Book One
Aria Rossi grows up is in a family war between her family and the Violante's. This story follows her journey as a young sheltered child through the challenges that arise ahead.
Lies, loyalty, deceit, ambition, pain, trust, love, and fami...
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I felt my heart shatter once again as the household learns of Aria's disappearance once more. It pained me to realize that, again, she took my daughter from me. After a complete shut down a few days ago, we woke up one morning with her gone. I ran all over the house, yelling Sierra's name but she was not there. I fell to my knees, sobbing. Anastasia came and hugged me tightly as I cried. Draven threw a book at the window, cracking it, when he found out that Beck had left with Aria.
I call Aria's therapist Jenna, demanding if she knows anything about her whereabouts. She denies it though does not sound surprised. In fact, she sounds almost happy. Our next call is to Peyton who says that she and Beck broke up a month ago, despite hanging out all the time. She has no idea about where they could have gone.
That afternoon, we all gathered around the table trying to decide what to do next. Should we try to track her down? Should we track her down just to get Sierra back? Was it even safe to track them? Draven and Aria's father are naturally both huge proponents of tracking her down. I sat sullenly, staring at the table. My mind raced about everything that had happened and as angry as I was, I came to the same conclusion everytime. As the voices at the table got louder, everyone sharing their own views on what to do, my mind became more made up.
"We don't track her down," I said loudly, standing up. "We can't track her because she needs to protect my daughter, your niece, and granddaughter..." A silence fell as everyone looked at me. "We need to act as if everything is fine here. Xander scares the living hell out of her and if she feels compelled to run, we need to do everything we can to keep his focus on us. Not her."
"What do you want to do?" Draven asks, crossing his arms.
"You are going to really start campaigning against Xander. Rally's, training, speeches, and doing everything you can to make him annoyed with you," I say, watching him.
Anastasia frowns, "No!" She snaps, glaring at me. "We're not going to do that! He bombed our house! We're not safe either!" Her hand is on her stomach. Deangelo and Ana announced their having a child in July, though there is no celebration due to Aria's pregnancy which overshadows their good news.
Draven puts his hand on his wife's arm, squeezing lightly. "That's why we have to fight back, Ana," He says softly. "Orlando's right, if we can keep Xander's focus away from her and onto us, she'll have a chance to protect our niece."
Ana shakes her head, "I don't agree with this," She mutters under her breath and I see Draven's jaw tighten.
"Why don't we put it to a vote?" Ryker says, leaning on the table. His fingers steeple as he looks around at us. "We've all seen how taxing recovery has been on Aria. I say we distract the fuck, sorry Mama [for cursing], out of Xander and give him a taste of his own medicine."
