18. Aria

Chapter 18

Aria

Once Franco finds Vito's cousin, he will find out everything, and I will have to face the music—or firing squad. I still have one lie that I've not told my husband, and when he finds out, I'm not sure he will forgive it.

Luca is here, watching over me, but I need him to go. So I can get away from here before the Morelli brothers find out the truth. It's better for all of us if I leave. Look at the chaos I have brought with me by not honoring my contract with Vito. I'm not sure if even love or a baby is enough for Franco to forgive the truth bomb that is about to explode.

"Luca." I have to get rid of him. The others I can boss around, but he's loyal to only Franco. "I'm worried about Franco. I think you should go. There are enough men here. He has no idea what he might come up against." I plant a seed of doubt, tugging at that bond he has with Franco.

"He told me to stay with you, Aria." I hate that he listens and follows the rules right now.

"I'm telling you, he needs you more than I do. He will thank you for it." My gut says he might need the backup .

"Aria," Luca glares at me, "I am not going to leave, so you can run away from whatever has you chewing your fingernails."

He's an observant shit, and I know he's not going to go now. I will have to face Franco or Vito, whoever comes back for me first.

"Want to get it off your chest?" It's like he can read my mind.

"Not really," I say, and he shakes his head.

"He loves you," Luca says. "So out of respect, I have pretended to like you, but Aria, you have broken up a family and hurt him more than any bullet could. So whatever is going on, when the time comes—please just walk away. Leave him alone so he can put his world back together again."

"We're having a child together, Luca," I say. "Walking away is no longer an option. None of this was intentional. I never wanted to fall in love with Franco. But hearts are dumb, and you can't change them. They don't work like minds."

"How bad is it?" he asks me.

"Worse than anything else I have lied about," I admit. "I don't think there is a hope in hell that he will forgive this one." I'm afraid. For the first time since I laid eyes on Franco, there's fear in my heart. Fear that I will lose him.

"He's not the forgiving type, not until you came along." I can't imagine Franco showing mercy to anyone else, and that terrifies me. Love isn't always enough.

"Even if he forgives me, Marco will not." I know that this time, it's me against both of them. Luca is quiet, and he looks out the windows at the front of the house. "Vito is angry at me," I say when he's not looking at me. "He's trying to finish the job he hired me to do." Luca spins around and looks at me. I still have Franco's gun, and I will use it if he tries anything. "It was simple: kill the Morelli brothers, and I will walk away from all of this. Freedom. The thing I wanted most." Luca's shock and fear are written all over his face. "The thing is, freedom comes at a price. I fell in love with Franco, and freedom was suddenly too expensive. I couldn't honor my contract."

"You should run," he says. "I won't stop you, but one of those three men you betrayed is going to get here eventually, and if it's not Franco, you will be killed." He's right. I have played the future out in my mind since we got home, and at no point has it ended well for me. My stupid dumb fucking heart won't let me run. I can't let go of the hope that he and I might survive this.

"I'm prepared for that," I say to Luca. "I can't just leave him. That would be worse than facing him." If I go, it will break his heart, and Franco will not recover from that. Luca walks over to the wet bar and pours himself a drink.

"I'd offer you one. You probably need it more than me," he says. "But it's bad for the baby."

"Thank you." I smile.

"At least you're not a coward. Anyone else would have run," he says.

I sit down on the sofa, tired after the adrenaline of the racetrack and the baby that seems to be sucking the life out of me.

"What are you going to do?" he asks curiously .

"Fuck knows." I have no idea what happens now. None of it really matters if Franco can't see past what I have done.

"You might need a plan because that's Franco's car pulling in now." Luca puts his glass down and leaves me alone in the living room. I can feel his mood just watching how he walks toward the house. I wish I could have had that drink. I certainly could use the courage.

The door slams and rattles the chandelier above me, and when Franco comes barreling around the corner, his eyes are laser-focused on me. There is no love in them. Right now, he hates me. "Tell me they are all liars." He yells at me, and I flinch. "Tell me, Aria, tell me that you were not going to kill me." I can't seem to find the words to respond to him. I have no lies left in me.

"Franco, I'm sorry," I whisper and watch as he loses it. He picks up Luca's empty glass and hurls it across the room. "I couldn't do it, I love you."

"Love?" He laughs mockingly. "Aria, you have no idea what love is." His anger radiates off him, heating the whole room. I don't know how to fix this or what to say to him. Nothing can change how this all started, but I changed. What I wanted changed—now I'd do anything to stay here with him. "You need to start talking," he seethes.

"I wanted out."

He laughs at me like I am foolish.

"Freedom, that's what he promised me if I killed you both." I wait, but he just looks at me. "It was before I knew you, and once I did—it was over. Vito thinks I betrayed him, and he's not wrong." I wish he would say something, anything .

The way he is looking at me physically hurts. "I chose you," I say. "Luca gave me a chance to run, and I stayed here to face you. Because I love you, Franco. All I ever wanted was freedom from the Mafia, but freedom is expensive, and I am not willing to pay that price. I want to stay and be a family with you, so yes, Vito was expecting me to kill you and Marco. But I didn't do it. I have had every opportunity, especially Marco, because he's an idiot. But I didn't do it."

I couldn't kill him. Surely, he knows that.

"Say something, Franco."

"What do you want me to say?" He's so mad. "Thank you for not killing me? Fuck Aria, you could have told me. At any time in all of this. When he took Giulia, you should have said something!"

I know he's right, but I was afraid. Afraid of this.

"I love you and our baby," I plead now. "Nothing else matters to me. If I have to be a part of the Mafia all my life, it's worth it because you're in it with me. There was reason to stay when I made that deal with Vito." Franco stands a few feet away from me, yet it feels like there's an ocean of hate between us.

"I have to tell Marco before someone else does," is all he says.

"No." I stop him, reaching for his hand, but he pulls it away. "He will exile me. He can't kill me because of the baby, but he won't let me stay, Franco. I want to stay with you."

"I haven't decided what I want to do with you, Aria. I am too angry to think. "

I deserve that, but it still hurts like hell.

"I need to go and speak with my brother. I won't let him send you away, that is my baby."

He has good intentions, but I know how this works.

"Please, Franco." He is seeing red, and if I could just get him to calm down, he would know that he can't save me from my own mistakes.

"Aria," his voice softens, "I love you and my child. I will talk to Marco." He's gone in the same cloud of anger he arrived in. I know what I have to do—I need to fix this.

"Luca," I call, "are you still here?" He comes into the room from the kitchen.

"That was less volatile than expected."

I don't have time for this shit. "I need you to help me take care of something."

"Someone, you mean."

"Luca, you can help me, or you can explain to Franco how I died later on when he gets back."

"I'll help," he says, not fully understanding what I am about to do or how horribly wrong it could go.