Page 65 of A Sinner's Truth

As we’re walking out, Aria stops to talk to Drew. I don’t let go when she hugs him goodbye. I grit my teeth and bear the fact that another man has their arms around my wife.

“Thank you for being here,” Aria says to Drew.

“Of course. Let’s meet up this week. I miss you,” Drew tells her.

“Okay,” she agrees, which is fine. Because I plan to be there.

I’d love to say I trust Aria. I want to trust her. Right now, I can’t allow my guard to go down that much. I’m not sure I ever will be able to trust anyone completely again.

I’ve been in the gym for the last hour, taking out my frustrations on the bag. I don’t know why Aria is acting as if nothing has happened, and it’s driving me fucking crazy. I left her with Eloise and Cammi in the pool. I’m hoping maybe they can get her to acknowledge that she just lost her only living parent.

She has her father’s will reading tomorrow. Maybe after that, it will finally sink in. I’m worried that it’s going to hit her so hard she’s not going to be able to cope. I don’t know how I will handle seeing her that hurt.

I want to make everything better for her. I took over as much of the funeral plans as she’d let me. I’ve barely left her side since she got that phone call. The cops still have no idea who did it, and Aria hasn’t questioned the circumstances of his death at all.

Me? I’ve been digging into her father’s past, trying to find out who the fuck wanted him either silent or just out of the way. Whoever it is, I’m not stupid enough to think that Aria isn’t their next target.

“What’d the bag do to you?” Gabe asks when he walks into the gym.

I catch the bag as I turn around and glare at my brother. “There a reason you’re here or are you just trying to annoy the fuck out of me?”

“Can’t it be both?”

“Sure, put some gloves on and let’s go?” I suggest, nodding at the basket by the wall.

“Pass,” Gabe says. “If you mess up this pretty face, Daisy will come for your ass.”

“I think I can handle her.” I laugh.

“Marcel found something. Come on,” Gabe says, turning around and walking out.

I follow him into Gio’s office, where my other three brothers are waiting. “What did you find?” I ask Marcel.

“Swan was broke. The wedding you stopped was his meal ticket,” he says.

“What do you mean he was broke?” The Swans and the Denspers are two of Melbourne’s wealthiest families. It should have been a lateral arrangement.

“Seems the old man had a gambling problem. He’s done away with all the family money over the last three years. This marriage was supposed to give them access to Aria’s trust,” Marcel says.

“What were the Denspers getting out of the deal?” I question him.

“Aria,” Marcel says. “She’s the heir to Swan Enterprises, and even though it’s a sinking ship, it’s still worth a shit-ton of money.”

I’ll never understand how a parent can fucking sell off a kid like that for their own greedy fucking gain. I hate to think what would have happened to Aria if she didn’t fall into my lap that night at the bar.

When I walk back out to the pool, I find Aria sitting on one of the lounges. She’s sobbing into her hands while Eloise and Cammi attempt to console her. “What the fuck did you do?” I ask my sisters-in-law.

“Nothing,” Eloise snaps at me. “She buried her father today, Santo. She’s allowed to be upset.”

“I know that,” I grunt. I bend down, scoop up Aria bridal-style, and carry her back inside. Once we’re in our bedroom, I strip her out of her wet swimmers and dry her off before climbing into bed with her. I pull her up against me and run my hand up and down her back while she cries into my chest.

I was worried she wasn’t crying, that she was holding it all in. But now that she’s letting it out, I fucking want her to stop. I can’t stand seeing her this hurt. It’s breaking me apart because I know there’s nothing I can do to help ease her pain.

Chapter Thirty

Ithought Santo was an attentive husband when our marriage was fake. Now that we’ve decided to give it a go for real, that attentiveness has increased tenfold. To the point he’s starting to drive me up the wall.

It’s been three days since my father’s funeral, and I broke down. Santo held me while I cried myself to sleep. He was stillholding me when I woke up. And since then, he’s been my shadow, glued to my side.

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