Finding Beauty in the Darkness

“You got it.”

“Sebastian was working with the senator,” I inform them.

“Fuck,” Rome spits out. “Wait…was?”

“Was. I’m going to kill Weston, therefore, their alliance is in the past tense.”

“Edgardo just about killed him. He ran in and saw him on Aria and nearly beat him to death.”

“But he’s still alive, right?” I’m going to make damn sure I’ll be the one to end this asshole’s life.

“Yeah, he’s down in holding. Should I contact Louie?”

“Yeah, let him know I’ll have a body for him to handle in a few hours. Let Edgardo know I appreciate what he did for Aria tonight. I’ll thank him myself once I make it back out there. I gave Aria a sedative so she should be out for the night, but just in case, send Natalie up to stay with her. We’ll open back up tomorrow, business as usual. I’m going to have my mom come here and run things until I find a replacement for Cecilia.”

“All right.”

“Thank you. I don’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened to Aria had you guys not been here tonight.”

“We got your back, Boss. Always.”

I lie with Aria for a little while longer, stroking her hair and watching her chest rise and fall until Natalie comes up to stay with her while I go down and pay the soon-to-be former senator a visit.

“What do you need?” Caesar asks as we walk down the hall toward the holding room. I shake my head because I don’t need a fucking thing to end this man’s life. Just like he put his hands on my woman, I’m going to put my hands on him. I swing the door open, Rome closing it behind me, and Weston’s eyes widen as he tries to edge closer to the wall like it’s going to camouflage him.

“Take the cuffs off him,” I demand. Caesar unlocks the handcuffs and removes them from Weston’s hands. “Get up, motherfucker, now!” Hightower scoots back and up the wall, barely able to stand. Rome wasn’t kidding when he said Edgardo did a number on him. His face is barely recognizable and judging by the way his eyes are dilated, he probably sustained some sort of head injury. Soon though, it won’t matter because his life is over.

“You think you’re any better than I am?” Weston spits out. Knowing his life is about to end apparently gives him some brass balls. “You think you and that tease are going to ride off into the sunset? You’re just as fucked up as the rest of us. You whore women out for Christ’s sake!”

My initial plan was to draw this out, create a blood bath, make him hurt the way he hurt Aria repeatedly, but listening to him spew this shit—words that are hitting too close to home—has me stalking over to him, wrapping my hand around his throat and pushing down on his windpipe.

Anything to shut him the fuck up.

The back of his head hits the wall and I press harder and harder against the carotid artery watching as his breaths become labored and his body begins to convulse. “You will never hurt Aria again,” I tell him, staring into his eyes as they slowly dim. Within minutes, his body is no longer fighting and shortly after, it goes limp beneath my touch. I keep my hand pressed tightly for several more minutes to make sure he’s dead. When I let go of his throat, he falls to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Leaning down, I place my hand over his heart to confirm there’s no longer a heartbeat.

His words run on repeat in my head. You’re just as fucked up as the rest of us. He didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but the words being said aloud make them feel more real.

Aria deserves so much more than the life I can give her. I know killing Weston Hightower was the only option. But the question that runs through my head is, did I just pull Aria into a life just as fucked up as the one I saved her from?

Chapter Twenty-Four

ARIA

I wake up and, for a second, I forget about the events that took place last night. That is until I look over at Gio and see him lying next to me, his beautiful lips curved downward. His thumb gently grazes my cheek and it stings. When I flinch, his frown deepens. I don’t need to ask him if he was part of what Weston did to me last night. I know he would never put me in harm’s way. I also don’t need to ask if Cecilia was a part of it. I know she was. Why a woman would stick an abusive rapist on another woman is incomprehensible to me.

“I didn’t know,” he says, his voice gravelly.