Until Her - Ami Van Page 0,85

it to you and nurtured it. You just didn’t have a way to free it. It might be your blessing in disguise though.”

“I used to be scared of my thoughts. Especially when they drugged me. I used to be afraid of myself for thinking about all the things I would do to them because it’s not normal to have those thoughts by normal people’s standards.

“Every time they handed me over to some prick to be…used…I’d bite down on my pain and imagine holding their bleeding hearts in my hand. But I’d hate myself for thinking that right after. I thought…I thought it made me just as dirty and evil as they were and I’d hear my mother’s voice admonishing me, telling me how disappointed she’ll be for not trying harder to please them.” God, her mother is in part to blame for all of this too, wasn’t she?

“You’re far from dirty and evil, Ari. Adam wouldn’t be head over heels for you otherwise.”

The sound of a phone ringing startles her and she nearly jumps out of her seat, scattering the fog in her head before her mother’s voice can even begin the flogging.

“I’m ready,” Stella says into the phone.

Stella hangs up almost immediately and turns to speak to her.

“Ari, you can blow the candle out and sit in the dark if you don’t want to let them know that you are here. And if you choose to let them see you, remember I’ll be here with you the whole time. Don’t be afraid of them. You’ll never have to be afraid of them ever again.”

She nods at her friend and blows out the candle. The darkness engulfs her like the security blanket she’s let it become. She’s safe sitting there within it.

Chapter Thirty-Six

“This is Gaston’s warehouse. Are you sure she said to be here?” Rory asks out loud.

“It feels like we’re lambs being led to the slaughterhouse,” Derrick says.

“If that’s the case, why do I have to be here?” Chase asks. “I’m not the one who fucked her over.”

“Shut it up, Chase. It’s getting old,” he tells his brother and continues walking beside Derrick.

Brooks nearly gets his head blown off when the man swings a door open and surprises the four of them.

“This way,” Brooks says to them and walks back inside.

Derrick, of course, follows along quickly.

He’s a little more cautious with his speed than Derrick though. Rory and Chase tag along slowly through the dark hallway as well until they enter a dark room with a dim light coming through the window.

“Ariana,” he says, seeing her shrouded in darkness in a chair on the other side of the window.

He feels her even through the wall in between them. His skin tingles at the sight of her. He’s begged for this moment. To be able to see her just one more time.

“Stella,” he hears Derrick say too. His brother walks right up to the window, his hand touching it as if he were touching his wife. “A one-way,” Derrick says referring to the glass.

“Do they know we’re here?” he asks Brooks.

“Stella does. Not Ariana,” Brooks answers.

“Rian?” Derrick asks.

“He is with James and Jason at Gaston’s. Taken care of,” Brooks replies.

It doesn’t take long before the warehouse grows brighter. Isabella and Cristian Romano confidently stride in. He counts six of their men with them. Half of them are high-ranking in their small crew but all of them are dirty as fuck. That’s saying a lot in the business that they’re in.

The two siblings walk alongside none other than Nicolas Sapienza, Don Mazzilli’s heir to the thrown of the East Coast Famiglias.

He hears Isabella’s cackle through an intercom and the sound irritates every cell of his being. He joins Derrick closer to the window. Rory and Chase step up as well.

The Romanos pause once they are in the middle of the warehouse and the sound of metal doors slamming shut stuns them all into silence.

Nico steps away from the group and walks forward, plopping down into a chair and then nonchalantly lights a cigar.

“Are we early?” Cristian asks Nico.

Nico shakes his head, taking his time with the cigar without saying another word.

“You’re all a little late actually.” It’s Stella who speaks and steps out of the shadows, out of the dark corner and away from his Ariana.

“Stella? What is she doing here?” Isabella hisses at Nico.

“Can never account for traffic around these parts, cousin,” Nico replies to Stella before taking another puff of his cigar.

“Cousin?” Cristian asks, visibly swallowing. “What’s this about,