Finding Beauty in the Darkness - Nikki Ash Page 0,89

huge part of my life and my heart, my mind immediately goes to him. My goal has been to not think about Gio. I refuse to let Sebastian take those memories away from me, but the more my body breaks down, the harder he hits me, the more terrified I become that I just might not make it to see another day, and that thought has me wanting to remember Gio, has me wanting to die with only the memories of our love in my head and heart.

Of our trip to the Bahamas. The way he would smile just for me. I mentally replace Sebastian’s slaps and grabs with the gardens at the mansion. Of the art exhibit that now feels like years ago. I try to keep my thoughts on the day he found me in the basement, his promise to protect me. I remember the first time he told me he loved me. I wish I could die right here and now with the memories of him all around me.

Sebastian jerks away from me, jolting me from my only safe space—my mind. I’m thrust into the present. I can feel everywhere he’s violated me. Everything hurts. It’s as though my body no longer belongs to me. The only thing he can’t ever take is my mind. He hasn’t even backed up before I’m throwing up acid all over myself and the bed.

“You dumb slut!” Sebastian slaps me across the face. “Now you can lay in your own filth.” He slams the door behind him and I close my eyes, praying that he kills me and gets it over with.

I’m not sure how long I’m asleep when I hear the door swing open. My eyes snap open and I see Gio stalking toward the bed—a sudden sense of déjà vu hitting me. For a split second, I wonder if I’m dreaming. He scoops me up into his arms and memories of him doing this very same thing six months prior hits me hard. “Are you real?” I hear myself asking.

“Yes, Aria. I’m real.”

“You’re saving me again,” I choke out, raw emotion stuck in my throat. I let my eyes close, knowing I’m safe once again in the arms of Gio, and blocking everything around me out, I fall back asleep.

Chapter Thirty-Four

GIOVANNI

The minute I told my dad I needed to find Aria and who had her, he sprang into action. I knew the only reason he was calling in any favors he had was because I had inadvertently agreed to let her go once she was found. He placed a call to Victor Lorenzo, Sebastian’s father. It turned out, Sebastian had gone behind his father’s back and made a deal with the devil himself, Weston Hightower. In exchange for helping him get Aria back, he would give him a piece of the trust fund, and with that money, Sebastian would be able to come to us to buy back their territory.

Victor ordered his son not to make the deal but Sebastian didn’t listen. After he found out Weston was dead and his money train had come to a stop, he lost it. His dad told him to let it go and when he didn’t, he pretty much disowned him. When my dad called and told him he was holding Aria, Victor was willing to throw his son under the bus in exchange for the ownership of the territory back. My dad, the businessman he is, agreed with the clause we can use that shipyard for all of our shipments at no charge.

Victor agreed and gave us the location to their Miami safe house. With a single call to one of my dad’s enforcers, we were able to get in and out. Sebastian was killed with a shot to his head before he even saw it coming, and Aria was on a private plane back to Nevada with Dr. Fox waiting for us at the house.

She gave Aria a sedative so she would sleep and checked her out.

Tearing of her anus.

Sperm.

Bleeding.

Damage to the vaginal walls.

Dr. Fox had concluded that Aria had been violently raped in every way possible.

Aria’s words hit me like a ton of bricks. You’re saving me again.

I lost it. I went down to my office and destroyed it. The computer went flying into a wall, papers were thrown around. I don’t know what else I did, but my knuckles were bleeding when Johnny walked in and sat next to me on the floor while I cried like a