She kneels, a pretty woman with dark hair and eyes, and a gentle voice. “Relax, Aria. Your father can work miracles. He’ll fix it up in no time.”
“Aria, baby, we’re here. We’re home.”
I blink back to the present as Adrian opens my door, and the meaning of that memory comes to me, but here and now isn’t the time to tell Kace. A claustrophobic sensation overtakes me and I need out of this vehicle. I’m about to climb out of my own skin when I step out into the snowfall and hear, “Aria.”
At the sound of Gio’s voice, I look right. And when I see him standing there, looking like Mr. Tall Dark and Good Looking, Mr. Untouchable, Mr. Cool, Mr. I don’t even know who anymore, I lose it. I don’t know what happens. My control that I value so much snaps. I step around Adrian and I launch myself at Gio.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I have clearly lost my mind because I don’t care who is watching as I charge forward. In a few long strides, I’m in front of Gio, shoving him. “You asshole! What the hell are you thinking? Angelena’s missing? Liar. She called me. Your girlfriend’s mother called me.” I slap him and he curses, catching my wrists.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Aria?” he demands. “Angelena called you?”
Cold heavy snow melts in my hair, but I don’t feel the wet cold. I’m seething, literally seething. “You lied to me,” I accuse. “You said she was missing, and then she proceeded to repeat everything you said to me about me, Kace, and the formula. Funny how she didn’t even mention you. You’re not a target and we are.” I jerk against his grip.
“Calm down, Aria,” Gio orders. “You’re losing your shit.”
Kace is instantly behind me, his arm wrapping my waist, molding me tight to his powerful body—almost as if he fears if he doesn’t hold on tight, I’ll be lost. “Easy, baby,” he murmurs, his voice vibrating on my cheek. “Let her go, Gio,” he orders tightly, and I can feel the bristle of power the moment Adrian and Adam step to our sides.
“Yes, let me go, Gio.”
My brother doesn’t look at Adam, Adrian, or me. He’s once again wholly focused on Kace. “You hurt her and I will kill you.”
“You wouldn’t even be around to know,” I snap. “I hate you right now, Gio. I really do.”
As if burned, Gio releases me and takes one step back, just enough to breathe, before he says, “We need to talk, Aria.”
Kace doesn’t release me. He’s still holding onto me, as if his life, and mine, depend on him keeping me close.
“We needed to talk before you ever went down this hellish path and took me and Kace with you.” My voice is lower now, my control finding its legs again. “No one knew Kace was a part of this, including him, until you made this happen. Now, Kace and I are hunted, maybe for the rest of our lives.”
“You really think this asshole didn’t know who you were when you met, Aria? He did. What did Angelena say to you?”
Kace’s hands settle on my shoulders. “Let’s take this upstairs.”
Gio’s stare lifts above my head to glare at Kace. “I bring up your deceit and suddenly you want to take this upstairs? If I go up, your goons stay down.”
Adrian says something in Spanish, and Gio’s gaze shifts to his. “You know Italian?”
“Spanish and Italian have more than a few shared words I’ve learned over the years. Especially the really offensive ones like that one. You called me a goon.” He gives Gio a wink. “Just returning the favor.”
Gio glares at him and then spears Kace with a stare. “Hiding behind your goons,” Gio says again to Kace. “What are you afraid of?”
“That you’ll hurt her more than you already have,” he says, and while I can feel the tension in his hands, in his energy, the words are cool and calm. He doesn’t take the bait Gio intends to set him off, a testament to just how affected Kace was by Alexander in California, how affected he still is by the past. “You come up. Adrian and Adam come, too. That’s non-negotiable.”
“You know what, Gio?” I say, drawing his peeved attention. “I trust them more than you right now. Stay or go. I don’t care anymore. I’m done worrying about you. It’s time I worry about me.”
With that, I rotate, and Kace drapes his arm around me, setting us in motion toward the front door.
And as if this day can’t get more complex, Alexander is standing at the door, watching us, smirking. His lips curve in a devious smile and he enters the building, leaving me with no doubt that somehow, some way, he intends to use what just happened against Kace. Worried, I glance up at Kace. “Ignore him,” he says.
“That never works.”
“This time it will,” he assures me.
“Because you’ve handled him?”
His lips curve almost brutally. “Exactly, baby.”
I want to ask more, but we’re at the door, and Steven steps in front of us. “A problem I can assist with?” he asks.
“Just my brother,” I say. “Sibling love. It’s brutal sometimes.”
His eyes light. “Don’t I know that well. My brother is the only man on earth I’d die for, but I’ve also come close to killing him a few times.”
“Gio Alard,” Kace says. “He’s allowed up. Once. Just once. Today.” He palms Steven what I think is a hundred-dollar bill. “Make sure everyone here knows, please.”
He gives a tiny nod. “Right away, Kace.” His gaze shifts to me. “Anything you need?”
“No, thank you.”
Kace guides me toward the sliding doors, and I fight the urge to look over my shoulder, hating how much I want Gio to follow us. Once we're in the elevator, Gio is nowhere to be found. “He’s not going to come up,” I say, my disappointment just plain cutting.
The elevator shuts and I shiver with the chill of my wet hair. Kace reacts, folding me close, his hand settling on my coat, just over my backside. My hands slide under his jacket, my palms absorbing taut warm muscle and I sink into him, welcoming his strength now. Envious of the place he is in life. He’s lived hell and found his way of coping.
Now it’s my turn.
He searches my face, his eyes probing, and if he were anyone else, I’d say he sees too much. But he’s Kace and with him there is nothing that is ever too much, but there’s also nothing that can be said in the elevator car with a camera. I lean into him, my forehead pressed to his chest, my mind racing. Why wouldn’t my father tell Angelena to give that journal to my mother? Was he having an affair? The idea cuts as much as the disappointment of Gio leaving. I thought my parents were happy. Suddenly everything that felt real might be a lie, and I don’t even know what to do with that.
The ride is eternal and somehow short. Kace and I enter the apartment and he helps me with my coat, shrugging out of his. “I’ll grab you a towel,” he says, walking a few steps to enter a hall bathroom I don’t think I’ve ever even been inside. He returns quickly and acting every bit my gentle hero, he dries my hair.