throws me onto the ground like I’m a ragdoll. The back of my head hits the marble floor and the room begins to spin. I will myself to fight. I kick and punch and at one point, I feel myself bite him, the metallic taste of his blood coating my tongue and lips. But he fights back harder. His hands grab mine, pinning them above my head, and I take the opportunity to scream again as loud as possible until Weston shoves a piece of material into my mouth, gagging me.
“Shut the fuck up, you slutty piece of trash.”
I try to kick, but his heavy legs are pinning mine down. His hand comes down to my breast and he violently grabs it, tweaking my nipple until I silently scream out. My vision goes blurry as my eyes bleed with pain. His hand goes to my silk shorts and he shoves his fingers into my panties.
Just as his fingers find my sex, light fills the room. The door swings open and Weston flies off me and into the wall. I scramble back, removing the material from my mouth and watching as Edgardo beats Weston into a bloody pulp. He punches him repeatedly in the face, never letting up. At some point, Rome and Caesar run in and pull Edgardo off Weston. He’s not even moving anymore. If Weston isn’t dead, he’s damn close to it.
“Come on, Aria. Let’s get you up to your room.” Rome lifts me into his arms, bridal style, and carries me into my room, laying me on the bed. I don’t let go of him, not wanting to be alone. My body is freezing and I’m pretty sure I’m going into shock. “I don’t know what happened, but I promise you we will get to the bottom of this.” Rome sits on the bed next to me, petting my hair gently. My eyes begin to close, the adrenaline wearing down, but they pop back open when images of Weston attacking me come to the front.
Once they start, I can’t stop them. My mind plays like a song on repeat. Him hitting me, attacking me, silencing me, grabbing me, trying to rape me. I don’t know how long these images run on repeat or for how long I’m crying, but suddenly I’m being picked up. I scream, scared I’m being attacked again, but Gio’s soothing voice calms me.
“It’s okay, Ari. It’s me. I got you, baby. I’m so sorry.” He holds me close to his chest, rocking me as one would do a baby. I feel him push a single pill past my lips and I swallow it dry, and in the comfort of Gio’s arms, I allow my body some peace, closing my eyes and letting it all slip away.
Chapter Twenty-Three
GIOVANNI
I was on a flight from New Jersey to Las Vegas with my phone turned off when the texts and phone calls must have started. I was so aggravated from dealing with Sebastian and his bullshit all day, I didn’t text or call Aria once. Sebastian thought he’d be slick and intercept a shipment coming in, thinking we were all on the other side of the country, but what he wasn’t prepared for was me being there to intercept him.
Normally the shipments come in and our hired men unload them and reload them for delivery. When one of my guys put a call in to let me know Sebastian pushed my guys out, I knew I had to jump on a plane and handle that bullshit myself. He declared war and he was about to lose. The joke was on me, though. Because while I was handling the shipment, my girlfriend was being attacked by the fucking senator.
If you asked me a couple months ago if it’s possible the senator could be working with several mob families, I would have laughed in your face. Nobody, not even Senator Weston Hightower, would be that stupid. But I was wrong. After I finished overseeing the shipment, which went off without a hitch, I went into the city to find Sebastian. Words were spoken, threats were made, and I quickly learned once I had Sebastian against the wall that the senator made promises to the Lorenzo organization he can’t keep, in order to get them to work against me.
Unfortunately, it was too late and while I was sitting on a flight, sipping on my scotch, Aria was fighting off that asshole. The minute the plane landed and my phone was