“I wonder if the bastard is even armed?” Chase asks out loud.
“Probably not,” he replies. “He’s arrogant and thought he was safe next to Nico and with that many of their men with them.”
“That’s why Nico is the one that brought them here,” Derrick says. His brother’s eyes never move from his wife.
And Ariana. She’s still sitting in the dark and watching. Not falling apart at the scene of a mass execution. With his eyes never leaving his woman, his ears pick up the sound of bodies being dragged away.
“My son. My niece. Chase and Rory. What did you have planned for them?” Stella asks. “They are Kings. Heirs to their fathers’ and brothers’ empire. Do you think you could just snatch that up by fucking Adam and Derrick? By raping them? I give it to you. You both have balls to try something no one’s ever pulled before.”
“Our uncle won’t stand for this!” Cristian yells.
“Your uncle is sitting with my grandfather right this minute. He’s being told what’s happening and what will happen to him if he has even the slightest objection,” Stella informs the two siblings who now have desperation written all over their face. “I promise you he’ll be watching your video too.”
“Our family will come for you!” Isabella hisses.
Stella laughs at that comment.
“What’s left of your family will be kept in line, as well as your uncle. Adam will make sure of that after he marries Ariana. Not only will the Kings be umbrellaed under The Five like the original plan but he’ll be stepping in and taking over the Romanos’ small empire too,” Stella informs them. “I promised you that your house of cards will tumble and burn.”
“Holy fuck!” Rory says. “Remind me not to ever fucking piss off Stella.”
“This?” Chase says. “This goes beyond pissed off.”
“They wanted power. My wife is showing them what that power is,” Derrick speaks.
“Brooks! What’s Stella talking about?” he asks. “How would me marrying Ariana equate to taking over the Romanos’ empire?”
“Gonna have to ask Stella and Ariana that. I don’t yap,” Brooks retorts.
Well, fuck him then.
Ariana stands up in the corner. Her hands are balled into fists along her side. His angel is so angry but she keeps in the shadows where she feels invisible and safe.
I see you. Every fiber of his being is calling out to her. I see you.
“Ariana has no claim to what’s ours. She is no Romano,” Cristian cries to Stella.
“Well, Dom and Matteo have seen her original birth certificate and DNA results. Took them a while to find people who your family didn’t kill off but it’s been confirmed,” Nico speaks from his seat.
Nico gets up and joins Stella at her side now.
“They’ve had the time and their own men make sure every piece of information is authentic from your father’s encrypted files. But you two could have saved them all that time and told them the truth. The only reason Matteo Romano is even spared is that he, at least, is truly ignorant of the fact.”
“So it’s true?” Ariana speaks for the first time.
She slowly steps out of the dark corner to speak to Nico.
“It’s true,” Nico answers her. “Your truth and your birthright are out in the open now. You’re a Romano.”
“Then that makes this a small family matter,” Isabella steps in. “We can handle this amongst ourselves without Don Mazzilli’s assistance.”
“Well, it would have been,” Nico replies again. “Until you fucked with Stellina’s family, for one. The second reason would be because you placed a hit on an associate of Dom’s. He didn’t get to his seat by keeping snakes in his garden.”
“What are you talking about?” Isabella hisses.
“Your little biker gang slip through your memory?” Stella asks.
Both Isabella and Cristian glance at each other in shock.
“You have no proof,” Isabella says quietly.
“Oh. We don’t?” Nico retorts this time.
“Nico, think about it. That was business. Expansion. That crew had mobile mules across the country. Their members aren’t scared of a few nights or two in jail. Let them do the lowly footwork and we whistle to the bank,” Cristian replies.
“And now, your confession just proved you tried to kill my husband,” Stella immediately cuts in. “You tried to kill my husband assuming that Adam would step in as head King. You thought that you’d be able to control everything once Isabella married him.”
“That’s not what Cristian said!” Isabella hollers.
“Oh, it’s not?” Nico retorts with a shake of the head.
“What. The. Holy. Fuck?” Chase asks.
He’s just as stunned as Chase even though they’d all knew it in their gut that either one or both of the siblings tried to have Derrick killed.
Rory’s jaw is on the floor and Derrick might have immediately sobered up. What the fuck, indeed. All of this! All this information bleeding one into the other. The whole fucking puzzle just about makes a picture now.
“You were a Romano,” Stella says Ariana. “You’re a King now. You are home, Ari.”
He may not have been the one to tell Ariana but hearing it said out loud washes him with his own truth.
Ariana, his angel. She’s his. She’s always been his. Meant solely for him. Heart, body, and soul. She’ll take his name until his last heartbeat. No matter the cost.
“There was a time when all I wanted was kindness from your family. You groomed me to believe that I owed my life to you when your father…our…father created this life. I used to pray every day that someday, I would do enough to be able to pay you back for a non-existing debt! None of this was my fault. Pietro Romano was just as much to blame for the affair with my mother.”
“I guess you got what you wanted then, Ari. Maybe we can both part ways in each other’s good graces, sister?” Cristian asks.
“Fucking pussy,” he hisses even though Cristian nor Ariana can hear him.
“Sister?” Ariana spats. “Now I’m your sister?”
“You always were. You know that, Ari.” It’s Isabella who takes a turn at the persuasion this time. “Tough love. Romanos have to be built tough. You saw how much perfection was required of Cristian and I as we were growing up. That’s how our family has gotten to where we now stand.”
“You took away everything I loved!” Ari shouts. “You touched and tainted everything I held dear,” she hisses fiercely. “Adam is mine! You’ll never have him! You’ll never touch anything I love ever again.”
“Uh…woah?” Chase comments.
“She’s amazing, isn’t she? Fierce,” he tells his brothers.
He grins at his angel’s words. It feels fucking good to hear her lay her claim. But she isn’t done. Far from it and he can feel her creating her storm. This is who she’s meant to be. His flower has just bloomed.
“And you!” she yells at Cristian, her finger pointing at him as if it were a sword to pierce and stab. “You drugged me with pills and needles. You gave me to men for them to use over and over again like I was nothing! Because you didn’t have the fucking balls or brains to make your own business deals. You fucking bastard!”