Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Gianna snorted. “You realize that those are my words?”
“Gianna is right, though. Luca will be furious.”
“He won’t find out.” He could never find out. He’d be worried sick if he found out I went to enemy territory.
chapter 15
ARIA
Luca was bound to the Famiglia in a way that I would never be. I was loyal to Luca, but he had to understand that loyalty wasn’t the same as unquestioning obedience. Luca, Romero and Matteo were still busy in New York, and in the afternoon the meeting of the Famiglia would go down. That would keep everyone busy.
I had four guards to avoid. Three of them were in different spots in the garden, only one of them in the mansion with us. I got up at three in the morning, got dressed, packed my bag and slipped out of my room. Gianna and Lily were waiting for me in the dark corridor. “Ready?” I whispered.
Gianna made a noncommittal noise.
“Yes,” Lily whispered. “I will pretend to have a nightmare and scream as loud as I can and when the guards come running, Gianna will barge in and act like a bitch and tell them to be silent because you aren’t feeling well.”
I knew we’d only get rid of two guards that way. One guard would remain near the water because that was the most vulnerable spot on the premises, since there were no gates to overcome. I could only hope that the others would be distracted enough for me to slip out. I had all the necessary safety codes because Luca trusted me.
I hugged my sisters before I moved through the house. One guard always sat in the open living area. I crouched down and waited for Lily’s scream. When it came, the first guard came running out of the living room and up the stairs as expected, and I used the moment to rush downstairs and slip into the east wing. Lily’s screams died away when I entered the code into the lock at our back door and slipped out. I put on my wool cap and ran down the lawn, near the bushes toward the gates. The guard was gone from his spot. The gates were high, topped with barbwire and humming with electricity. It was the least likely spot for intruders to attack so the guards abandoned it first. Smiling, I keyed the second code into the system. The gate blinked once, and I slipped out then reactivated the lock.
These gates were supposed to keep people out, not lock us in. Yet, I’d have to ask Luca to up the protection around the perimeter once I was back in New York. Not wasting any time, I ran down the winding road until I reached the corner where I’d ordered the Uber driver to pick me up. When I spotted the car’s spotlights, I could have laughed with relief. Gianna and Lily would handle the rest. The guards wouldn’t check on me in my room unless prompted, and Luca had no reason to suspect anything, nor had anyone else. They trusted me.
I pushed my guilt aside.
The airplane was barely up in the air when nausea gripped me. I’d never reacted to flying that way. I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and rushed toward the bathroom. Throwing up in a narrow airplane toilet ranked high on my never-to-do list, but I couldn’t keep my food inside. The moment I bent over the grayish-blue toilet my stomach ejected my breakfast. I quickly flushed and washed my hands and face.
I still felt wrong, and slowly a horrible realization crept up on me. I was still overdue for my period. Fabi’s call had distracted me, but now it all came back. The missed pills, my nausea. I was almost two weeks overdue.
I sagged against the wall, trying to remember when that had happened last. In the first few years of me getting my period they had been very erratic, but since I’d started taking the pill shortly before my marriage to Luca that had changed. Two to three days, that still happened sometimes…but almost two weeks?
Things had been so stressful in the last few months because of Lily and Romero. How often had I forgotten to take the pill? I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t counted. I should have counted after my call with Fabi.
A few times definitely, but I had been too busy worrying about my sister, about Luca, my marriage and everything else to pay it much attention.
Perhaps I was drawing the wrong conclusions. It could be that I was coming down with the flu, or that my stomach was reacting to the stress.
Yes, that was it.
With a shaking hand, I slid open the door and returned to my seat. The stewardess sent me a concerned look, but I gave her a quick smile to show I was all right. I didn’t want them to make an emergency landing because they thought I was seriously sick.