“A flash drive. It contained live feeds of the entire estate.”
“He bugged the house?”
He nodded.
“Fuck.” Mike Fascini was more organized than we first thought.
“My uncle’s study, the kitchen … the bedrooms. He has enough to bring down Capizola Holdings at the press of a button.”
Arianne clapped a hand over her mouth, smothering a gasp.
“He won’t do it. He wants everything Roberto has. He’s just trying to show him he holds all the cards.”
“Maybe my parents can leave... maybe they can—”
“It won’t change anything.” I squeezed Arianne’s hand in mine. “Mike Fascini has gone too far now. He doesn’t care which way it ends, just that he holds all the power.”
“I’ll go back then. I’ll go back and maybe you can—oh God.”
“Bambolina, look at me.” Cupping Arianne’s face, I brushed her cheek. “You can’t go back. Not now. It isn’t only Mike we have to worry about, it’s Scott too. He’s unstable.” And there wasn’t a chance in hell he was getting within two feet of Arianne.
“He’s my father, Nicco, I can’t just let him...” Arianne let out a garbled cry and I pulled her into my arms, holding the back of her head as she sobbed gently.
“You know what has to be done.” Tristan gave me a hard look.
“What?” Arianne eased back, gulping down her tears as she smoothed the hair from her eyes. “What has to be done?” She glanced from me to Tristan and back again.
I inhaled a ragged breath and whispered, “Mike Fascini has to die.”
“D- die?” she choked out, edging away from me.
Her reaction stung but I’d expected no less. This was the ugly side of my world. The dark and tainted part I’d hoped never to share with her.
“As in you’re going to kill him? That’s... you can’t...”
“If it means keeping you safe, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“But killing a man?”
“Bambolina.” I gave her a sad smile. “I have done much worse.”
“It doesn’t have to be you. It can be someone else, anyone else.” Her voice rose as tears streamed down her face.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s me or if it’s someone else. This is who I am.”
“Okay,” Luis said, standing. “Perhaps we should give the two of you some space.”
But Arianne didn’t look like she wanted space from them, she looked like she wanted space... from me.
“You two stay, I’ll go.” The words almost choked me. “I could do with some air.”
“Nicco,” she cried, and I lifted my eyes to hers. But nothing else came out.
She didn’t ask me to stay...
She didn’t say anything.
“Take your time.” I gave him a stiff nod. “I won’t go far.”
I walked out of the cabin and didn’t look back.
Because I knew if I did, I would break.
And a prince with a broken kingdom couldn’t protect his queen.
When I finally got back to the cabin, it was dark. I slipped inside with a heavy heart. What would Arianne say? Would she want me to leave and never return?
I braced myself but found only Luis and Tristan in the main room.
“She’s sleeping,” Luis said. “How are you?”
“It’s not me I’m worried about.” I sat down and my eyes flicked to the long hall leading to our bedroom.
“It’s been a lot for her to process.”
“That’s what worries me. How much more of this can she take?”
“Don’t underestimate her,” Luis said.
“What about you, what do you make of all this?” I asked Tristan.
“Honestly, I haven’t got a fucking clue what to say. I knew, man. I knew my uncle planned to marry her off to that piece of shit. It cuts me up inside knowing I never saw his true colors until now.”
My brow arched. “Arianne spoke like he’d hurt other girls before.”
“He’s known to be a little forward when he’s had a drink, yeah. But he never—fuck, you think there are others?”
“Maybe. But not like Arianne. What he did to her at the hotel...” My spine stiffened.
“How do you do it?”
“Do what?” I asked Tristan.
“I want to kill him with my bare hands for ever hurting her, so I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t verbalize the things I wanted to do to that fucker.
“Do you think she’ll come around?”
“Eventually.” Tristan’s brows pinched. “She hates Roberto right now, but he’s her family, her blood. She would never want harm to come to him. That’s not who she is.”
“So we agree then? This is the only option?” The two of them nodded. “I’ll need to call my father and make arrangements.”