Chapter 34

Arianna

L ying in bed with Nikolai, my head resting on his chest, I feel safer and happier than I've felt in a long time. I know I just need to rip the band-aid off and tell him about Mads. He deserves it. I'm just plucking up the courage to finally tell him when there's a knock at the door.

"What?" Nikolai barks, frustrated at being disturbed.

"Um, boss, there's something you should know… something important," Endo calls from outside of the door, sounding uncharacteristically cautious.

"It had better be fucking important to disturb me in the middle of the night," he grumbles.

Checking first to make sure I'm covered by the blankets, he calls out, "You can come in."

Endo opens the door and hovers in the entrance, his eyes darting between us and quickly realizing what's been going on. "Um, maybe we should speak outside, in private?"

"Anything you say to me you can say in front of Arianna," Nikolai states coolly.

"Well, it kind of concerns her actually," Endo says, running a hand through his hair.

I sit further up, clutching the blankets to my chest. "Is it my father?"

"No… it's erm… well, there's a woman here asking to speak with Arianna."

"What woman?" Nikolai asks suspiciously.

"Here's the thing. She says she's Adelina De Luca, Arianna's sister."

"But that's impossible, she's dead," Nikolai states.

My mind is reeling at what he's just said. My heart fills with hope, could it really be? Could my sister be alive? Did my father lie? Or maybe he doesn't know, and she faked her death and escaped years ago? But if so, why wouldn't she have contacted me sooner if that was the case? The grim alternative and more likely scenario is that the woman is an imposter sent by my father to kill me.

Clearly, Nikolai favors that alternative. "It must be a trick. De Luca might have sent her. Where is she? Was she armed?"

"With Dimitri in the living room. We checked her for weapons when she arrived, she's clean," Endo explains. "She's pretty convincing if she is a fake, shaken, and by the looks of it, she's been knocked about, too."

"I'll be down in a minute. Go keep an eye on her," Nikolai orders.

Endo nods and obeys, retreating and closing the door behind him. Nikolai gets out of bed and starts getting dressed. I do the same.

"I'm coming too."

"No," he grunts, "It's not safe. We need to find out what this person wants. I'm not risking you getting hurt."

"I'm coming. This could be my sister—I know it's unlikely, but my father has kept things hidden and lied to his advantage before. Sure, it's more likely that she's a fake. But what if she's not? You've never seen my sister. Even after all these years, one look and I'll know if it's her. It will be far quicker to determine if she's telling the truth. If it isn't her, I'll leave the room and you can deal with it."

He looks uncertain, as though he's going to argue so I barrel on. "I'll be perfectly safe with you, Endo, and Dimitri there against one unarmed woman."

"Fine. But stay behind me," he concedes.

My heart is hammering in my chest as we head down the corridor, I quickly peek in on Mads, relieved to see that she's safe and sleeping soundly. As we go downstairs, I can hear voices.

"Just calm down, Miss," Dimitri soothes.

"My name is Adelina, why won't you believe me? Where is my sister?" a distressed woman's voice responds.

It's a voice I'd recognize anywhere, a voice I've longed to hear for so many years, that I never thought I'd hear again.

"Adelina!" I cry, filled with joy. I start to run toward the living room, but Nikolai holds me back.

"Arianna?" I hear her call out in response.

"I said, stay behind me," he growls.

"But it's her Nikolai, I recognize her voice!"

"She could have had voice training, we still don't know if it's her. Not until you've seen her face. You need to stay calm and rational, make sure that she isn't a lookalike, but the real deal."

"She is, I know it Nikolai, it's her," I reply, utterly convinced.

Nikolai takes my hand so I can't run away, but says nothing, allowing me to drag him toward the living room.

When we enter, a woman is sitting on a chair with Endo and Dimitri standing guard next to her. Her head is down, obscured by her long dark hair. As we enter the room, she looks up and I see her face.

It's her. My sister Adelina. Back from the dead.

"Adelina, it's really you!" I cry, tears of joy springing forth.

Nikolai lets go of my hand, allowing me to rush to her. Endo and Dimitri wordlessly step aside to let Adelina get up and go toward me.

"Arianna! I never thought I'd see you again!" she sobs, enveloping me in an embrace.

We hug for a long time, not saying a word, just enjoying the feeling of holding each other again. Eventually, we pull apart and I get a proper look at her. She's thinner and older than I remember, her eyes haunted. Her hair is lank and disheveled, in need of a wash, and there's a fading yellow bruise under one eye. Her skinny arms are similarly scarred and bruised. My heart breaks wondering what she must have endured all these past years.

"How is this possible? How are you here?" I ask in awe, cradling her face in my hands and studying her, as though she could disappear into thin air at any moment.

"I escaped, I finally escaped that monster!" she says, her voice a mix of terror and relief.

"Di Stefano? You've been with him the whole time?" I ask, guiding her to the couch and sitting down next to her, holding her hands in mine.

Nikolai, Dimitri, and Endo all sit down too, watching the reunion silently. They're no doubt feeling both awkward to be part of such an intimate moment but reluctant to leave due to curiosity and their naturally suspicious natures.

"Of course, where else would I have been?" she asks, confused.

"I thought you were dead. Father told me you died. Adelina, we buried you more than nine years ago…"

Adelina shakes her head, confused. "Father told you that? He knew I was alive. How could he? Why would he?"

"To keep us apart. To punish me. To control me. To control both of us," I spit.

At this moment, I hate my father with a venom I didn't know was possible. If I saw him now, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

"I always wondered why you never came… sometimes I thought that you were dead. Then I heard you'd married that awful Lucchese and I knew I had to escape, to come rescue you," Adelina says, her voice small and so sad my heart breaks.

"If I'd known, I would have come. I'm so sorry, I should never have believed him. Everything he says is a lie. I didn't marry Lucchese, Nikolai helped me escape and Father made Maria pretend to be me."

"Don't be sorry, you didn't know," she assures me before looking over at Nikolai, "Thank you for rescuing her."

Nikolai nods in acknowledgment but doesn't speak. I feel grateful for this, that he's allowing me to ask the questions I need to ask. That he's letting my sister tell her story in her own time rather than peppering her with questions the way I imagine he's dying to do.

"How did you escape?" I ask her.

She looks forlornly at me, as though she's worried about what I might think of her. "I killed him," she whispers her eyes clouding as she recalls what happened. "He let his guard down and… I killed him. I managed to escape before anyone realized what had happened."

"Di Stefano?"

She nods. "It was so awful, I hated him, I thought it would be easy to kill him after everything he's done to me, but there was so much blood."

She winces at the memory, her face haunted. I can tell she's thinking back over it, her face changing from horrified to angry and back again. She covers her face with her hands, and I see her look at me between her fingers, gauging my reaction. I decide not to push her for further details. I'm sure she will tell me what she went through all these years in time. But if she never wants to, I won't push her. I won't let him hurt her now by making her relive it. I can only imagine how she was treated. Kept as a prisoner by that sadistic monster. The physical scars she bears are just the tip of the emotional ones he must have inflicted.

"It's okay, you're safe now," I soothe as she cries on my shoulder.

There's so much we need to catch up on, but I can tell she's exhausted. It's late and she's been through god knows what to get here.

"Perhaps you'd like a shower and to go to bed? Or would you like something to eat first?" I ask her.

"All of the above, please. There's so much I want to ask you, it's been so long, but this is all so…" she trails off.

"Exhausting? Overwhelming?" I ask and she gives a small wan smile.

"Yes."

Dimitri wordlessly leaves the room, no doubt to fetch Adelina some food.

"You can sleep in my room tonight, and you can stay here for as long as you need to. Can't she?" I direct this last part to Nikolai, and he nods.

Dimitri returns a few moments later with a sandwich and a cup of tea.

"I put extra sugar in there, it's good for shock," he says with a warm smile.

"Thank you," Adelina says gratefully, tucking into the food like she's not eaten in days.

"I'm sorry to ask, I know this is a lot for you to process, but I need to know we're safe here. How did you find us?" Nikolai asks gently.

I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for his tact, it's so unlike Nikolai to question anyone like this.

"Di Stefano knew. He found out somehow that you're in Vermont, I don't know how exactly but he has spies everywhere. It's part of what gave me the confidence to escape. He didn't know the exact house, I figured it would be remote and secure so there weren't too many places to try. That I'd find you eventually."

Nikolai nods, and he and Endo share a wordless exchange. "That means it's likely they will come for us soon. I think we'll be safe tonight if I call in some reinforcements, but we might want to consider moving tomorrow. Though with Di Stefano dead, that could buy us some time and weaken De Luca's position."

"Thank you," I state, grateful that Nikolai isn't making us rush off in the middle of the night so that Adelina can rest. "Come on, I'll show you to my room," I say to Adelina now that she's finished her food.

She obediently follows me upstairs. The men stay where they are, no doubt planning to discuss everything that's transpired and come up with a plan. I leave Adelina in my ensuite to take a shower, handing her some pajamas and a fresh towel. I sit on the bed, listening to the running water and trying to process everything that's happened. I have my sister back. It's a miracle.

There's a gentle knock at the door and Nikolai pokes his head in.

"I've checked on Mads, she's still fast asleep. How are you doing?" he asks, his eyes full of concern.

"Thank you. I'm good, better than good. I can hardly believe it," I state truthfully.

"I'm happy for you," he says genuinely, though there's a sadness in his eyes and I wonder if he's thinking of his dead family that he knows will never return. "Will you sleep in my room tonight?"

"If she wants to be alone, yes," I reply.

He nods. "Okay, I'll be downstairs for a while, shout if you need anything."

"I will," I say, walking over to give him a lingering hug.

He kisses me goodbye and leaves. A moment or two later Adelina emerges, looking better for being clean.

I smile at her and gesture to the bed, "In you get."

She obeys, climbing in and pulling up the blankets. A look of pure peace and pleasure crosses her face and I wonder how long it has been since she slept in a comfortable bed somewhere she felt safe.

She scoots over, patting the space behind her. "Stay with me, please?" she says, her eyes pleading and fearful.

"Of course," I soothe, climbing in beside her and cradling her in my arms.

Before long, she falls asleep and I savor the feeling of closeness, of having my sister back. I feel complete.