—”

“The one you—” I trail off.

“Yes, Aurora,” he says slowly, his gaze searching mine. “The one I beat to death in the parking lot. I’ve done a lot worse, baby. I should never have touched you with these filthy hands.”

I cup his much larger hands in mine and look at him steadily. “I see you, Giovanni. I see all the dark corners of you, and I want you anyway.”

He shakes his head. “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t try to tell me what I mean or don’t mean.” I glare at him. “You’re no longer the man you used to be, and that’s what matters.”

“Everything I have today is built on top of the bodies of innocent people whose lives I’ve brutally taken.”

“I love you,” I tell him again in a broken voice, feeling like I’m losing him.

He looks at me, and his gaze pierces mine, hard and intense. “Good. It’ll make spending the rest of your life with a monster easier on you.”

At his words, my heart immediately soars. “Y—you…oh God, G—Gio,” I finally stammer, words failing me.

“I love you, princess,” he says. “From the moment you stepped into my home and stared at me fearlessly, I knew. Deep inside, I knew there was no going back from you. I know I’ve done terrible things in the past, and I’m no saint, but there’s nobody on this planet who will come even a quarter as close to loving you the way I do.”

Tears fill my eyes, blurring my vision. “You love me?”

“I do. And if you’re willing to accept a broken man who’s too old for you, too jealous and possessive about you, and will do depraved things to your delectable body, then I’m yours.”

I let out a peal of joyous laughter, my tears flowing freely.

“Kiss me, Gio,” I say breathlessly.

His mouth is on mine a second later. It’s a different kiss from all the others we’ve shared in the past. This one is soft and slow, but its effect is just as disarming as ever.

His tongue swipes over the cut on my lip, and I wince. He immediately pulls back and stares down at my busted lip, his eyes turning hard and angry.

“Boss.” Fiore’s voice cuts into the moment, and we both turn to see him standing at the door. “I’m transporting the injured men to the clinic. Do you need a ride home?”

“It’s fine, Fiore,” Gio replies.

Fiore nods and leaves, which reminds me of someone else.

“Is Carlos alright? I hope he’s fine since it’s kinda my fault he got hurt.”

“He’s fine. Just don’t run off like that again. Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good.” Then, he twines his fingers with mine, shooting me a mischievous smirk. “Let’s go home and flaunt our brand new relationship in Leo’s face.”

“You’re just itching to get beaten up, aren’t you?” I roll my eyes at him.

“I’d love to see him try.”

“You’re a fool if you think I’m going to be cheering you on. Sorry, baby, but family comes first.” I grin at him.

He pulls me to him and slants his mouth over mine for a hard kiss. When he pulls away a moment later, he gives me an intense look. “It’s a good thing you’re about to become a Lombardi then.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to marry you.”

He begins to pull me toward the stairs. “I don’t remember asking, princess.”

Christ Almighty, what the hell have I gotten myself into?