Chapter 20

Aurora POV

I shouldn’t let Theo get to me.

Maybe he’s making it all up, wanting a reaction, to see me unravel at the seams by an innocuous comment he’s made off-handedly. This could just be his way to fuck with me, allowing me to fill in the blanks when he himself has no idea the dots I’m connecting inside my head.

After all, why in the world would someone like Theo, who is the son of Leonardo’s consigliere, know anything about a plan to kill the head of the Guerrero family at his own wedding?

Maybe I have it all wrong.

“Did you want to kill Leonardo at our wedding?”

“And what if I do?”

This all can’t be some giant coincidence though. If Theo’s shot in the dark has somehow given me the connections I needed in order to see the big picture, then that’s simply a stroke of luck on both our parts.

I tilt my head, letting my lips curve into the same kind of mocking smirk I’ve seen Dominic wear so effortlessly a thousand times by now. “You talk too much, Theo. It’s a habit that’s going to get you killed one day.”

He blinks, clearly not expecting that.

For a fraction of a second, his mask slips, and I see it—the moment of uncertainty, of hesitation for letting himself tell me something he shouldn’t have. I don’t let him recover.

Instead, I take a slow step toward him, keeping my posture relaxed when I speak again. “I’ve learned something recently… the strongest people in this world don’t waste their time running their mouths. They act. They take what they want, and they don’t need to announce it first.”

He’s eyes go wide.

“So tell me, Theo” I step even closer, enough that I can feel his breath fanning over my face. “Are you strong?”

A flicker of fear flashes across his face, a sliver of doubt following shortly after. I’ve gotten to him and he doesn’t even know it. I’ve drilled right into his head and plucked out every little worry he’s had and displayed it out for us both to see.

I don’t wait for his answer me because honestly, I don’t care what he has to say. I’ve earned the power in this conversation and I’ll be walking away with it too.

All I do is turn away from him and head back over to where Gianna and the rest of my family is, completely ignoring him sputtering after me

For the first time, I don’t feel like a pawn in someone else’s game.

For the first time in my whole life… I’m learning how to play the game.

By the time I return home, I feel like I’m floating.

Not in a good way, but in the way a person does after being hit too hard in the head—a dazed numb state where thoughts hammer against the inside of my skull, bouncing around too fast to actually understand what they mean.

Dominic’s plan. Theo’s admission. Everything is starting to click together and I don’t like the picture that’s forming.

Framing us, and probably more specifically me, for the murder of his father. Most likely using it as a power grab to not only take over the Guerrero family but maybe mine too.

My stomach churns with dread.

If he decides the Caruso family is a loose end, he’ll wipe us out alongside whoever stands against him after he kills Leonardo, without a second thought. Why bother keeping us around after blaming us for the mess he’s caused?

If anything, the other syndicates in the city will be happy to turn a blind eye when he decides to slaughter us all, no doubt recognizing the “need” to avenge the death of his father.

I feel a wave of nausea wash over me. I need to stop this before it’s too late.

For myself.

For Gianna and Stefano, the only family I’ve ever truly cared about and known.

Before it’s too late to turn back. The only problem now is how?

I sit on my bed, forcing my thoughts to slow.

I can’t panic. I can’t act emotionally like I want to because it’ll only make me sloppy.

I need to be strategic like Dominic, think like him in order to beat him at his own game. The only way I can negotiate with him, is if I have something he can’t ignore, something that will get him to pause and think about his next moves before following through with them.

Evidence.

If I can obtain proof of his plan to kill Leonardo, then I’ll have leverage. Blackmail him just like he blackmailed me. I could use it as bargaining power, force him to reconsider using my family as scapegoats and think of something else before I blew his entire plan out of the water be revealing it to my soon-to-be husband.

It’s risky. Dangerous, even.

I’m playing with a man who clearly has nothing left to lose. There’s nothing that will guarantee he’ll listen to me, let alone allow me to continue breathing after I threaten him. There’s a strong possibility I’ll head into that meeting and be met with the same fate his father will soon enough.

But I have to try. I have to make sure I do whatever it takes to keep Gianna and her father alive. Even if it means dying for the cause.

I lie down across my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

If things were simpler, maybe I wouldn’t have to do this. Maybe I could have been a real bride, choosing a dress I loved for a man of my choice waiting for me at the altar, not because I was trying to survive him.

Maybe Dominic and I could have been something else, maybe he could’ve been someone who I didn’t have to blackmail to be free.

It would be nice to not know a life like this—one where my only use is to be a pawn in everyone else’s games.

But that’s not our world and wishing for something softer won’t save me.

There’s no turning back now. If Dominic finds out what I’m planning for I have time to execute it, if he realizes I’m trying to gather evidence against him, I’ll be dead before I can even open my mouth to negotiate.

But I don’t have a choice, because if I don’t do something now, then by the time the wedding arrives, it’ll be too late for all of us.