hands as I scrub my face in an attempt to calm down. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ve spoken to your father and you’re out.”
My head shoots up at her words. “What do you mean I’m out?”
The rims of my mom’s lids fill with unshed tears. “You are out of the organization.”
“You’re disowning me?” I ask incredulously.
“No.” She shakes her head. “You will always be our son, and while your dad isn’t happy about you leaving, he will come around. You’re out of the organization. Mario is moving here to take over the restaurant and Casino and Nico is going to take over the bordello and any other business you have. Amber has agreed. They won’t be living here, but he’ll run the place with Natalie. We were wrong to put you in such a position. We had it set in our minds about you and Cecilia.”
I hear what she’s saying, but it all feels so surreal. I’m free. So many times I’ve dreamt about what I would do if I was free, but I never believed it would happen. Could I have walked away a year ago? Yeah, I could have, but Aria wouldn’t let me. She told me she couldn’t come between my family and me. She asked—no, she begged—me to let her go. So, I did. I let her go, and it feels like the day she walked out the door, with her bags in her hands, is the day my heart stopped beating.
“Do you think she’ll want to see me? She was kidnapped and raped because of me.”
My mom’s built-up tears fall and she gives me a sad smile. “If she loves you the way you love her, the way I believe she loves you, I can’t imagine she’d ever hold you responsible for what happened. But there’s only one way to find out.”
“Why are you doing this for me, Mom?”
“Because once upon a time I believed in the fairytale. I believed in the power of love. But somewhere along the way, I got caught up in your father’s world of power and materialistic possessions and began to live a lie, telling myself those two things equaled love. I’ve told your father I’m done accepting him the way he is. I’m done turning my cheek while he cheats on me. If things don’t change, I am filing for divorce.”
My eyes widen at her admission. “You threatened to divorce Dad?”
“That’s right. He says things will be different so we’ll see. I’m not sure if it’s too late for us, but I don’t believe it’s too late for you and Aria.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
ARIA
“Buongiorno! Caffè e pasticceria per favore.”
Francesca, the wonderful woman who owns the bakery I frequent daily, smiles and grabs my usual coffee and pastry. I hand her four euros and make my way to the outside patio to set up my laptop. I plug it into the outlet and connect to the Wi-Fi before taking a sip of the hot, caffeinated goodness.
“Aria!” Trevor calls out my name and waves. “I’m going to grab a coffee and then I’ll join you.”
I nod and reach for my pastry, taking a bite. The buttery flakiness melts in my mouth. I could eat this for breakfast every day. I came across this cute bakery my third day here in Italy. After spending the first two days crying, then spending over two hours video chatting with my therapist, whom I still talk to on a bi-weekly basis, she insisted I get out of the flat and explore.
When I left Nevada and stepped on the plane to Italy, I had no idea Gio had gone to such lengths to make sure I was taken care of, but that shouldn’t have surprised me. I don’t think there was anything he wouldn’t do for me. One look into his eyes that night when he told me we needed to talk and I knew what he was going to say. I could hear it in his voice. He had no choice but to choose his family over me. What he didn’t know was that I had made the decision before I was taken to walk away.
I guess you could say our breakup was a bit unconventional, probably because unlike most people who break up because they’ve fallen out of love with each other, we were breaking up because we were in love with each other. Gio gave me my space to heal but still constantly checked on me. A week later, I was packed and got on a plane, leaving