Page 38 of Crimson Fate
She shakes her head. “If the things you do are to protect the family, I don’t view them as terrible.”
“Wow. That’s not a perspective I hear very often. Are you always such an optimist?” I ask.
“What’s the point in being anything else? You get out of this life what you are willing to put into it. I see how much what your father built means to you, and it excites me to be a part of that in some way.”
She shivers as a breeze skips across the water’s surface and warps around her. I guide her back inside, then suggest we head back downstairs where I’ll build us a fire.
“That sounds perfect,” she says.
Once in the living room, I make quick work of the fire before taking my place at her side on the leather couch. I glance at Gia, her eyes softening with the flicker of the fireplace reflecting in them.
Looking down at my hands clenched in my lap, I say what has been weighing heavy on me all evening. “If we really want this arrangement to work, I know I have to be willing to open up to you.”
“You don’t have to,” she assures me.
“I know I don’t have to,” I continue. “But you have a right to know who you’re marrying. You can ask me anything you want.”
“Even about”—she bites her lip—“what happened with your parents?”
“What happened?” I echo, stalling for time. My heart hammers against my ribs, a relentless reminder of the secrets I carry and how I will never be able to share some with Gia, even after she becomes my wife. “What did you hear about that night?”
“My dad said Edward was sick, but he hadn’t told anyone. He didn’t want people to find out he had cancer, so when he found out it was terminal, he decided he wanted to go out on his own terms. When Isabella found him, she was so overcome with grief that she also took her life.” As Gia recounts the false story Amelia and I shared with the world, I see her eyes searching mine for confirmation or denial.
The truth is my father was never sick, and Isabella murdered him. She would have killed Amelia and me too, if I hadn’t killed her first. Only those who were there that night know what truly happened, and if our family is to remain safe, that’s the way it needs to stay. “It’s a lie...” The words tumble out of my mouth.
“A lie...?” Gia repeats, her eyes wide, reflecting the gravity of my confession.
The weight of the revelation hangs heavy in the air. My heart beats a staccato rhythm against my rib cage as I look into Gia’s eyes, deep pools of concern and growing realization.
“Vincent?” she presses. “What do you mean a lie?”
This is it. This is the moment I can choose to start fresh with Gia. Tell her the real truth about what happened that night, about how Eva helped us cover everything up. I open my mouth, unsure what to reveal until the words escape. “Amelia and I, we learned the truth just before... before everything happened that night.” I take a deep breath, bracing myself against the torrent of emotions. “Isabella wasn’t our real mother.”
“What?” Gia gasps, her shock evident.
“She wasn’t our birth mother.” I watch Gia’s reaction closely. “My mother was killed by the Ivanovs in retaliation for something my family did to theirs. After growing up without a mother, my father couldn’t bear the thought of us growing up the same way he did. So he married Isabella, a friend of the family. We were so young that she became the only mother Amelia and I ever knew. They decided to never tell us the truth.”
Gia’s hand covers her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. “Oh, Vincent,” she whispers, the syllables heavy with empathy. “To learn all of that and then for you to have to deal with his death on top of that right after.”
“Exactly,” I reply, the bitterness of years of deception coating my tongue. “I assume a few of his captains who had been around the longest knew the truth, like your dad and Bruno. But nobody ever said a word to us.”
“I can’t believe you never had a clue,” Gia replies.
I shake my head. “Maybe we didn’t want to see the truth, I don’t know. But that’s why if you and I decide to move forward with getting married, I want to start anew with you, Gia. No lies, no more hidden truths.” The lies flow from me with ease. Gia can never know the whole truth of that night. My father choosing to kill himself because of terminal cancer is somehow more acceptable to the men who served under him than him being a fool and not knowing his own wife plotted against him. At least right now, I still had the respect his soldiers had for him going for me. Take that away, and countless crews would smell blood in the water.
“Thank you for trusting me with this. I know it must not have been easy to share.”
I draw Gia closer; her head finds its place against my chest, where I can feel her breath sync with the steady rhythm of my heart. The warmth of the fire seeps into my bones.
My fingertips trace the line along the back of her arm, tentative yet deliberate. Her body melts deeper into mine, molding herself into me.
I wasn’t lying when I told her I wanted a fresh start with her, one bathed in pure honesty. I genuinely wish I could tell her everything, but that can never happen—not only for my and Amelia’s sake but also for Eva’s. They were all a part of that night and the cover-up.
Chapter Fifteen
I’m surprised at how comfortable it feels to have Gia in my arms. I’m no stranger to being surrounded by beautiful women, but sometimes I don’t even catch their names before we enjoy ourselves and they are on their way. I don’t let women get close to me, and I certainly do not bring them to my family home to share stories of my childhood.
Gia’s chestnut hair cascades down her shoulders, her eyes fierce with an unspoken challenge as she shifts so her head is firmly in my lap, and she stares up at me. “Thank you,” she says, “for bringing me here and showing me this side of who you are.”