Page 17 of Dad Bod's Naughty List

Nico Lorenzo will pay for this.

Chapter Eight

Aria

My stepbrother hates me.

Why else would he expose something so personal to my entire family? It's not his place to get into everyone's business especially not mine. Not when I've done nothing to deserve his cruelty.

Maybe I should not have called him out for ruining everyone’s Christmas, but this is cruel, even for him.

I turn my tearful eyes to Orlando. I notice the muscles of his jaw tighten, making it appear as though he is gritting his teeth. I can see the sharp edges of his cheekbones more prominently as his expression hardens.

I want to go to him. Bury my face in his chest and beg him to make all this go away but I can't move my feet. It seems I am glued to the floor.

"What did you just say?" My father's deep angry voice makes me jump and I whirl around to find him glaring at my brother. His face is an alarming shade of red and his eyes narrowed to slits. He looks angrier than I have ever seen him before, and it sends a shiver running down my spine. "What the fuck did you just say, Nico!"

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Nico hisses, wincing when his voice comes out hoarse. "It's not my fault that your darling daughter has been riding more than the bodyguard's car!"

Multiple gasps ring through the room before it falls back into a still silence. Unlike the case earlier where everyone was talking over the other, no one dares speak this time.

My father's narrowed eyes shift to Orlando who is standing with his hands in his pocket and to anyone else, he looks calm, but I have spent a year around this man. I may not know much about him, but I know his moods. He is anything but calm. He typically gets this way when boys try to hit on me and I can see just how close he is to punching my brother.

So I force my feet to move and step into his space, placing a hand on his arm and feeling the tension under my fingertips. "It's true," I whisper, staring at Orlando's chest. Anything to not meet my father's or any of my family's judgmental stares. "O-Orlando and I are together. We were going to tell you about it after Christmas…"

"Shut up!" my father roars, and I feel Orlando tense more under my hand to squeeze his arm tightly before he gets any idea about fighting the men in my family.

"We should speak in private, Constanzo," Orlando tells my father.

"What the fuck do you think we're going to talk about Battista! You took advantage of my daughter–"

"No, he didn't," I cry out before my father feeds doubt into his mind and ruins what Orlando and I have. "He did not take advantage of me. I… I seduced him!"

Multiple people gasp and I notice the red in my father's face deepen at my words. "You will pay for this, Battista and you,"his angry eyes shift to me. "To your room. You are not allowed anywhere near this man–"

"No, Constanzo," Orlando says calmly from my side and I look up to find his eyes narrowed to slits, meeting my father's glare head-on. "I am reacting calmly out of respect for you but when I leave this house, Arianna is coming with me."

"I will kill you before you take my daughter away from this house."

"You can try."

Things are getting dangerous, and no one is enjoying this anymore. With my brother and his girlfriend, everyone was invested and enjoying seeing my brothers fight over a girl but in this case, there could be blood. In a fight between two bulls, there will be blood. And it be just the bulls bleeding.

"I love him," I say, drawing attention away from the two bulls and back to me. "I love Orlando and I don't want to be parted from him. I really want your blessing papa. I'm sorry if I’ve disappointed you and for keeping this a secret from everyone but this is who I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"Shut up, Aria, and get away from that man!"

There is that tightening in my chest again. The pain I feel every time I have to push back my needs to please my family. I have been nothing but the perfect daughter. Trying to develop a relationship with a stepbrother who hated my guts and a father who wanted to control every aspect of my life.

This is the first thing I have asked for myself.

I ignored my passion to paint and went ahead to take economics because that is what my father wanted. Instead of being out playing with kids my own age, I was in a small room learningpiano because it was what my mother wanted; and what good has that done me?

"No!" I snap, the sound foreign coming from me and with the way my father's eyes widen in surprise, I can tell he is shocked too. "I'm leaving with Orlando. I don't want anything to do with this family anymore. I will drop that stupid course you made me take and finally do what I’ve always wanted to do which is paint! It’s something I am really good at but only Orlando knows because no one else has ever bothered to ask what I want!" I wipe the angry tears that streak my cheeks. "God, you are all so frustrating! I am twenty, old enough to make my own damn decisions and not get ordered around like some kid."

"Aria…" My father starts before his mouth closes, and it seems that I have stunned him into silence but I don't care to wait around for him to snap out of it. I whirl around, stomp out of the room and run to the stairs. I need to get to my room and away from the suffocating and tense air in the dining area.

That, and I need to pack my things and get the hell out of here before my father decides to use his goons to force me to stay.

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