Chapter 79

Aurora POV

Gianna returns unusually quiet.

Not the kind of quiet that means she’s upset. Not even the kind that says she’s thinking. No, this is the kind of quiet that carries weight. It drapes over her shoulders like a funeral shroud, her silence speaking volumes even as she walks into the room and sits down at the edge of the bed like her body can’t hold her upright anymore.

I don’t say anything at first.

Instead, I just watch her. Her fingers fidget with the fabric of her dress, her gaze fixed somewhere across the room. She looks like she’s trying to piece something together, like the ground has shifted under her and she’s still deciding whether to run or let herself fall into the chasm that has formed before her.

“He didn’t touch you, did he?” I ask gently.

She jerks her head toward me, startled, and shakes then it. “No. No, nothing like that. I swear.”

Relief floods through me, but it’s short-lived because even if that’s not the case, something still happened.

She climbs into bed beside me without another word and we settle under the thin blanket. We’ve been sharing this room the last couple of nights not because we’ve been ordered to, but because neither of us can stomach the idea of being alone in this gilded prison. While we’re technically guests, it’s clear neither of us are allowed to go anywhere with eyes watching our every move.

The silence between us stretches until Gianna finally speaks. “He… made me an offer. Or, uh… a deal, I guess.”

I roll onto my side to face her. “What kind of deal?”

She hesitates, then meets my eyes. “Alek said if I could convince you to give him information about the Guerrero family, he’d let me go. Completely. Without any strings. No mafia ties or a wedding. Just… freedom.”

My heart stops. “What?”

How can that possibly be? Why in the hell would he go through all this effort to kidnap her just to set her free with such a… simple deal? It doesn't make sense. There has to be an ulterior motive.

She nods. “Anything useful. Operations, trade routes, meetings. Anything that could help him dismantle the Guerreros from the inside. He said since you’re marrying into the family, you’re the perfect candidate for the job. He wants you to be his mole.”

A bitter laugh slips from my mouth before I can stop it. “So, that’s what this was about…”

Gianna’s expression falters. “What?”

“That’s why he wanted you. Not because he saw you at the wedding and got lovesick, but because he knew you were close to me. He thought he could use you to get to me.”

God, I’m an idiot.

Of course.

Men like Alek weren’t the romantic sort. They didn’t get captivated by women they hardly knew and moved the world to have them. We are nothing but pawns to them, pieces to move around on their ever moving chess board.

The pieces click together so fast it makes me dizzy. Alek isn’t interested in Gianna like we thought, he’s interested in the power the Guerrero family holds. Taking Dominic’s kingdom right out from under him and using me as the tool to make it happen.

Gianna swallows. “I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t know if he was serious or if it was a test or—”

“No, I get it,” I interrupt, my voice sharper than I mean. I sit up with a sigh, pressing my hands into the mattress and forcing the breath back into my lungs. “Of course that was what this entire situation is all about. He knows Dominic is about to take control of his family and he wants that power. He wants to eliminate a competitor like Dominic before he can grow even stronger.”

We sit there, staring at each other. The silence between us now is heavier.

“I told him I needed to think about it,” Gianna finally says. “I didn’t say yes right away. I swear.”

I nod, slowly. “I’ll do it.”

Gianna’s eyes widen. “What? Wait, you know what this means right? If you’re caught feeding information back to him, you’ll be killed. I doubt Dominic will let you get off easy if he knows you’re a mole.”

“I don’t care,” My voice doesn’t shake, even though my insides are splitting apart. “I’ll give Alek what he wants. Dominic has done enough damage to me to warrant something like this. He… fuck, he sold you to Alek in the first place, remember? He’s the one that greenlit this entire fucked up mess.”

“Aurora—”

“I’m serious, Gianna. Whatever karma is coming to him, he deserves it. And if that’s in the form of me? Well, I guess that’s pretty ironic.”

Gianna sighs, grabbing my wrist. “I know you feel that way but this is Dominic we’re talking about. If Alek actually uses this info to take down the Guerreros, Dominic will die. You… you loved him at one point. Will you actually be able to stomach double crossing him?”

Yes.” The words feel like acid in my mouth but I say them again anyway, if only to make them real. “I know he will die. Maybe that’s for the better. Everything he touches, he ruins.”

“I’m worried,” she whispers. “He might charm you again… and then you’ll really be in trouble. With both Dominic if he finds out and Alek when you don’t give him what he wants.”

I pull away, needing space. My legs move off the bed first, the floor cool beneath my bare feet when I stand. “I won’t. Dominic has betrayed me so many times I’ve lost count. Over and over again, he threatened my family. Blackmailed me. Dragged me into his bloody war without a care in the world. Now, because of him, we’re here. So this is all his fault.”

Gianna doesn’t argue, she just listens.

I continue, the words starting to tumble out faster now. “I trusted him. I thought maybe, just maybe, he could be something good in all this filth. That he’d changed from the cold, callous man I first met when I was engaged to his father. But he’s just like the rest of them. Worse, even. Because he made me believe he wasn’t.”

My hands are clenched so tightly that my nails dig into my palms.

“I won’t let him do that to me again. To us.”

Gianna is quiet for a long time. Then she asks, “Are you sure?”

I turn to her. “You want your freedom, right?”

She nods.

I blow out a quick breath. “I want mine, too.”

Another nod.

“Then we do this,” I say. “We give Alek what he wants. We make sure he’s good on his word and then we get out and never look back like we planned.”

I expect her to argue but instead, Gianna reaches across the bed and takes my hand.

“Okay,” she says softly. “Let’s fucking burn it all down.”

I can’t help the smile that crosses my face.

That’s my girl.