Page 30 of Blackmailed Marriage

“It is thrilling,” Dante said.

Phillip laughed. “I’m sure it is.” He sighed. “I wish I had another daughter to offer you, but Aria was the only one I had left. If only you’d offered your hand to Isabella when you had the chance.”

He looked at Phillip.

Dante had never been interested in Isabella. He knew when she’d been suggested as a prospective love match. She was beautiful, he couldn’t deny that. He always found her boring whenever he talked with her, which was sparingly.

“I had no idea you were hoping for such a match,” Dante said.

“My Isabella was the most popular catch five years ago, Dante. I had seen you looking at her, talking to her. Yet, you didn’t once ask for her hand.”

Dante smiled. “Phillip, I never wanted Isabella. I was never interested in your daughter.”

“I find that hard to believe. Many men offered for mygirl.”

Dante hated Phillip and as each second passed, he felt his anger toward the man building.

He didn’t like how long Aria was taking and it was starting to piss him off. He didn’t need that evidence, because he didn’t want to walk free.

“None of your girls interested me, Phillip, and quite frankly, neither did you. You’re the bastard son of the Pesci family. You have earned your reputation through blackmail and manipulation. That is all you have proven to me, and why would I want to join a family when the head is that way inclined?”

He saw the snarl on Phillip’s face, but just then, Aria entered the room. “I’m so sorry to cut this short, but I feel incredibly sick.” She pressed a hand to her stomach. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I feel I must go home.”

Dante didn’t even question it. He got to his feet, ignoring Phillip, and went immediately to his wife. The moment he touched her, he sensed a difference in her. She tensed up and Dante didn’t know if she had somehow heard what he said to her father. There was no possible way for her to hear it.

They said their goodbyes, and Dante knew he’d pissed Phillip off, and there was a chance he’d be paying for that all too soon.

Within minutes, he had Aria in the back of the car, and his driver pulled out of the Lewis’s family drive and rushed them onto the street heading back home.

He suddenly realized Aria held onto her side.

“Is something wrong?” Dante asked.

Aria didn’t say anything, but she lifted her dress and then presented him with the file he hadn’t seen in over a year. The same file Phillip had presented him with.

“Here it is,” Aria said.

“You found it.”

“Yes.”

She was so different with him and Dante kept staring at her, even as she held out the file for him to take.

“I had no idea that … you wanted to marry someone else,” Aria said.

Dante took the file from her, and he opened it up to see the photos that bastard had printed off.

There were several showing him having sex with the boss’s daughter, Phillip’s half-sister, although she was much younger than Phillip. They only shared a father, the boss himself, Pesci.

There were also several photographs of him killing someone. All the evidence Lewis had manipulated was right here for him to see.

Dante looked toward Aria.

“This sets you free.”

“Aria, I’ve not used any condoms.”

“It doesn’t matter. You can have your divorce. You can start to make arrangements. Everyone will be on your side, and you can finally make it right for … Constance.”

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