Merciless Vows by Faith Summers

28

Aria

Ifeel him everywhere.

Lucca...

Inside and outside of me. Like a force of energy.

A magical energy designed to rid the mind of fears and fill it with passion.

His essence whispers over my body the same way I feel the music.

And hear it.

The sweet sensational melody of Clair de Lune plays through my mind, just the way it did when Lucca and I played the piano together. Each note laces through my soul and speaks to me, calling to me to remember.

I roll onto my side and reach for him, longing for his touch again.

I don’t want him to stop touching me because I know when we stop touching, the magic will stop too.

Who is he to me?

I open my eyes when my hand comes away with nothing but the silk sheets, and I find myself staring at the window.

I sit up in the bed, already knowing I’m alone. His presence isn’t here anymore, and that wild energy that possessed us over the last few days is gone.

That means things are back to normal, and reality broke the enchantment.

It’s broken, and so am I. I gave myself to him willingly.

I slept with him several times and dropped my guard completely, allowing him to possess me. That connection between us overpowered me, and then it overshadowed reality. That connection pulled a veil over my eyes and forced me to think of how I felt with my heart and not my mind.

The moment I played the piano, it unlocked something inside me, and it’s still awake. When I played that piece with Lucca, it felt like some sort of truth worked its way into me, and I knew there was something more between us.

But what, and what do we do now?

What will happen now?

We’re still the same people. Nothing has changed, and this vendetta against my father is still hanging over our heads.

I slip off the bed and take a cold shower to clear my head.

When I get dressed and fix my hair, there’s a gentle tap at the door.

Lucca wouldn’t knock on his own bedroom door, so that could only be Marylin.

“Come in,” I call out, and she comes in with a cautious look on her face. “Morning.”

“Good morning. Are you okay?” She’s right to ask me that because she hasn’t seen me in three days and I’m sure she would have known I was with Lucca.

I’m desperate to talk to someone, but I can’t talk to her about him. I can’t talk to Sienna, either. It would be weird.

“I’m okay," I decide to answer. "Where is Lucca?”

“Working. He just called to let me know your father will be here to see you in about fifteen minutes.”

“My father?” My stomach squeezes.

I’m not sure if I’m ready to see him yet. The last time was such a shocker. He hit me. He actually raised his hand to me and struck me down.

What the hell am I supposed to be like with him after that? Also, as far as I’m aware, he hasn’t been in touch. I’ve had my phone, and while I don’t think Lucca would have wanted me to call Dad, Dad could have called me and hasn’t.

I really don’t want to see him, but there are all the questions I have about the business and everything else. Maybe I should speak to him to get some answers.

"You know you don't have to see him if you don't want to," Marylin points out, clearly sensing my trepidation. I’m sure Lucca must have told her what my father did to me if she didn’t see for herself.

“Thanks, I know, but I think I should,” I reply.

“Okay, I’ll get you some coffee and cookies so you can have something to eat before he gets here. We can have something better for brunch later.”

“Thank you. I’d like that. I’ll be down in a second.”

She dips her head for a curt nod, then saunters away.

Lucca’s not here, and now Dad is on the way to see me at the worst possible time.

Both hate each other.

I feel like I’ve been caught in a game of tug of war, but this is my life.

* * *

Five minutes after I finish eating, Marylin announces Dad’s arrival.

I’m grateful for her presence as she accompanies me to the living room. I feel more at ease. However, as soon as we walk in and I see Dad, my heart rate kicks up a notch.

He’s sitting on the large sofa in that contemplative position I hate with his elbows on his knees and fingers at his chin.

He rises when he sees us come in and almost looks like he’s going to hug me. The cold look I give him must deter him from doing so. I also don’t think he wants to be embarrassed in front of Marylin in case I don’t return the affection.

“Can I get you anything to drink, Mr. De Marchi?” Marylin asks courteously.

“No, thank you,” Dad replies.

“Okay, well, do call if you need me.”

She leaves us, and it’s then Dad steps forward and places two heavy hands on my shoulders.

“Are you okay, Aria? Has he hurt you?” he asks.

“No more than you did.” At this moment, not a damn thing is more accurate than that.

“I’m sorry, Aria, I’m so sorry. I panicked, and I just didn’t know what to do. I always know what to do. This time, I didn’t, and you were freaking out.”

“Of course, I was freaking out. Did you expect me to be calm in that situation?”

“I didn’t, but I freaked out too.”

“So, your answer was to hit me and call me a little bitch? You also got one of your guards killed. Do you even care?” I can’t hold back. As far as I’m aware, I’ve never spoken to him like this before.

“Of course, I care. Forgive me; there is so much I need forgiveness for. That is just one thing.”

“I have questions, Dad,” I mutter, backing out of his grasp. “I have questions about everything.”

“I know. That’s understandable.”

“Well, I’m glad you can understand because we’re not continuing this conversation unless you agree to give me some answers.” I give him a stern look so he can see I’m serious as fuck.

“Okay.” He nods. “I’ll give you some answers.”

I’m surprised he agreed and looks compliant. “I want the truth. All of it.” I lower to sit on the sofa, and he sits opposite me.

“Can I ask first about how things have been here with you?” He opens his palms.

“I’m okay.”

“How are you feeling?”

I stare back at him, and I’m not sure how to answer that. His mere presence alone highlights I really lost my mind when I spent close enough to two days with Lucca. My whole body heats at the memory, and I pray he can’t see through to my internal reactions.

It’s time to get back to reality and get to the crux of the problem.

“Dad, I feel betrayed. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time. And why didn’t you tell me I owned the business?”

“Lucca told you about the business?” he asks with a sneer.

“Yes, he did. I wanted to know what he wanted with me and what you did to him to bring this on. Why wouldn’t you tell me something as important as that, especially now that I’m about to turn twenty-five and own Cervantes? What were you going to do once the business passed to me?”

“Sweetie, I’m shocked you would even ask me that. Our sole goal was to get your memories back and you back to health. Please don’t forget you were in a coma for six months, and it was practically that same amount of time for physio. That was my concern. I hate saying this, but you’re not fit to run a company like Cervantes. Of course, I planned to talk to you about it when the time came, but it was the last thing on my mind.”

“I still would have liked to know, and it’s clearly a big deal if I’m in this situation because of it. I wish we’d talked about it and all the other things I’m finding out that I should have heard from you.”

His shoulders slump. “Aria, there’s a lot in our lives that I can’t talk to you about.”

“Like the Bratva, Dad?” I throw back, and his face hardens.

I’m only asking because he’ll assume Lucca told me, not Sienna. There’s no way he’ll tackle Lucca about my knowledge of the Bratva, but he would rip into Sienna if he knew it was her who enlightened me. Even though Dad mouthed off that day Lucca took me, calling him scum, I saw his fear.

“Yes… like that,” he answers, and my skin crawls.

Everything Sienna told me was true. I had no reason to doubt her but finding out for myself has a different effect.

“What does Lucca have against you, Dad?”

“He’s a jealous man, Aria. A very jealous man who wanted control of me because I was getting too much power in the Bratva. I was being given too much for a non-Russian. He didn’t like that. He and his foster father, Damien.”

My encounter with Damien felt more vindictive than just jealousy.

“Is that it? They’re doing this because you’re so powerful?”

“This is something you don’t understand, and yes. They are. It’s reason enough, and my foolish mistakes nearly cost us our lives.”

“Are you certain it’s not still going to cost your life and mine?”

“I’m too important to their leader for them to do worse to me.”

“How did they manage to get me and the business from you?”

“I slipped up. I am still doing my best to fix this, but it’s difficult. All I can do is what I’m doing. I came to see you because I’m worried sick.”

I believe him when he says that. There’s a shift in his expression that shows he’s genuine.

“Have you remembered anything else?” he asks.

Now is the chance to ask him about my dream, but what do I say?

I hardly want to talk about it. When I spoke to Sienna, I didn’t feel like this, so shaken and vile, like my whole soul has been violated.

My lip’s part, and I gear up to ask him about it, but the words don’t come. They stall in my mind.

“Aria?” he prods.

“Just things to do with Lucca,” I decide to say.

He tenses again. “Aria, were you … possibly intimate with him? Is that why you remember him?”

I stare back at him and wonder what to say. Who talks to their father about things like this? And what do I do, lie?

“I wasn’t intimate in the way you think. Not until I came here.”

He clenches his jaw and glares back at me. “Aria, please don’t make this worse for yourself. This is all a vendetta against me, so everything is designed to hurt. Lucca doesn’t care about you. If he did, he would never have dragged you into this mess. His actions are that of a cold, heartless man. Merciless. That is what they call him. I’m sure by now you must know what kind of monster he is. A man who kills people for a living has no heart. Do not be confused.”

A feverish chill tingles down my spine. But it turns into an icy curl that works its way over my skin, prickling it with goosebumps when I feel eyes on me.

Eyes that were giving me the same potent stare as the night I was kidnapped. So, when I look away from Dad and my eyes lock with Lucca’s, I’m not surprised. He’s standing by the door, and he was listening.

He looks like he heard everything Dad said. His face is hard like stone—his eyes molten steel, everything about him looks like he’s ready to kill.

Tendrils of terror ball in my stomach like a fist that’s getting ready to bury itself in my ribcage.

I see the killer in him. I can see it as clear as a bright summer’s day.

There are no traces of the man I gave myself to anywhere inside the person I’m looking at.

I almost don’t recognize him.

Dad sees Lucca too and returns the hard stare.

“I think you’ve overstayed your time, Raphael,” Lucca states. “Now that you’ve enlightened my wife-to-be on how merciless I am, you may take your leave now.”

“As if what I’m saying isn’t true,” Dad snaps back.

“Don’t push me, Raphael. Do not let me kill you in front of your daughter and prove you right.”

Oh God, he’s serious. He’s being serious.

He’d kill my father, and Dad knows it. Dad and I may have our disagreements, but I don’t want anything to happen to him.

I don’t want him to die.

“You disgust me,” Dad spits. “Fucking scum. How dare you touch her?”

Lucca’s lips twist into a cynical grin, and his eyes smolder with revulsion. “What are you going to do, Raphael? Stone me like you did before for looking at your daughter?”

My jaw slackens, and my eyes dart to Dad. “What is he talking about?”

“I wish I could,” Dad barks back, ignoring my question.

“I wish you would,” Lucca throws back. “You need to remember your place, Raphael De Marchi, and show some respect to one of your leaders. Now get the fuck out of my house and don’t come back.”

Dad grits his teeth, stands, and plants a kiss on my forehead. Then he marches out of the room, glaring at Lucca as he walks by.

Lucca’s gaze shifts to me, and that vengeful look he gave Dad is still there, brewing within the depths of his eyes. Those same eyes that looked at me with so much adoration only hours ago.

When he turns away from me, I get up and rush up to him.

“Lucca, what were you talking about? He stoned you? My father stoned you for looking at me?” I gulp. I’ve only ever heard of people being stoned in those old biblical films or in countries where they still do that. And Dad did that because Lucca was looking at me? Dad didn’t deny it. He never said a word against it. So, it must be true. “Lucca, please, talk to me. When did that happen?”

He faces me with a stern expression. That soulless look returns to his eyes. And the only emotion I can identify is hatred.

“It’s best we don’t talk about it, Aria.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to talk about your father. You might want to allow him to fill your head with shit and paint himself in the colors he wants you to see, but I don’t need to talk about him.”

“Lucca, he was just seeing how I was. He was concerned. This is the first time since the accident that we’ve been apart for so long. He’s used to taking care of me. He was just worried,” I add for good measure, although I don’t know why.

“Printsessa, you really don’t know who or what your father is.”

“Then tell me.”

“He’s a murdering bastard who only looks out for himself.”

I suck in a sharp breath, and my lips tremble. “Murder? No, he wouldn’t do that, Lucca. He’s made mistakes, but he wouldn’t kill anyone. He’s not some…” My words trail off. Whatever I say next is going to express what I think about those who kill.

People like him.

He slows coming close and the memory of how we were over the last few days comes to me so strongly.

“Not like me,” he adds.

“I wasn’t going to say that.”

“You don’t have to, and I don’t give a fuck.” He shakes his head, and the crude expression etched into his handsome face tells me he doesn’t care what I think. “I’ll never lie to you because I know who I am. I know why I do what I do. Hell already has a spot reserved for me. Your father, on the other hand, is the worst kind of liar. He’s the kind who hides behind a mask. You’re seriously deluded if you think your father isn’t a bad person. Tell that to those who no longer live because of him, or even better, Printsessa, take a look around you. It’s because he’s a fucking bad person why you’re here.”

With that, he turns and leaves.

Feeling numb with my head spinning, I watch him go, and I know whatever we shared is over.

Lucca accused Dad of murder—murdering people.

Is it true?

Did Dad really do that? Is he really capable of murder?

A cold shiver works its way through my soul and paralyzes my heart with icy fear as something dawns on me.

This situation.

That’s what this is about.

If what Lucca is saying is true, then I think the instigator for me being here is that Dad killed someone..

I start to wonder why Lucca wouldn’t just kill Dad in retaliation, but isn’t it better to make a person who’s wronged you suffer first?

Destroy them and destroy their family too.

Destroy me.