Finding Beauty in the Darkness

“I can’t. I have a meeting in New York and I don’t know what time I’ll be back.” Benjamin’s mouth turns downward into a frown. “I’m sorry.”

“Aria, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. It’s just a last-minute meeting.”

“Not the meeting. Tonight, you seem down. You haven’t spoken more than a handful of sentences the entire night.”

“I’m sorry,” I say again.

“Stop apologizing and tell me what’s going on.” Benjamin takes my hands in his and for a second, I think about what it would feel like to be on a real date with Benjamin instead of getting paid to escort him to dinner.

“Today’s my birthday,” I blurt out.

His eyebrows raise in shock. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I don’t get paid to celebrate my birthday.” I pull my hand out of his. “I’m twenty-one today and my life is nothing like I pictured it would be.”

“How did you picture it?”

“In college, majoring in photography. Maybe traveling to Italy for the summer. Dating and hanging out with friends. Visiting art museums and taking tons of pictures to commemorate each new chapter of my life.” I’m not sure why I’m telling Benjamin all this. Maybe because he’s an outsider and I don’t have any feelings one way or another for him.

“I went through some stuff recently and I’m finally ready to move forward with my life. Start living again. But it feels like I’m hitting one obstacle after the next.”

“Then you should start living,” he says. “Life’s too short to not live it how you want to.”

Those are my thoughts exactly, so why haven’t I started living my life with that mindset?

We finish our dinner and Benjamin pays the check. A twenty-minute ride in silence later and he drops me off at the front door. He leans in close, his lips grazing my cheek softly. “Good night, Aria. Good luck on living your life.” He steps back, and with a wink, walks back toward his vehicle. He didn’t say it, but I can tell by finality in his words, I won’t be seeing him again.

I walk inside and find Cecilia sitting at the bar. I sit next to her and ask Emilio for a Jack and Coke.

“Aren’t you a little young to be drinking such an adult drink?” God, this woman is such a bitch.

“I’m twenty-one today.” I take my drink Emilio placed in front of me and lift it up, giving Cecilia a fake cheers before I down half the glass. I set it on the bar top and glance at her. “I want to change my profile. I want to add an option to it.”

“Oh yeah? And what would you like to add?”

“Sex. I’m willing to have sex.”

* * *

The plane ride to New York is five hours. Gio and I are sitting next to each other in first class and for the first four hours, I read my book while he works on his laptop. Exactly one hour before the plane is scheduled to land, he puts it away and turns to me. “Before we arrive, I need to explain to you what I found out and my theories. You need to know what’s going on before we walk through those doors.”

I click off my iPad and close the case slowly. “Okay, you have my attention.”

“Antonio Torino, your ex-boyfriend, is the son of Anthony Torino. His father is a well-known leader.” He says leader, but I know what he means. He’s a mob boss for another organization.

“Okay.” Gio pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to me. “My birth certificate?”

“Take a look at who’s listed under your father.”

“Angelo Moretti. I’ve never seen this before. Is this my dad?” All this time, my father’s identity has been written in black and white on my birth certificate. No wonder my mom never gave it to me.

“It would make sense. You said your mom insisted your dad’s life was too dangerous. Angelo Moretti was huge in the mob.”

“Was?”

“He was killed eight months before your mom died.” My heart tightens and hot tears burn my lids, not necessarily for a man I never knew but for a man I would never know.

“Anthony and Angelo were business partners. Your father was worth millions, possibly even billions, before he died. When did you start dating Antonio?” I think back to when I met him. It was about a month into my Sophomore year. My mom died the first week of May… Eight months before that would be… I gasp loudly, causing someone in the row next to us to glare. “September. He showed up in September, eight months before my mom died. But why?”

“My theory is your dad had shares in the company, and when he died, they had to go to somebody or Anthony would get the entire company. My guess is they went to you, only you didn’t know. We also found an envelope with attorney information on it. He’s based in New York. I placed a call to him and I’m waiting to hear back.”