Aida clears her throat and it could be due to the dust coating her airways now that she’s brushed off her lies. My father told me some things about her and their relationship but not all. However, with the information I have I should be able to discern whether or not she’s being truthful.
She fucking better be.
“I met your father while my family was vacationing in southern Italy, Sicily to be exact,” she says. Her eyes soften, taking on a faraway look, and her lips spread into a smile filled with fondness for the memory. “My mother ended up scolding me for my disobedience, but I just had to visit the Temple of Hera. It was a silly dare from one of my friends and since I was young I didn’t know any better. On my way back to the hotel, your father rescued me from a street gang. And that was it for me.”
She blinks as though bringing herself out of the memory and her gaze clears. “Needless to say my parents were not thrilled with my supposed infatuation, but the next year when we traveled there I sought him out, and those were the best summer days. Until my parents offered my hand in marriage to the son of a prestigious family they did business with. I’ll spare you the details because all you need to know is I disgraced my bloodlines by mixing it with a Sicilian’s and I was disowned for running away with him. We came to America and built our lives together.”
I tilt my head. “Years of wedded bliss followed, I presume?”
Her gaze flashes with irritation right before it narrows. “Absolutely. Marrying your father was everything I could’ve wanted.”
Octavia shifts on the love seat adjacent to me. It’s only the three of us, but I keep forgetting she’s here, and it’s because she’s been deathly quiet since we sat down. I don’t know why she wants to hear something that’s obviously hurting her and I expect her to storm out of the room any minute now, yet she remains.
“And how old were you?” I ask, my tone caustic. “A consenting minor? According to Italy’s standards?”
The insult hangs in the atmosphere between us, clouding the room with tension. Italy may not recognize individuals as a legal adult until they’ve reached eighteen years of age, but sexual consent can be given as young as fourteen. I’ve not only insinuated Aida was an ignorant child at the time, but also that my father preyed on her. I want her to be emotional, because when people don’t lead with logic, it causes them to make mistakes.
Or tell the truth.
Aida stiffens. “I was seventeen, but I loved your father and Iwantedto marry him.”
“You were still a minor and incapable of making such a crucial decision at the time.” I scoff and shake my head. “The outcome of all this is beginning to make sense.”
Aida pointedly ignores the barb and glances at Octavia briefly before bringing her attention back to me. “After a couple of years you were born, followed by your brothers, and everything was wonderful until your father became obsessed with getting on the Wolf Pack’s council. It was all he could talk about and after a while it created a wedge between us until I was so fed up with him I threatened to divorce him. My mistake was I did it in public.”
She massages the center of her forehead and exhales as though defeated. “People overheard, rumors spread, and that’s where everything went to hell.”
“Please continue,” I say with a twirl of my fingers. “I have a plane to catch and you have a ransom to pay, assuming the transfer has been confirmed?”
Aida’s mouth thins. “Yes.”
Octavia exhales with apparent relief and I wonder if I might’ve misunderstood which of them is actually involved with El Jefe. I assumed it was my mother, but it could be Octavia. I highly doubt this man has endeared himself to them both for the same reason, but it would make sense if Aida viewed him as a son-in-law or something else along those lines.
I stroke my chin. “So there was trouble in paradise and you simply…left?”
My mother’s gaze frosts over and the coldness inside is biting, the silver sparkling like fresh snow. This is a side of her I’ve never seen, but my father did tell me about it. He often spoke about her courage and ferocity with such pride in his tone, but he failed to mention how sinister it could be.
“My former fiancé came back into my life and I ended up pregnant with his child,” Aida says, her tone deadened, without the inflection and liveliness from before. “I couldn’t go back to your father in that condition, not without castrating him in the eyes of his peers, and I didn’t want to stay with the baby’s father, so yes, I left.”
“Did you know about the hit the Wolf Pack put out on you?” I lean forward and rest my forearms on my knees. “Is that another reason you ran?
She nods. “I got wind of it and yes, it impacted my decision.”
“Did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Do what they accused you of?” I ask. “Caruso brought evidence to the council and made you out to be a rat by feeding the feds the details of the Wolf Pack’s agenda. Even if you would’ve returned to my father, you would’ve brought that danger back with you, and it would’ve gotten us all killed.”
“I was set up by my baby’s father.” She tilts her head. “You don’t have to believe me, but it was so long ago, there’s no reason to lie now.”
“There could be, if someone wanted recompense.”
Octavia brings her gaze to me, a mask of worry on her face. “Is that what you’re here for?” When I shake my head she relaxes, but the wariness doesn’t fade from her eyes.
However, Aida pales considerably. “I didn’t know the Wolf Pack was going to turn on your father or I would’ve stayed to fight the lies. By the time I learned about it the damage had been done. We were both being hunted and your father took you out of the U.S. and I fled here.”
“Is that the whole of it?” I grit out. She nods and my temper rises to an unhealthy level. “Thisis the great secret?”
