Please. Just let us survive this. Let Kai's plan work. Let us all make it out alive.
That's all I asked for. Survival and freedom and a chance at the futures we'd imagined.
Was that too much to hope for?
In this world, probably.
But I hoped anyway. Because hope was all we had left.
And I refused to let Salvatore take that too.
Chapter Nineteen
KAI
The past weekhad been a special kind of hell designed specifically to break me.
Watching Aria exist in the same house but remain completely out of reach. Seeing her at dinners where we couldn't speak. Passing her in hallways where even making eye contact felt dangerous. Knowing she was sleeping in my father's wing, under his control, being molded into his perfect wife.
It was torture. Pure, calculated torture.
And the worst part? I couldn't do a damn thing about it.
Every instinct I had screamed to grab her, take her somewhere safe, fuck the consequences. But that would be suicide. Would get us both killed and doom Lia in the process.
So I played my role. The dutiful son. The enforcer who felt nothing. While internally, I was dying by inches.
Lia was suffering too. I could see it in her eyes at meals, in the way she barely spoke anymore. My father had announced her engagement to Moretti like it was some great honor instead of a death sentence.And I was supposed to smile and congratulate them both while my sister looked at me with betrayed, terrified eyes.
I hated this. Hated my father for creating this situation. Hated myself for not being strong enough to stop it sooner. Hated every second of every day that I had to pretend I didn't care while watching the two people I loved most being destroyed.
The rage sat in my chest like a living thing. Fed by helplessness. Nourished by fear. Growing stronger every day.
Soon. Very soon I'd get to unleash it. Get to watch my father's empire crumble. Get to see the fear in his eyes when he realized his son had outmaneuvered him.
That thought was the only thing keeping me sane.
My office phone rang. Internal line. My father's extension.
"Kai. My office. Now. Bring the northern territory reports."
He hung up before I could respond.
I grabbed the files, headed toward his wing. Every step measured. Controlled. Gave no indication of the fury simmering beneath the surface.
I opened his office door. Stopped.
My father sat behind his desk. Luca stood by the window, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
This wasn't a standard business meeting. This was an interrogation.
I studied them both before speaking. Read body language, micro-expressions, the energy in the room. Skills I'd honed over years of surviving in this world.
My father looked calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that preceded violence.
Luca looked smug. Like he'd been waiting for this moment.
Trouble. This was definitely trouble.
