Page 27

Aria

Who knew being threatened and taken blindfolded to a house by a bratva boss, not knowing where we were going, would be so freeing. I’m humming to myself as I cook us dinner.

Daniil is like a drug in my veins. One that’s permanently altered my brain chemistry so that I’m floating on a cloud, wanting to live up here forever.

I take the fresh bread I made out of the oven and place it on the wooden cutting board on the counter, then go back to the stove to add the pasta to the boiling water and stir the meat sauce in the pan. It’s a comfort meal, and I want to show off a little for Daniil.

Cooking always made me happy growing up, and I don’t get to do it too much anymore.

I taste the sauce and lower the heat before adding red wine and a little brown sugar to it and letting it simmer for another ten to fifteen minutes.

When everything is done, I twirl around the kitchen and sashay off to get my man from his office.

My man.

After last night and this morning, I feel like we’ve knocked our walls down, and it has me feeling so free. Like I know where I stand with Daniil, and it makes my heart soar.

As I’m walking through the living room, I’m almost to the hallway when the front door bursts open and slams against the wall.

I scream and sprint off down the hallway. I run into Daniil when I’m halfway to his office and he wraps me in his arms.

“What happened?”

he asks, his eyes darting all around. He must not have heard the door, and just my scream.

“I don’t know. The front door burst open and I ran right to you.”

Daniil pushes me behind his back.

“Stay here,”

he orders, and creeps forward.

Like hell I’m waiting here.

“Aria!”

My name is called and I freeze. How did he find me?

Daniil looks over his shoulder at me and I rush forward, knowing what’s going to happen if my brother sees Daniil before he sees me.

“Saverio!”

I yell, and Daniil tries to stop me, but I’m quick and skirt around his arm as I rush past him.

I make it to the living room first and see that my brother isn’t alone. With him is Dante, the scariest one in my family bar far, with a scar curving down his cheek and jaw as evidence of the rough life he had before my uncle took him in.

I’m shaking from the rush of adrenaline when I thought someone was attacking us.

“What are you doing here Sav?”

“We’re here to rescue you. Get over here,”

he orders.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t need rescuing. How did you find me?”

“Less talking, more moving your ass, Aria.”

“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,”

Daniil says from behind me, making his presence known.

“She said she doesn’t need rescuing.”

“Bullshit,”

Sav snarls, and points his gun at Daniil.

“No!”

I yell just as the gun goes off, and I run towards Daniil. I slam into his body and he grunts. His arm comes around me and turns me away from Sav.

“Don’t ever fucking jump in front of a gun for me, Aria,”

he berates, and I rip myself out of his grip. I try and go around him again to block him from Sav, but he easily captures me again and holds me at his side.

“Don’t kill him!”

I yell in a panic. I splay my arm across his torso and feel his blood already soaking through his shirt from where he was hit. I want to make sure Daniil is okay, but I keep my eyes on my brother. The look in his telling me he’s fully prepared to shoot Daniil again.

“Please, Sav,”

I beg, and his wild eyes meet mine.

“Please. Don’t.”

“Don’t protect him, Aria. He fucking took you. We’ve been looking for you since last night. He’s a dead man.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Please,”

I plead, tears leaking from my eyes when I feel Daniil’s shirt growing wetter.

“You’re not killing him.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Don’t kill him and I’ll go with you, okay?”

I say quickly.

“Aria,”

Daniil whispers, and I look up to see his face is a mask of nothing, then look to where my hand is and feel around until I find where the bullet hit him and put pressure on it.

“Go, baby. This is how I knew it’d end, anyway.”

“No. You’re mine and I’m yours, remember?”

He gives me his first smile and my heart clenches in my chest, breaking as the icy blue eyes I’ve fallen in love with are starting to lose their life.

“Aria, get away from him. He deserves to die.”

“No, he doesn’t!”

My brother becomes a blurry figure as tears fall in rivers down my cheeks. I can’t be weak right now. Daniil needs me.

“I went with him willingly.”

Sav scoffs and takes a small step forward.

“If you shoot him again, Sav, I will never forgive you. I’ll go with you now, but don’t kill him. Please,”

I beg shamelessly.

Daniil grunts his disapproval and I press my hand against his wound harder.

“No, Daniil,”

I whisper so only he hears me.

“You need help and that’s only going to happen if I leave with them. Just let me go.”

The words are like acid on my tongue, knowing I want the complete opposite.

“Let me go,”

I repeat, and the hurt that flashes in his eyes has my heart breaking even more.

“I’ll find my way back. I promise.” I can see he doesn’t agree, but he also knows I’m right.

“You have to trust me, okay?”

I know he doesn’t trust anyone but his brothers, and his grip on my hip tells me he doesn’t want to let me go, but I rise up on my toes and kiss his cheek, then whisper in his ear.

“You better not die on me. I’m nowhere near done with you. Understand?”

“Yeah, baby, I understand.”

“Let’s go, Aria. Now,”

Sav demands, and Daniil’s arm falls from around me.

I take a step away from him when everything in me is screaming for me to stay with him and get him help. But help won’t come with Sav and Dante here. They’d watch him die before they got him help.

I’ll find my way back to him. That doesn’t mean my heart isn’t tearing in two as I’m forced to choose my family over the man I love, even when I’m doing it to save the man I love.

“You go first. I won’t have you killing him when I’m out of sight.”

“Jesus, Aria, what the fuck has he done to you that you’re defending him like this?”

“Just go!”

I yell, and Dante grabs Sav’s arm and pulls him out the door ahead of me. I look back at Daniil and see him hunched over and grabbing the back of a chair, struggling to remain upright.

“I love you,”

I whisper, so quietly I know there’s no way he could’ve heard me, but I needed to say it. Just in case.

Dante comes back and hauls me over his shoulder.

“Let’s go, Aria. He’ll survive if we leave now and he calls for help.”

I bounce over his shoulder as he runs down the large staircase from the front door and into the waiting SUV just outside the open gate at the end of the driveway.

Dante tosses me in the back seat and then climbs in behind me. “Go!”

he shouts.

“Go, go, go!”