Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
They arrived at their home. Dante did not want this.
“I need to go and lie down. I feel a little sick,” Aria said.
He didn’t stop her. Not even as she climbed out of the car.
Seconds passed and Dante finally left the car, ignoring his men as he walked into the house, going toward the liquor cabinet.
A few months ago, this would have been welcome to him. Aria had said she would be able to get the evidence. He had no idea how she did, but now he hated it.
This is not what he wanted. All he wanted was his wife.
Chapter Nine
Getting the evidence Aria needed for Dante had been a mixture of pure luck and a little bit of ease. The first hurdle had been the dinner invitation. She couldn’t ask Isabella for her to extend one toward her or even suggest to their parents that she wanted to go home for dinner. In the year she’d been married, she hadn’t even been invited to her parents’ home. She wasn’t sure if that was the same for her husband.
The invitation had been handed to her at a different social event. All she needed to do was to convince Dante they should attend. That also hadn’t come easy, but Dante relented. They were going to show a united front. In order to distract her parents, she called Isabella and asked her sister to be a buffer between herself and her parents.
Again, success, as her sister was left home with the kids while her husband was away. Aria didn’t know any of the other details. With her sister and the kids coming home, now all she needed to do was figure out which of the staff her father was having sex with.
This was also down to luck. Her father always locked his bedroom and the “flavor of the month” had to have access to the spare key. One of the maids had a key chain around her neck. Now, all she had to do was find a little time.
She excused herself to use the bathroom. When she saw the young woman alone, it was simple. Staging some kind of accident that also resulted in her grabbing the necklace and distracting her as she fell and yanked at the same time.
During the confusion, Aria apologized and said she was going to use the bathroom. As she made her escape, she ran upstairs, going straight to her father’s bedroom. From there, she found his files, and within were the documents she needed, as well as a USB drive with whatever footage was contained.
Then she needed to get back downstairs. As she did, she saw the maid coming out of the dining room.
“Excuse me,” Aria said, rushing toward her. “I just saw this on the floor where we had our little accident.” She held the key out to her and opted to play dumb. “I’m guessing it’s important.”
The maid had gone bright red and took the key from her in an act of desperation. “Thank you,” she said.
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” She gave a little smile. “I’m sorry I fell on you.”
Then getting out of her parents’ house had been easy.
Before Aria had gone back to the maid, though, she couldn’t help but be curious about what her father had on Dante. She had opened the file, and there inside she had seen Dante with another woman. Photographs, large, blaringly obvious who it was, and the sex that was happening.
Pulling out of her thoughts, Aria stepped into her old bedroom at Dante’s country home and leaned back against the doorframe. Her heart pounded inside her chest, and she felt so alone. So empty, so … jealous.
This day was supposed to be a happy occasion. She was setting Dante free to live his life. She’d be free and they would no longer be in this loveless marriage.
The only problem was, over the past couple of months while she’d been waiting for the right moment, their marriage had been perfect. Aria closed her eyes, clenching them together, hoping to stop the tears from falling. In the back of her mind, she saw that intimate picture of Dante with Constance Pesci.
Technically, Constance was an aunt to her as she was partly related to her father Phillip. Aria had never met her.
The rules regarding bastard children were cruel. Phillip had his place, but her grandfather, nor any of his family, ever recognized her as such. Dante had slept with her. Did he love her? Was that who he was going to marry?
“I don’t love him,” Aria said, whispering the words so only she could hear, but she knew it was a lie.
She had fallen in love with Dante Gallo—the husband she didn’t want and had hoped to set free. The only problem was, she no longer wished to be free.