Page 83 of Keeping My Girl

I want to sink into his arms and stay there forever, but I can do that later. Even though it kills me to say the words, I know I have to tell him. Hopefully it’s not too late. “They took Aria. She’s gone! They took her to that island!” I gasp, trying to hold myself together but failing miserably.

His face drops at my words, but he simply holds me tighter. “We’ll find her,” he assures me. “We’ll make him talk.” Nico’s carries me towards the exit, his gaze hardening into a murderous glare as his eyes rest upon Constantine.

There’s a strong sense of urgency inside of me when I cry out, “Wait!” I want to watch my captor, my tormentor get his justice. No, it’s so much more than want. I need to see this.

Nico reluctantly stops in his tracks and turns me to face the bastard that stole my childhood away from me.

Constantine is down on his knees, his arms behind his back as they secure handcuffs around his wrists. He looks up at me, and I smile at him as widely and brightly as I can. I want him to know how happy this is making me. I want him to know he can’t hurt me anymore. I want him to know that, by making me suffer, he sealed his fate behind bars. Nothing will get him out now. No technicality in the world can help him. The SWAT team obviously observed the abuse towards me, and my testimony alone will lock him away. And as long as I’m alive, I will testify against him every single fucking time he tries to get parole or overturn his case. I will let the world know what a terrible man he is. I will show the world my scars to prove it if I have to. I will do anything just to keep him from hurting one more person.

And it's not until I watch them loading Constantine into the back of a black van that I feel like I can finally breathe again. Nico takes me to a waiting SUV, and we climb into the backseat where I allow myself to touch, to feel Nico. My needy hands grip his t-shirt, bringing him impossibly closer to me. I can never get close enough to him. I want to bury myself inside of him and never leave.

Nico holds me the whole way home.

Home.

I never really had one before. My mother jumped from trailer park to trailer park, couch surfed or stayed in motels until she could get her fix, dragging me along for every second of her drug-filled antics.

When the car stops outside the Vitale compound, I lift my head and peer into Nico’s eyes. “You’re my home,” I tell him.

Wherever he is, I will be too. And I will be happy.

* * *

Nicholas

Selina is recovering nicely in her room, sleeping peacefully thanks to a sedative. It was almost impossible to calm her down after we got home. She wanted to go find my sister. And while I feel the same way, we must let the authorities handle it. We got them involved, and now we have to, unfortunately, play by their rules.

If we had known beforehand that Aria was missing, we would’ve approached the situation entirely differently. And I would have taken pleasure in torturing Constantine until he talked. Then I would have killed him with my bare fucking hands, strangling the life out of him until I saw his evil soul leave his lifeless body.

My muscles ripple with anger, and I land my fist on the punching bag before me. I’ve been working out for hours, trying to calm myself down to no avail. I’m too angry, too sad, too…everything. The emotions I’m feeling are overwhelming me, and I feel like I’m drowning in them.

Lying there in wait until they gave us the go ahead to burst through the door to get to Selina was torture in and of itself. They almost put me in handcuffs because I refused to back down. I went in with the SWAT team, unprotected, at my own risk, not giving a single fuck. And I’d do it all over again.

Seeing Selina hanging there…fuck, it’s going to be an awful and unwanted memory ingrained in my mind forever. Every time I close my eyes, I see her. Helpless. Her tear-streaked face crumbling with disbelief and then relief the moment her eyes landed on me.

I punch the bag again, my muscles straining and vibrating against the force of the blow. If only it were Constantine’s face I was hitting and not this stupid bag.

Renato enters the room, and he looks like he’s barely holding it together. When his eyes lock onto mine, there’s a silent understanding that passes between us. He lost the girl he loves. I know the hell he’s going through right now, and I feel for him immensely.

Hopefully they find Aria before it’s too late. Selina mentioned Constantine wanting to sell her, auctioning off her virginity at the island that we never were able to find and probably never will.

Just thinking about it has my blood boiling.

What should have been a simple, fun night out for Aria and Lina turned into something horrific and cruel. Aria is gone. And Selina…well, she barely survived. Who knows what that bastard would have done to her had we not come to save her.

Renato runs his hands through his hair as I land a few more punches on the bag. “I was just down in the control room. They still haven’t found her,” he says, updating me on my sister, as his fingers tug at his hair in frustration. “She could be halfway around the world by now.”

“Don’t say that.” I take a step back and close my eyes. The old feelings and emotions I had when Selina went missing all come rushing back full force. When someone in your life goes missing, your mind goes on a journey of all the possible situations and outcomes; none of them good. You imagine the worst-case scenarios over and over again until you’re almost crazy with grief. “They’re going to find Aria,” I assure him. “We have the entire police force and the FBI looking for her right now.”

He shakes his head sadly. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose her, man.” Then he adds, “I love her.”

I give him a nod. His words don’t come as a shock to me at all even though he’s never voiced his feelings before now. “I know you do.” I don’t know if Aria reciprocated those feelings or not, but I know Renato has been in love with her since the day he met her. They spent a lot of time together, but I think it was more out of convenience for Aria since my mom and dad pretty much kept her under lock and key over the years. Although now I can see why they were so strict with her and why they were always trying to rein me in as well.

There are a lot of bad people in this world, and all they need is one opportunity, one single moment to prove how awful they truly are.

“We’ll find her,” I grind out as my fist lands on the bag multiple times. “And I’m going to make sure that bastard Constantine pays for what he did.”

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