Eleven

 

 

Giovanni

This girl is getting to me. She’s making me joke around and laugh and fuck! When she got excited about Italy I wanted to call up my pilot and fly her to Italy today. Then when she mentioned a boyfriend, my chest tightened and I wanted to lock her back up in the room and never let her out. I need to get myself together. What started as a way to fuck over Weston for nonpayment has turned into something more. I laugh to myself at the idea of seriously holding Aria captive because let’s face it, the entire situation has turned into a damn joke. This woman has been out of bed less than a day and it’s embarrassing, the way she’s running circles around me. I’m vomiting out information about my business, assuring her I don’t have a girlfriend, and giving her tours of the place. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing to me but more shockingly, I don’t think I mind.

I handed her the phone so she could call her boyfriend and friend but there was no way I was leaving. I played it off like I needed to make sure she didn’t mention anything that would incriminate me but with Weston already knowing I took her, I’m not really concerned. If he was going to turn me in, he would have already done so. And even if he did, the police aren’t going to do shit about it. The truth is, I wanted to remain in the room to find out where she stands with her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend’s number wasn’t in service but her friend answered her phone. Aria’s first question was if anybody reported her missing. I can’t hear what her friend is saying, but Aria’s facial expression is one of confusion.

“What do you mean?” Aria’s nose scrunches up, making me want to kiss the confusion away. Jesus! I need to get this girl out of my head. I can’t be thinking this way about her. While the age difference might not be a problem for her, after everything she’s been through, she deserves more than a guy who isn’t capable of anything more than a fuck. Nothing can happen between us. I need to separate myself from her. She’s here so I can keep her safe and find out what Hightower is up to and I need to remember that.

“He told you I left by choice? Why the hell would he say that? I never told him I was going anywhere… Are you still at UNLV? Ok, hold on.” Aria presses the mute button and turns to me. “Would it be possible for me to visit Amber? Like at a coffee shop near the University? I don’t want to invite her here because…. well…” I raise my eyebrows at her and she huffs out, “I’m not going to run. You will have someone with me. Please,” her big green-blue eyes plead, and I give in.

“Fine, I can have Johnny drive you and stay with you.”

“Ok, thanks!” Aria gives me a huge smile and my heart tightens. A thought pops into my head and it scares the fuck out of me. I don’t want to see this woman sad. Her smile does something to me that I can’t afford for it to do. I need to figure out what Weston is hiding so I can fuck him over and destroy him for fucking me over. Then once I do that, I can let Aria go, and we can both move forward with our lives.

“Is Saturday ok?” she asks.

“It should be fine, and it gives you a few more days to continue to heal.”

“Saturday is good, Amber… I will see you then. Bye!”

She hangs up the phone, frowning. “Amber said when I disappeared, she told Antonio they should report me missing but he said I wasn’t missing, that I told him I needed to take off to clear my head. She said my entire dorm was cleaned out and a few weeks later, Antonio disappeared. We are going to talk more on Saturday. It just doesn’t make sense. I need to find Antonio.”

“Do you know his last name?”

“Torino.” Why does that name sound familiar?

“I’ll have Johnny see if he can find anything out. We will get this all figured out.” I give her a small smile mentally vowing to myself to make sure this woman is safe if it’s the last thing I do.

“Thank you… for getting me out of that hellhole and for making sure I got treated. I hate that you are keeping me here but it’s a thousand times better than what Weston was putting me through. I guess in a way I owe you.” She shrugs.

“You don’t owe me anything, Aria. This is business,” I say, hoping to convince her and me of that fact. “Now what do you say you lay down for a nap and afterward I can show you the theater so you can watch a movie down there.”

She beams excitedly. “I say… hell yes!”

After she gets comfortable in bed, I turn off the bedroom light and close the door so she can get some rest. Rome is standing outside my door. “Are we really holding her captive, Giovanni?”

“It’s business,” I say, just like I said to Aria. But as I say the words I know there is no convincing anyone of this lie. I’m holding her here to ensure her safety, not to hurt her. As much as I should use her to fuck Weston over, I know I won’t do that to her. The problem is, I can’t admit any of this out loud. The woman is already running all over me. If I tell her she’s not being held here against her will… Fuck! She will trample right over me.

As I leave Rome to keep watch over Aria, I look for Johnny but don’t see him, so I give him a call. “Johnny, where are you?”

“Helping Cici move some furniture downstairs. What’s up?”

“Why is she moving shit around? Never mind, I’ll be right down.” I get downstairs and sure enough, Cecilia is having Johnny and Caesar move the couches around in the sitting room. “What are you doing?”

“Oh! Giovanni.” Cecilia walks around the couches and leans in to kiss me. She knows better than to do this shit down here. “Stop.” She gives me a small pout then looks around.

“Where’s your guest?” She spits out the word guest.

“She’s taking a nap. We aren’t going to have a problem are we, Cecilia? Aria is going to be staying here indefinitely. You telling her you’re my girlfriend is unacceptable.” I say it loud enough for the guys to hear knowing it will embarrass her. She needs to be put in her place.

Cecilia’s eyes widen and her cheeks turn pink but she ignores my statement. “Will she be working here?”

The thought of Aria working here makes my blood boil. The idea of her fucking some stranger has my fists clenching and has me seeing red, wanting to kill the fucker. Fuck! What the hell is wrong with me when it comes to this woman?

“No.” I look around the room now agitated. “Put all the damn furniture back the way I had it! Don’t move shit around,” I bark out before walking away. “Johnny, my office now!” I get to my office and sit down at my desk trying to calm the fuck down. Aria working here… no fucking way. Not happening.

“You ok, Boss?”

“Yeah, close the door and have a seat.” He does so then sits down and waits for me to speak.

“Where do we know the last name Torino?”

Johnny thinks for a moment. “The name sounds familiar but it’s not coming to me. Do we have an issue?”

“I need you to look up an Antonio Torino. He was Aria’s boyfriend before she was taken. According to her friend, when Aria went missing, this Antonio kid told everyone she left on her own then he disappeared shortly after. Her friend said her stuff from- her dorm was completely cleared out. Now that part could have been Weston, but why would her boyfriend say she left on her own?”

“Doesn’t make sense. How long were they together?”

“I’m not sure but when she tried to call him, his number was disconnected.”

“All right. I’ll find the kid. What do you want me to do once I find him?”

“Let me know. I want to personally handle this.” I can’t wait to see what this little punk says for himself.

“Got it. Anything else?” I remember Aria’s request to meet up with her friend.

“Yeah, Aria needs to go to the city on Saturday. I’m going to have you take her with Caesar. We need to make sure she doesn’t run and Weston doesn’t get to her.”

“Saturday is your meeting at the casino with Damian Briar.”

“Shit. There’s no point in taking two cars into the city. Let’s take the SUV and I’ll have you drop me off then take her to meet her friend. I’ll take Rome with me. I want you to stay outside the coffee shop and have Caesar inside. We don’t have any idea where Hightower is. I don’t want to take any chances, and while Aria seems to be playing nice, she can easily try to run.”

“We’ll handle it. One more thing…” I look down at my watch. It’s only been a half hour since Aria laid down but I’m already antsy to get back to her. “You said you wanted to handle that stripper’s loan yourself. She’s behind, again.”

“All right, thanks. I’ll pay her a visit soon. Is she still working at Don’s place?”

“Yep.”

After Johnny leaves, I attempt to get some work done. I check on various accounts to confirm payments are being made with the correct interest. I’ve never been in a situation where I have needed a loan, so I can’t empathize with the people who come to me needing money, but I can’t imagine being so desperate that I’m willing to sell my soul to the devil for money. Then again, the life I live, the family I’m a part of, I probably never had a soul to begin with.

While checking the books, I take note of the loans that aren’t up to date, so I can have Franky and Carlos, my loan enforcers, handle them this week. I don’t take lightly to people agreeing to pay a certain amount then not paying. It’s just not good business. While writing down the names, I notice one of the names is Mayor Watkins. He is a huge gambler at the casino, so I note to let Nico know on Saturday while I’m there.

There’s a knock on my door. “Come in,” I shout out, too lazy to get up and answer the door. The door opens slowly and Aria’s face peeks in.

“Am I bothering you?” she asks nervously.

“No, but did you manage to already get by Rome?”

She cocks her head to the side. “No but he argued for damn near ten minutes before I finally convinced him to just walk with me over here. You can’t make me stay in a room all day.”

“I will let Rome and the other guys know that as long as you don’t try to run, you can go where you would like on the property as long as someone is with you. The fact is, even if you tried to run, we are on hundreds of acres. Unless you have a car, you aren’t getting far anyway.”

“Got it. Find a way to steal a car.” Aria smirks and I shake my head.

“How was your nap?” She has a seat in the chair across from me.

“It was good. I feel like I’m finally almost myself again. I’m still sore but I’m not in pain. And I haven’t had a panic attack all day.”

“Good. Dr. Fox wants you to see someone to talk to. I’ve found a few people…” Aria shakes her head vehemently.

“No, the pills are working. You can get them for me, right?”

“I can but you’ve been through a lot. You should talk to someone about it.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. My mom died, my stepfather went crazy and held me captive while abusing me. Now I’m being held here by you until you find another way to destroy Weston.”

“Well, when you put it like that, it’s not traumatizing at all,” I say sarcastically. When the hell did I become a smart ass?

“I wasn’t a virgin when he took me. I’d had plenty of sex.” Images of Aria naked and sweaty pop into my head and I quickly change the subject.

“You are a victim.”

“Fuck that!” she shouts. “I’m not going to be anybody’s victim. He is a crazy asshole. Yes, he raped me but I’m not going to let him take more from me. I’m broke and have no idea where I stand with school. I need to move forward. I need to get a job and get school figured out. Maybe I can even take online classes while I’m here if you aren’t going to let me leave. I need to do something.”

I love how strong this woman is. She has every right in the world to place blame and cry and make excuses but instead she’s picking up the pieces and handling business.

“All right. Money isn’t an issue while you are here. Anything you need, I will provide. As far as school goes, I’m sure we can figure something out. I get you want to be strong and I commend you for that but I would feel better if you would at least talk to someone… just once. If you don’t feel it will help then you don’t have to see her again, and keep in mind she’s the one who will be prescribing your meds.”

Aria huffs loudly but I can see her giving in. “Fine, one time.”

“Good girl. Now how about that movie? I’m sure we can get you some snacks from the kitchen and I might even be able to convince Maggie to make you a milkshake.”

Aria smiles wide. “Only on one condition. You join me.”

“I need to work.”

“Take a break.”

I know I am going to regret giving into her. It’s like watching two trains coming toward each other on the same track and not being able to stop either of them. I know the wreck will end tragically of epic proportions, but I can’t help but watch. I want to look away but I can’t. I know being around Aria more than necessary will only end catastrophically but I can’t help but be drawn to her. The more I try to fight it, the more I want to be near her.

“Fine,” I concede.

“Yay!” Aria grins, her nose scrunching up in the adorable way it always does. Yep, I’m well and truly fucked.