Page 24 of Sinner's Vows

“Who are you? How do you fit in with Franco Fiore?” Matteo cuts in, in that tone only Tasha has ever defied. “Why would he want to kill you?”

“Give Ariana a break, Matteo. Once we have the results, there’ll be time for questions.”

“We have a sister at large, and we don’t have time to waste.” He drags his hands through his hair and then cups them to his face, breathing into them as if he is warding off a panic attack.

Our gazes clash over the short stretch of the bed, and cold dread spears through me like a thousand needles as it hits me: Matteo knew. He fucking knew about Gabriella.

I fist my hands, my fucking pinkie scraping the linen as if it would dig a hole in its obstinance to not bend like the others.

Until this moment, I’d thought it was all a lie, becausehow?

I want to grab him by his fucking collar and shove his face into mine and give him a piece of my fucking mind, but I can’t. Not with her here, watching our truth crumble out of him like an earth-quaked tower. The tension is so thick with all the unanswered questions, I can hardly breathe.

Instead, I reach for a DNA test packet with a trembling hand and throw one to Matteo. It’s not a nice throw. He catches it, though, and I pick one up for myself.

“Do the fucking swab,” I say, my tone clear that I’m not taking no for an answer from anybody. “And then, we’re going to have a little chat.”

I don’t care that he’s the new Don ofIl Consiglioand can have me whipped if he wants to for insolence, but Iwilldrag the truth out of him today. And fuck knows, I’m not having this talk with Matteo in front of a stranger, whether she’s related to us or not.

“Surely, one test would do,” he says as he stares me down.

“I got five fucking tests, non-refundable. The others will take them, too, Matteo, so why don’t you start and lead by example.”

Not waiting for his reaction, I tear open the box and take out the various foil-wrapped pieces and instructions. My hands are shaking so much, I lean onto the bed with the instruction leaflet to stop it from quivering. It’s quick and simple, but I need a moment to work through the emotions raging through me.

A soft touch to my hand makes me take a deep breath.

“Let me.”

Ariana’s fingertips brush over mine to take the tip of the paper. When I let go and she picks it up, I notice she’s trembling, too.

This woman is scared, and it’s fucking killing me because she has no reason to be. We might be the brutal fucking Mafia—and yesterday, she’s seen us at our worst—but of all the lines I’ve crossed, this is one line I never have and never will: I will never hurt a woman.

I let go of the instructions and fall back in the chair. As I meet Matteo’s gaze where he stands rigid and unyielding, it strikes me that my brother has kept more than one secret.

But so have I. It started the night Alex died, and the most recent one concerns this woman between us.

Everybody else thinks she saw nothing yesterday. Only I know this woman witnessed everything in that warehouse and could have us all hanged for it. And that secret is only the latest joining the list.

13

ARIANA

I stare blindly at the paper in my hand.

I just want to shrink away, drown into the bed, and disappear. I’m not well, whatever the doctor might say. I hardly slept, and when I did, nightmares flooded my mind, jerking me out of my restless sleep. Nobody knows because I’m quiet. I don’t call out, I don’t stir and kick in my bed, but I wake up with a soft gasp as if I’m finally allowed a breath after being waterboarded.

Worst of all is how the nightmares weren’t about yesterday, or about Franco and the time I spent in that dungeon. They were all about that night twelve years ago when he came for me.

I compartmentalized that night and packed it away so deep in me, the memories are only embers, glowing with the occasional trigger I’ve never allowed to catch flame. But the job I was on before Franco came for me was like a ball of oxygen waiting to explode. I’ve trained to separate my body from my mind, but now, after all these weeks and everything that’s happened, my systems are failing, and I’m broken.

If my team knew my history with Franco, they would never have let me on the job in the first place. There was always therisk of running into him, exactly as I have. But I’m a closed book. I’ve learned long ago to keep my mouth shut. You can tell your team everything…except how personal a job—a vendetta—really is.

Worst of all is yesterday, I was in Dominic’s arms, and he felt so unexpectedly safe. Nobody has ever held me like this, least of all a man. I’ve never allowed one close, not after what Franco did to me.

And now, he’s brought me flowers. Since when does a kind man with caring eyes and gentle hands trigger me to tears?

Thank God his brother burst in like a storm cloud, making me want to run for shelter. Now these two powerful and built men, dressed impeccably in suits, growl at each other over my bed as if they’re fighting over who will have me first.

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