Chapter 179
Aria
First Person POV
I didn’t sleep much.
Even though I wanted to. Even though my body was tired and my eyes burned and the bed was warm and soft and perfect. My brain would not stop. It kept going back to the sound of her voice. My mother. The way she said my name. The way she cried. The way she said Victor was in trouble. Like that was supposed to be my problem after everything they did to me. Like I still belonged to them.
Maybe I did. Maybe some small part of me still did.
That was the part that scared me the most.
I lay there until the sun started rising. The room was quiet except for the soft breathing beside me. Enzo was still asleep, one hand curled on the pillow near my head. He always looked so calm when he slept. Like nothing could touch him. Like the world couldn’t find its way in.
I slipped out of bed carefully, trying not to wake him, and padded across the room.
The air outside on the balcony was cool. I wrapped one of the silk robes around myself and sat on the edge of the lounge chair. The sky was still pale, soft pinks and golds stretching out across the clouds. The kind of quiet that felt sacred. Like everything was holding its breath.
I pulled my phone from the pocket of the robe and stared at the screen.
Six missed calls.
Three new voicemails.
All from unknown numbers, but I knew who it was. I didn’t have to listen to know. My thumb hovered over the screen for a long time. I didn’t press play. I didn’t delete them either. I just stared and stared like somehow I could will them away.
I wanted to feel nothing.
But I felt everything.
I felt confused. I felt guilty. I felt angry. I felt tired. I felt scared.
I kept staring at the screen like it could give me an answer, like the glowing numbers and flashing notifications would suddenly tell me what to do. I didn’t even know what I wanted. Part of me wanted to throw the phone into the vineyard below and never look back. But another part of me wanted to press play on every voicemail, just to hear her voice again. To hear if it sounded more like regret this time, or just more manipulation dressed up in tears. It was stupid. I knew that. I knew what kind of woman my mother was. I knew how she had always made me feel like I was a burden, like I was something she had to deal with instead of someone she was proud to love. But hearing her cry on the phone, hearing her say my name like it hurt to speak it, that did something to me. I couldn’t turn it off. I had tried to bury that part of me for so long, the part that still wanted to be wanted by her, the part that still wanted to be chosen by someone who had always pushed me away. And now here I was, sitting on a balcony in Italy, surrounded by people who actually cared about me, who had protected me and fed me and touched me like I mattered, and still I was out here clinging to the hope that maybe my mother had finally changed. Maybe the tears meant something this time. Maybe the desperation in her voice was real and not just another play. My fingers tightened around the phone. I hated myself for even thinking it. But I could not pretend that it didn’t hurt. That I didn’t miss her. That I didn’t want to fix it, even though I knew I couldn’t. Even though I knew I shouldn’t.
The screen lit up again,
It was her.
The phone vibrated softly in my hand. Her number flashing like it was taunting me. I didn’t answer. But I didn’t look away either.
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Chapter 179
And then suddenly it was gone.
Snatched from my hand.
I blinked in surprise, looked up, and saw Enzo standing over me. His expression unreadable. His eyes unreadable too, but his body was still. So calm it made my skin itch.
Before I could speak, he stepped back.
And threw my phone.
Just like that.
Over the railing of the balcony.
Gone.
I stood up so fast the chair behind me scraped the tile.
“What the hell was that?” I shouted. “What is wrong with you?”
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t even look regretful.
“You didn’t need it,” he said, voice quiet. Controlled. “I’ll get you a new one.”
“You’ll get me a new one,” I repeated, laughing bitterly. “Like that fixes it? Like you get to decide what I need?”
He stepped closer.
“You don’t get to control me,” I snapped. “You don’t own me.”
That was when everything shifted.
Enzo’s expression did not change. But something in the air did. He stepped into my space, closer than close. His hand came up slowly. I thought he might touch my cheek. Or maybe my arm. Something soft. Something gentle.
But his fingers closed around my throat instead.
He didn’t squeeze.
He didn’t hurt me.
He just held me there. Lightly. Like he was reminding me I
My breath caught.
Not because I was scared.
4oing anywhere. Like he wanted me to feel the way his hand fit there.
But because everything in me stopped moving. Froze. Like the world had narrowed down to that exact point of contact.
His thumb brushed against my pulse.
His voice was low. Steady. Dangerous in the softest way.
“But I do own you,” he said. “Every broken piece. Every dark corner. Every soft spot you try to hide.”
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Chapter 179
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t speak.
I should have pushed him away. I should have screamed. I should have been furious.
But instead I just stood there.
Because his hand on my throat did something to me.
Because the heat in his eyes did something worse.
Because I hated how much I liked it.
Because I hated that I wanted more.
I stared up at him.
He stared down at me.
Neither of us said a word.
My heart was racing. My skin felt too hot. And my body betrayed me in every possible way.
I was angry.
But I was also burning.
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