Page 13

Words couldn’t describe the kind of rage I was feeling, or how it boiled within my chest.

My grip on the steering wheel was tight all the way home, and while I was prepared to lose my shit on Aria, I didn’t let my restraint slip yet.

Neither of us said a word, and it was clear neither of us would. There was so much I could say, but nothing I wanted to. Nothing I should in the heat of the moment.

Even looking at her was enough to nearly send me over the edge, so I kept my eyes fixed on the road and focused solely on getting home without losing my mind.

With every mile, the tension seemed to thicken even more. It was like a vice trying to snuff me out, and I hated every moment of it.

Everything about this arrangement, this damn cursed marriage, failed from the jump.

The one thing I needed out of it—the men I wanted to follow me instead of Aria—still wasn’t mine in the ways that counted.

I went through the motions with all the stakes and risks in mind and even agreed to let Aria be a part of it as a safeguard to ensure her ranks would turn over. And yet, we were still in the same position as before. Still stuck at square one.

Even if she mostly went along with it and respected my conditions, she still had the power. Her men were following her orders regardless of the price tag I was capable of putting on the table for them.

They still respected her, even if she disappeared on them without a word or a trace.

She was clinging to that title and authority despite how badly I wanted her to give it up, and as much as I thought it wouldn’t take much to get her men to desert her, I had been more wrong than I cared to admit.

I knew how stubborn and loyal the Italians could be. They didn’t take well to leaders who weren’t their kin—certainly not the ones trying to force their hand.

In my eyes, aside from being able to get under Aria’s skin at first, we got married for nothing. I forced her and myself into this position just for it to fail, and for her men to value her leadership far more than I expected them to.

And at that point, tormenting her didn’t have the same appeal…not while knowing she had the upper hand in the situation.

She knew it. Absolutely, she did.

So long as those men were following her orders, regardless of how I tried to push her out of the equation, the assets were too hostile for me or my brothers to control. As Aria said before, it would only end in death and bloodshed.

When we reached the house, I was as heated as ever.

I didn’t bother waiting for her. Instead, I got out of the car, threw the front door open, and went inside without a care about where Aria was. She could’ve disappeared down the street and I wouldn’t have chased after her.

Despite the seemingly endless space in the house, it had never felt more suffocating than at that moment.

Standing in the living room, I ran a hand over my face and tried to keep cool long enough to not completely explode. I didn’t have to turn around and look at her to know Aria was behind me, watching me in silence for a time.

I didn’t want to look at her or hear anything she had to say. I just wanted silence.

And yet, she couldn’t even give me that.

“You haven’t said a word since we left. So now what? You’re just going to be pissed at me?”

The control in her voice, giving away how much she thought she knew exactly what I was thinking and feeling, set me off.

Turning around, I couldn’t shake how the words boiled in my chest before slipping out. “Pissed? You have no idea.”

To my surprise, she didn’t even flinch.

With that anger needing to be released, I continued, staying hot while everything on my mind let loose, “You know damn well that didn’t go how it should’ve in the slightest. You think you’re still the one calling the shots.”

“Everything panned out how you should’ve known it would,” Aria returned, gaze not wavering for a moment. “You knew who I was before the pact…you knew they were loyal to me, and I even tried to warn you. You’re damn lucky they didn’t gun you down for even bringing up different leadership.”

My anger flared, hardly restrained while I narrowed my eyes at her. “ You’re damn lucky that didn’t happen. But it doesn’t detract from the fact that you didn’t uphold your end.”

She lifted an accusatory brow at me. “Didn’t I? Nobody pulled a fast one on you, and you were allowed to say your piece. They’ve agreed to follow your family’s orders. You’re just angry because I didn’t roll over just because we’re married. That I didn’t demand more of them.”

“This isn’t about rolling over, this is about you still holding on to your control. This is about you not backing down when that’s exactly what you should do,” I snapped, words coming out harsh.

Still, Aria looked unfazed. It drove me crazy.

Heaving in a breath, I powered through, expression tight with anger. “You should be grateful for everything I’m doing…for the chance I’m giving you.”

Her brows furrowed incredulously. “Grateful? Grateful for the fact that you’re trying to push me out of what’s mine?”

“Yes,” I gritted out, looking down at her with fire in my eyes. “You wouldn’t have to worry about anything if you just gave up the reins. If you relinquish your control to me, you could wash your hands of it here and now, and live even more comfortably than you ever have.”

She bristled, still not backing down. “Why would I be grateful that you’re trying to strip me of my authority? Of what’s mine by every right? Why would I let you take it all?”

Everything about the conversation had my gears grinding, and I wanted nothing more than for it to be over, but I couldn’t back away yet.

“That’s the outcome for most traditional bratva wives, isn’t it? They have nothing to do with the business itself, and instead, they sit back and reap the benefits. That’s exactly what you should do, because you’re no different. You should accept that.”

I watched as molten fury moved through her. “Is that really what you think? You think I should be that predictable and fall into line like a good little wife? You want me to stay home, to shut up whenever you tell me to? Is that it?”

While I wanted to try and ignore how her accusatory questions stung, I knew she was right about one thing—that wasn’t really what I wanted.

I didn’t want her to be a trophy in my house while I did it all. Not completely, anyway.

Even if she didn’t think so, and even if it pained me to say it to myself, I respected her as a leader.

It was clear her men respected her as well—enough so that they weren’t willing to work around her regardless of the payout. And because of that, it was obvious to me that she could hold her own in the shadier aspects of the city.

And yet, I couldn’t help but wonder if she really could. If I could trust her to lead in a way that would truly benefit both sides.

As much as I felt tempted to believe she could, I still had my doubts.

Struggling with the conflicting ideas moving through my mind, I took a step closer until I was directly in her face, tone curt. “What I wanted was for you to do what I asked—to sway them into following my orders directly.”

“Why? Why is that part so important to you?”

“Because,” I uttered, jaw clenched tightly, “because I can’t trust you to handle business as I need you to. I don’t know if I can trust you to listen when you should, to fall in line when you need to. When it’s imperative to the bigger picture.”

A flash of hurt, regardless of how faint, quickly moved through her eyes before they darkened. “You can’t let this go because you don’t trust me? I agreed to give myself up for this marriage pact, for Christ’s sake! I don’t care if you hate me, if you want me six feet underground rather than working alongside you, but even you know we should be working together. We should be leading like this is a partnership—because that’s what it is .”

My whole body was coiled up tightly, ready to snap again and again so long as she kept pushing back. I wanted to scream at her that I was supposed to be the one in control of it all, but to my dismay, she had a point.

I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t even want to give it the time of day, but she wasn’t wrong. Everything would move more smoothly if I just gave her what she clearly wanted so badly.

But I couldn’t shake the instinct to hold on to that control even tighter. It would take more for her to convince me.

“You can preach all you want, but I still don’t think I can trust you to lead how I need you to.”

Her anger never receded, but it did waver for a moment, letting me see just how tired she was. Tired of fighting and going in circles. Of me.

It was unlike me to care about that kind of thing, but for a flicker of time, I didn’t like how the sight felt like a barb in my side.

“As much as you want to, you can’t control everything—you can’t demand it all from nothing,” Aria muttered, voice dangerously quiet compared to how it was moments ago. “I know what you want, but I’m not going to give it to you that easily, marriage or not. Sex or not. You’ll have to kill me if you want to take that authority from me. But don’t think for a minute that I’ll give in just because you want me to.”

I hated every word that left her mouth. I despised how easily she held eye contact while she refused to obey and bend to my wishes.

I hated how the sight of her standing up to me made my cock stir—how that rush of desire hit me so easily just because she wouldn’t conform to my whims.

Even while fighting and pushing back against me, she still managed to look sexier than ever, and it was a separate battle entirely to resist giving in.

Prepared to say something to try and knock her down, and more importantly to redirect my urges, I closed my mouth when I realized I didn’t have anything left. We were at a stalemate, and in the moment, I couldn’t string together a coherent sentence. I couldn’t get past the jumbled thoughts that were taking up too much space in my head.

With everything weighing on me at once, aware that things weren’t going my way, I knew I had to get out.

“Stay here,” I muttered, body still tight. As much as I wanted to shout at her until I was blue in the face, I knew it was pointless. And I knew I wasn’t going to get anything out of it. “I’ll be back later.”

Before she could even get another word out, I turned and went straight for the door, slamming it behind me.

As heated as I was, I needed to think through my next steps, and I needed to do it before everything slipped completely through my fingers.

Nothing was going right, and for the first time, I didn’t know how to fix it.