Page 82 of A Sinner's Truth

“What the fuck did I just say?”

“That she’s dead and needs to stay dead. But he didn’t kill her, so why did she leave?” Vin asks.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. We don’t need her and I don’t want her around you or anyone else in this family,” Gio tells him.

“Okay,” Vin agrees.

Gio sighs. He’s fucking tense. I know he has the most memories of our mother, that he loved her back when we all thought her leaving wasn’t of her own doing. He mourned her in private for years whenever he thought he wouldn’t get caught crying. By us or our father.

I remember her, but not the same way Gio does. Seeing as all I remember is her being there without really ever being there. Which means, for me, it was no great loss when she died and I’m happy to keep her that way.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“They’re back,” Marcel says, snapping his laptop closed.

I jump up from the sofa and run to the front door. Gio walks in first, looking like someone died. My heart stops until Santo trudges in after him.

I stay rooted to the spot, frozen until he reaches forward and wraps his hands around me. “I need to shower, darling,” he says.

“Take me with you,” I tell him.

Santo scoops me into his arms and carries me up the stairs, locking us inside our room. He walks into the adjoining bathroom and shifts my weight to one arm while he turns on the water.

When he sets me down on the counter and steps back, I see it. The blood. It’s all over him. “What the fuck? Do you need a doctor?” I ask while tearing at the buttons of his shirt.

Santo takes hold of my hands, stilling them. “I’m fine. It’s not my blood, darling.”

“Who... What happened?” I ask him.

“Oliver isn’t going to be able to hurt you anymore,” he says simply.

Tears run down my face. I don’t know why, but the fact that he did this for me… it’s a lot to deal with. Santo uses a thumb to wipe the moisture from my cheeks. “Thank you,” I whisper.

“You don’t need to thank me. Trust me, my motives for keeping you safe are purely selfish.” He smiles at me. “I’ve experienced loss, Aria, but the thought of you not being here… I will not survive that.”

“Then let’s make a pact,” I say, holding out my pinkie finger.

“A pact?” Santo wraps his pinkie around mine before he even knows what he’s promising. He really does have blind faith in me.

“Let’s promise that if we go out, we go out together—preferably when we’re old, like they did inThe Notebook. But I don’t want to live a single day without you. If you die, I’m coming with you. You’retakingme with you.”

“How about we promise to love each other forever, even in death? I’m not ever going to take your life away from you, Aria. If I die first, I want you to continue living,” he says, then adds, “What if we have kids? You wouldn’t want to leave them behind, would you?”

“Of course not. I’d never want to leave my kids, Santo. No mother would.” I remember what it was like before my mum died. She was beside herself, knowing she was leaving me behind to grow up without her. She was sick for a long time and knew the day was coming, but that was the one thing she couldn’t make peace with.

“Some mothers do. Mine did,” Santo says.

“What do you mean? I thought your mother died when you were little?” I ask him.

“I saw her today…”

“Like how you sometimes see Shelli?” I’m quick to question him. Because let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s conjured up a dead woman to talk to.

“No, and I don’t see Shelli anymore. I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m not a fucking cheater.” He rakes an exhausted hand through his hair. “I saw my mother at the clubhouse we went to. She was there, alive and well.”

“Okay, first, you can’t cheat with a ghost. And second, did you talk to her? Are you sure it was her?”

“It’s still cheating. And, no, I didn’t talk to her. I have nothing to say to that woman. She tried to talk to Gio, but he wasn’t having it. Our mother died the day our father sat us down and told us all she was gone. She obviously left us and didn’t look back.” Santo lifts my shirt over my head. “Now, come on. Let’s get you naked and in this shower.”

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