his mind chooses her. He can’t turn his attention away from her.
She hasn’t spoken a word. Hurt is written so boldly on her beautiful face. They’d just come to an understanding. They were just starting to begin the next step forward. She was starting to trust him and he…he’s starting to believe that he can have what he didn’t know he was searching for…that he can have…her.
And now? Everything is burning to ash and dust.
The sound of a loud slap shocks him to turn around.
Redness brightens Derrick’s right cheek. Derrick, with his head sunken in shame, falls to both knees, kneeling and silently pleading to his wife.
Stella pleads for an explanation from Derrick before facing where he stands now. She looks at him with disappointment and hurt too. Her tears silently spilling over just as Ariana’s does.
THIS. KILLS HIM.
Derrick may be losing his wife. But he is losing everything. Stella’s love and respect. His brother’s happiness. And Ariana…she was become his everything, especially when she was with Jazzy.
And she’s slipping through his fingers.
Even the look from Chase and Rory cuts him deep. The brothers who he’s raised with his own two hands look completely disappointed in him.
Another soft pant escapes Ariana’s lips just as the photos slip through her fingers and glides weightlessly onto the marble floor. Funny how something weightless can break everything on its way down. Funny, but not funny at all.
Ariana back further away from him. Her slim fingers reaching to her creamy neck until it brushes the strand of pearls he placed around it not too long ago.
He’s speechlessly watching her take hold of the string. He hears the snap and then the beads of pearls scatter silently onto the carpeted floor.
“Ariana. Please?” he begs quietly. “Please?” he repeats. “Give me a chance to explain.”
He’s never uttered those words either. To her or any other woman.
She shakes her head as if words fail her.
“Brooks!” Stella hollers out.
Ariana turns when the man damn near appears out of thin air.
“Get my son,” Stella says with a tone colder than ice. “Get my son and nothing else.”
“Stella.” It’s Rory who speaks this time. “Where are you going? Let’s talk about this. At least, let me take you.”
“No, Rory. There’s no talking about this,”’ Stella replies.
Ariana nods slightly as if Stella is saying the words that she’s trying to speak for herself. His Ari who’s never had anyone speak for her before. He promised to build her up so she can do that for herself.
And he’s just broken her down to bits in pieces.
“Nico called last night,” Chase tells the room. “Stella and Rian are there with her grandparents. At first, she demanded Dom send her and Rian to the family home in Cosenza but Lilliana was able to talk her down from that.”
“This isn’t looking good,” Rory says this time. “If her mind is made up to go to him, it’s going to be hard to pull her back. And the Don isn’t going to let them come back here so easily. Especially when he finds out what happened if he doesn’t know already.”
“What the fuck did happen?” Chase asks. “Because this shit isn’t good for business and it’s tearing our family apart. I had fucking nightmares of the hurt on Stella’s face. Not to mention Ariana. Stella’s strong but Ariana?”
“She’s just as strong,” he growls at his younger brother.
“Strong enough to walk out on you in the middle of addiction recovery,” Rory snaps. “So, what the fuck happened?”
“We don’t know yet,” he answers honestly. “One minute we were talking over drinks with Isabella while waiting for Cristian and the next minute, we’re waking up with a fucking hangover the size of the Titanic and Isabella between us.”
“You’re kidding me right now, right? I told you to fucking stay guarded with her,” Chase barks at him. “That conniving cunt probably roofied you both.”
“Derrick?” he asks both Chase and Rory.
“Haven’t seen him,” Rory answers. “Can’t imagine he’s doing too good.”
“We were set up,” he says to the two. Derrick should be here to discuss this but he’s not.
“She’s one person and one-hundred and fifty pounds. Derrick and I are close to two-fifty each. She had help,” he states the now obvious.
“Not to mention, the cameras. If there are pictures, there might be video too.” He rubs his jawline. “Elias, can you find a way to get us the security feed from the club? There have to be cameras there,” he says.
“Already on it, Boss.”
“Any word about the blood tests yet?”