Page 38 of Wicked Union

The entire block is lit up with flashing lights and spotlights from the tops of cars and trucks. In the chaos, it's easy for us to slip through unnoticed, and when we get to the front of the house across the street, I see Hector standing next to an EMT with an oxygen mask on his face. Aria notices him at the same time, and I can't even restrain her. She's a wild animal, tearing past the crowd to crash into him.

"Papa," she sobs, clinging to the older man's chest. She nearly knocks him over with the force of her hug, and he lowers the mask to wrap his arms around her.

"Aria…" Hector coughs, and Aria pulls away when the EMT puts the mask back on his face.

"Papa, where's Mammina?" She stands back as the EMT straps the plastic tubing down around Hector's jawline and neck, securing the mask with elastic straps around his ears. As he speaks, the mask fogs.

"She's going to the hospital. She has a few burns and cuts. I have to stay here, find my men." His coughing rivals my father's. He doubles over, and the EMT forces him to back up and sit on the wide bumper of the ambulance. Aria stumbles along with him, trying to cling to him and fawn over him.

"Aria, you should go." I look up at the ambulance with the EMTs working on someone and know it has to be her mother. "Go to the hospital with your mother."

Her eyes are full of fire as she stares up at me. The same anger that heated her gaze at home is there, defiant and burning through my soul. "I'm staying here with my father. They won't let me ride with her anyway, and she'll be getting treatment for a while. I can go in a little bit." Her harsh tone warns me that I'm going to get nowhere, but I have to try. This place isn't safe. If the Uhkovs are anywhere close, there could be a shootout, and I need her to be away from here.

"Tony will drive you."

"No," she says sternly and glares at me. "I'm staying here. We will find who did this and we will take them down together, and don't cross me, Mr. Ramiro. If you do, you won't live to regret it."

Even Hector is surprised by his daughter's outburst. His eyebrows rise and I see him struggling to breathe. He takes her hand and gently pats it.

"Aria, please listen to your husband. He's only trying to keep you safe." The words are muffled through the mask, but I know shehears them. Her shoulders droop a little then stiffen again as she stands.

"I will do whatever he says, but here, not at the hospital. I have to know how this happened and why. It was Uhkov, wasn't it?" She keeps hold of his hand, and he nods.

"Find Nigel and he will help you. My men, they're at your disposal, Tito. Perhaps I'll let them take me to the hospital. With you in charge, I trust things will be handled."

Aria looks hesitant at her father's words, the same hesitation I noticed in Jasper's expression before his death when he protested our financial merger. She fears my leadership of her father's family, and for good reason. She still believes I'll take over, and she has no clue I've had a change of heart, how good this will be to truly merge our families and eventually become one by blood, not by force.

"You have my word, as a man of my honor, Father." When I call him that, Aria looks up at me with pain and confusion in her eyes. "I will protect your daughter, my wife, and I will find who did this. They will pay." Only this woman could do to me what is happening, my heart changing, my loyalty shifting. Seeing how she loves her family makes me love her family as much as I love her.

"Sir, let's get you into the ambulance. You're going to need more rest…" The EMT takes over, pulling Hector away from us, and I walk away, heading out to look for Nigel, one of Hector's top men. Aria stomps along beside me, her feet slapping the pavement.

"Why did you say that? Who are you trying to fool?" She's hurt and angry. She still thinks I’m manipulating him. I will only prove my altruism by action, not by words.

"Why do you question everything I do? When will you trust me?" I continue moving with purpose, seeing Nigel's face in the distance among a cluster of Peralta family members just on the other side of the police barriers.

"When do you trust a snake?" she hisses, and I stop short and turn around so fast that she runs into my chest. I grab her by the biceps and shake her hard.

"This is my territory, Aria. If you can’t trust me, at least have the decency to respect me and your father. He trusts me, and for good reason." I'm angry, but I know she's going through things. "I fucking love you, alright?" My voice is low, a gravelly anger seeping through my tone. "I never intended to kill Jasper. If I wanted him dead, I'd have taken full credit immediately and owned your family and you by force. But I haven't done that. And I won't."

She trembles, then her lip quivers. Then she turns away from me and dry heaves, bending toward the pavement and coughing as nothing comes up, but her body doesn't stop. The emotion overwhelms her so much, her body has symptoms, and I hate this but I can't stop it. I stand next to her with my hand on her back until she rights herself and nods at me.

"Are you okay?" I ask sternly, as if she were one of my men, not my wife. Because right now, in this situation, she's one of the guys and she has to be treated as such.

"I'm fine," she growls. "Let’s find and kill those bastards."

When we start moving again, I know it's as a unit. The two of us have one purpose, to recompense the evil perpetrated on our family. And we won't go home without vengeance on our plate.

We approach her family who all look to me with expectation. They've seen me around enough to know who I am and that Don Hector trusts me. For now, they've lost their leader, and they have to collect themselves to move forward. But what I don’t expect is the warm welcome I receive.

They all shake my hand and ask me for direction, and I have no trouble issuing it. "Tonight, we're going hunting. The men who are responsible will pay, and we will avenge our trusted leader and friend, Don Hector Peralta."

A cheer goes up and draws a little attention from the police, but we're not backing down. With Aria by my side, I'll lead them into battle and come out victorious. And if not, I'll die trying.

29

ARIA

For a moment, I thought Tito was going to impose his will on me, make me go with my parents to the hospital. But here I am, seated next to him in the back of his car while his men drive us into battle. If I hadn't known about Peter's family, we'd be going nowhere, so Tito really had no choice but to bring me along. I'm the one with inside information—me and Carlos, apparently. I don't know how Tito will react when he learns that. I don’t even have the details, but something tells me tonight, we'll uncover the truth ourselves.

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