Merciless Union by Faith Summers

31

Lucca

Aria rushes into my office, her skin pale and her breathing ragged like she’s just run a marathon.

She looks so freaked out I end the call I was on the second I see her. I was only talking to Marcus anyway and getting an update on the sales for the week.

“What happened?” I ask, getting up. I move over to her and touch her elbow. “I thought you were supposed to be seeing Dr. Belmont.”

“I was. I was right in the middle of the appointment when I remembered...” She places a hand at her heart and stares at me with wide, terrified eyes. “I remembered who shot my mother.”

Jesus. “Who was it?”

She bites down hard and presses her lips together. Her eyes cloud, and she looks wary.

“It was Damien.”

My hand drops to my side, and I rivet my eyes to hers. “What?”

“It was him, Lucca. I saw his face. He was there with my father at the summer home. He was the one who shot my mother. It doesn’t make sense that they’d be working together.”

I clench my jaw.

After the shitty night I had when Jon cautioned me about Damien, this is the last thing I wanted to hear.

Jon threw me off balance, but this…

Jon’s words ring through my mind once more: watch out for Damien; he worked for Pasha too.

And Jon said he did worse.

This would be worse. It would make him a liar.

Fuck. It can’t be true. If it’s true, then it means other things that can’t possibly be true either.

Damien.

Why would he kill Aria’s mother and not tell me?

When he heard about the fire, he was as surprised as I was.

“Aria, that makes no sense. He would have told me,” I argue.

“Why? You don’t think he would have gone out on his own and killed her. He wanted the business after all, so that was reason enough, but her death wasn’t just about the business. She knew the big secret, which means Damien must know what it is too.”

I shake my head. “No, I trust him.”

“You should trust me.” She points at herself. “I’m your wife.”

“How can I trust you when you don’t fucking trust me?” This is a different argument we shouldn’t be having now. That’s about us. This is a separate matter that can’t be fixed overnight.

“You know why I can’t trust you. Don’t you dare say that to me. Not even days ago, you told me you were going to kill me, and I’ve been trying to come back from that. If I mean anything to you, please believe me now,” she pleads, but it’s not just about believing her.

Damien is like a father to me. We share a history I never even shared with my own father.

“Aria, you don’t like Damien, and it’s within reason. You’re not fond of him having the business, so maybe this is your mind’s way of processing that.”

“Does that even make sense to you? It’s a memory, not a dream, Lucca, and why would I do that? I hate that man, but I wouldn’t just conjure something to process my hatred for him. Everything I’ve told you so far is true; why would this be any different?”

Fuck, I can’t deal with this now. I have to see Damien. I have to speak to him and find out what the fuck is going on. I want to know what Jon meant, and I need to talk about this too.

“Answer me, Lucca,” she demands.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

Her face hardens. “If you give him that business, then I mean nothing to you. If you give it to him, I’m gone. I want a divorce.”

Just hearing that fucking word makes my temper push through the roof.

She moves to walk away, and I grab her arm, yanking her back.

She flinches when I get up in her face.

“You need to remember who the fuck I am,” I sneer. “I’m not some guy you can just threaten. I told you once before if you try to leave, I’ll find you. I haven’t changed my fucking mind about that.”

“Then I’ll die trying to run from you.” A tear tracks down her cheek. “Death is better than living in a loveless marriage.”

I shake my head. “That’s where you’re mistaken, Printsessa. We don’t have a fucking loveless marriage, and that’s the problem. So death can’t be better.”

I release her, and she rushes away, slamming the door.

Fuck. What the hell is this?

Every time I get close to her, something happens to throw a fucking wedge between us.

This, though, would be the mother of all wedges. What if it’s true?

Why would she remember that if it weren’t true?

Jesus.

My phone rings in my back pocket. I only answer it because I see it’s Aiden.

“Hey, Aiden,” I rasp out, trying to mask my frustration.

“Hi. We got a location for Gina. She’s in Montana, and she’s agreed to see us in the morning. We have to leave now.”

“Alright, thanks. See you in a little while.”

As we hang up, I can’t even be happy for the fucking news.

I was going to see Damien now then go back to Mendes’ place to try and find what I needed to see. Both are going to have to wait until I get back.

It’s time to find out what this secret is that ripped everybody’s lives apart and turned friends and family into enemies who would steal your soul and sell you to the devil.

* * *

I find Aria again when I march down to our room.

Our room.

That’s the first time I’ve thought of it as such.

She’s sitting by the window, doing her best to pretend I don’t exist.

She cuts me a sideways glance and purposely stares out the window when I

walk over to her. She pulls her hand away when I reach for it.

We both need to cool off, but there’s no time for that. Leaving in the middle of an argument like this is the worse.

“Don’t touch me. Just leave me alone.” She shakes her head.

Her lips press together in a thin line of displeasure reminding me of the deepest red roses again.

Her porcelain doll-like skin shimmers in the bright morning light, and while she hates me right now, I love her hard.

“I’m going to be away for a few days. We found Gina.” I thought that might make her look at me, but it doesn’t. “You’re going to Aiden’s place to stay with Olivia. You’ll be safe there. We need to leave now. We can talk about Damien when I get back.”

She looks at me now with indignation and pure hatred, then stands and walks into the bathroom without a word.

I always get what I want, but I never think of how it might come to me.

I never factored in that maybe this is just a lost cause. Maybe we weren’t meant to be. So much happened to keep us apart. So much I’m responsible for and can’t fix.

I’ve always wanted her heart. That’s not something I can steal. She has to give it to me.

When she comes back out, she starts packing her things to leave, and I imagine her doing the same to leave me for good.