Leo didn't sleep much that night, the anxiety he was feeling from the events of the day before plaguing his mind. Aria was fast asleep, and he watched her as small snores left her pouty lips. He held her tighter than he ever had before, scared that he would lose her either by death or by his own mistakes of hiding things from her.
He wanted to tell her, now more than ever. However, he swore he wouldn't, he couldn't. The consequence of breaking a sworn oath was death, and that was nonnegotiable, even if he was the Don. It was how they kept secrets in the family, it was how they kept loyalty.
But what did loyalty matter if he couldn't be loyal and truthful with Aria; the person he gave his heart, mind, body, and soul to. What did any of this matter, if he ended up losing her in the end?
She had forgiven him for everything he had done, even if his mistakes weren't intentional. Truthfully, he didn't know how to do normal. He didn't know how to have a normal relationship, how to love someone normally, he didn't know how to act like a normal eighteen-year-old man. He could blame all of the mistakes he had made with Aria on that idea alone, but he didn't. She deserved more than the excuse that he wasn't normal, that he had so much unresolved fucking trauma and that was why he did some of the things that he did.
But he was working on himself, and he thanked everything that Aria was stubborn as hell and had no problem putting him in his place. He was also so grateful that she was so forgiving, and held a heart full of love. Even after everything she had gone through, she managed to love him, her family and friends, and hold a smile on her face. She was still able to enjoy the small, normal things in life and he admired her for that so much.
She was stronger than she would ever know, and he only wished he could be as strong as her. He was raised this way. His whole life was surrounded by the idea that he had to fit the role of Don, of being a fear-inducing leader. She didn't though. She was thrown into everything, even by the hands of his father, and she adapted. Leo would never forget just how powerful she was, and he was damn lucky to have her in his life.
He wished he could tell her that his father planned for her to take the life of Dimitri in exchange for her protection from the family. However, he couldn't. She had just managed to get over what had happened that night, he couldn't possibly tell her that he had known about it way before it happened. He couldn't tell her that when he tried to fight his father on it, Steven had pulled a gun on his own son, threatening to end him and her if Leo so much as uttered a word of it to Aria.
Leo's relationship with Steven was ... complicated, to say the least. He just had to remind himself that everything Steven did was to train Leo to be the best leader he could be. He couldn't let himself believe that Steven would've taken his son's life and Aria's life if he told. However, deep down, Leo knew his father was ruthless, unforgiving, and a snake. But Aria had a great relationship with Steven, so Leo allowed him to stick around. There were also times when Leo found himself truly enjoying his father's presence and appreciated being able to confide in things with him. As he said, the relationship was complicated.
She murmured something in her sleep, pushing her head deeper into his chest. He smiled at her actions, just holding her in his arms bringing him unmeasurable amounts of joy. She was so peaceful while she slept.
He also knew that she deserved to know the truth, and it was just a matter of time until the Russian's leaked the information to her. Leo just had to find a way to tell Aria without raising suspicions of the council and his father in the process.
It seemed Leo had just barely closed his eyes when his alarm went blaring through the quiet room. He groaned, feeling no motivation to go to his workout this morning.
Aria groaned beside him, "Just don't go. I know you didn't sleep much."
"How did you know that?" he asked her.
"Because I know you very well," she told him, opening one eye to look at him.
He shook his head, smiling. "I guess a couple more hours wouldn't hurt."
Leo woke up feeling refreshed but confused by Aria's missing presence in the spot next to him. The sun was shining brightly through the window now, which wasn't usually the case at seven in the morning. He grabbed his phone, and his heart almost leaped out of his chest when he realized it was noon.
He jumped out of bed as soon as Damon began calling him. "Damon, I know I'm up late. I'm on my way to the offi-" Leo began, but Damon quickly cut him off.
"You need to come down to the school right now and bring the clean-up crew," Damon's voice spoke over the phone.
"Where is Aria? Is she okay?" Leo asked in a rushed voice, throwing on the first pair of clothes he could find which was a pair of sweats, a white t-shirt, and a gray hoodie.
Damon hesitated for a second before responding, "Just hurry up and get down here."
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Aria didn't miss being in school, and she wished she could be back at home sleeping next to Leo. She was going to wake him up when she did, but she couldn't bring herself to, especially when she watched his peaceful snoring face. His lips were slightly parted and drool dribbled out the side of his mouth. She thought it was adorable.
Her classes were passing by quickly, and she met up with Victoria and Elena, but Claire was nowhere to be seen. Aria had texted her but hadn't received anything back yet. That was until the 4th period when she received a text from an unknown number.
It read:
Hey, it's Claire, was getting a new phone this morning. Can you meet me in the music room?
Aria was confused but didn't think anything of it because Claire usually had music in the mornings. She made her way to the music room before class began, and saw the hallway was completely deserted. Aria opened the door to the music room, and walked in, hearing the door close behind her. It was empty and the lights were off, which wasn't unusual considering music wasn't taught during this period.
"Claire, are you here?" Aria asked. It was quiet, and the lights were off. Aria turned them on and wandered around the room. "Claire c'mon, I have class."
She waited and still heard nothing. "Ugh, fuck this," she said, walking out of the room. She wasn't going to test her luck with the creepy vibe in the empty music room.
She began walking back towards the large, wooden double doors, just to find herself falling forward when something struck the back of her head. Her eyesight went blurry, and the pain intensified as she groaned out. She quickly turned around, her head spinning as she did so.
The man in front of her was someone she had never seen before, and she knew she was in danger. He had a deep scowl on his face, and a baseball bat in his hands. Her eyes widened as he lifted the bat to strike her again, but this time she threw herself on top of him.
They fell on the ground, rolling around as Aria attempted to take the bat out of his hands. He pushed her off of him, rising to his feet as he stood over her body. She panicked, looking around the room to find anything she could use against him. The teacher's desk was directly behind her, so she grabbed the first things she saw and began throwing them at him. There was a stapler, a container with pens and pencils, a computer, she threw whatever she could as quickly as she could.
The man dodged every single item thrown, the stapler only grazing his arm as it flew past him. He lunged at her again, and she screamed throwing herself to the side. He grabbed her leg, pulling her towards him.
"Come here, bitch," he growled, as she held onto the chairs in front of her. She yanked one of the chairs towards him, watching as it hit him. His grip on her leg loosened up, so she quickly got up and began running towards the door.
"Help me, someone please!" She screamed, but again the man was quick, tackling her back towards the ground.
"I made sure the hallways were empty, no one will hear you," he smirked, discarding the baseball bat to the side, and pulling out a knife instead.
"You can't kill me, your boss wants me alive," she pleaded, watching as the knife moved closer to her neck. He held her arms down with his legs, straddling her body and leaving her motionless.
"He doesn't care anymore, he wants you gone," the man spoke in his thick Russian accent. Aria quickly wrapped her legs around the man's shoulders and neck, pulling him down as best as she could. He fell back, allowing her to free her arms from his hold.
She quickly got on top of him trying to grab the knife from his hands, but he threw her off of his body. Her back made contact with something: the baseball bat. She gripped it in her hands, running towards the man and swinging as hard as she could, allowing the bat to make contact with his face.
The metal bat made contact with his nose, a sick crunching sound following the movement. Aria didn't stop there. She kept hitting his face until he fell back, groaning in pain. She kept beating the bat against his head, not paying attention to the blood flying everywhere, or how she had indented the man's skull to the point where his brain was falling out.
She finally stopped once he stopped moving, but she could still see the slowing movements of his chest moving up and down. Without thinking, she grabbed the knife he had with him earlier, and plunged it into his chest, watching as all of his movements stopped.
He was dead. She had killed him.
Aria sat there for a moment, catching her breath as she looked at the body in front of her. She ran her hands through her hair until she realized she had just coated her hair in his blood. As she looked down at herself, she realized his blood was everywhere: on her clothes, her hands, her legs.
It was as if her body began moving in overdrive, and the panic sunk in. She killed someone in the music room of her school, while school was still in session. She stood up on shaky legs, grabbing her phone that was tossed aside when she was hit in the head. She dialed the first name she saw, and the person who was currently at school as well: Damon.
The phone rang and rang, and just as Aria was about to hang up and call someone else, he picked up. "Aria, what's wrong?" he whispered into the phone.
"You need- you need to come to the music room, oh god. Damon, I killed someone, please come to the music room, please hurry," she cried out, her hands shaking and her heart pounding with anxiety.
"You what? Oh God, Aria I'm on my way, stay there okay," he told her. She heard keys jingling outside the door as if someone had dropped them.
"Is that you outside the doors?" she asked him, as she held her breath.
"No, I just left class. I'm in the A hall. Aria, if someone is trying to come in I need you to block the doors somehow so they can't enter," he spoke quickly. She stood up, running towards the doors, and balancing the phone between her shoulder and cheek while she pulled the doors towards her so the person outside couldn't open them.
"Please hurry, Damon," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. If anyone came into the room, she would be done for. How could she explain a dead body to a teacher?
All of a sudden, the sharp blaring from the fire alarms went off, scaring the shit out of Aria, as she jumped at the sudden noise. The person behind the door seemed to have stopped their attempts at getting in, as they walked out of the building.
She held her breath, still not trusting that someone wouldn't come in if she didn't block the door. A swift knock was heard outside, followed by "It's Damon, let me in."
She opened the door, dropping the phone she was holding, watching as he swiftly entered the room. He locked it behind him, and his eyes widened as he took in Aria's bloody figure and the bloody body on the ground.
"Holy shit," he whispered. "Are you okay?"
She shook her head, visibly crying now as she threw herself into Damon's arms. He held her, trying to come up with a plan to clean up the body. He pulled away after a moment, "Jesus, you're covered in blood, Aria."
"I need to take this off, Damon. I can't - I'm gonna be sick," she muttered, and not even a second later emptied her guts onto the floor. The smell in the room, mixed with the drying blood on her body making her feel faint.
He cringed, patting her back as she emptied her stomach onto the floor. "Please don't remove your clothes," he said once she was done.
"Damon I can't wear them, I'm gonna be sick again," she cried out, pulling her suit jacket off of her body.
"God, fine. I'll give you my suit jacket, go in the corner please," he begged her.
"You could be nicer to me. You're my brother and I just fucking killed someone," she cried, grabbing his jacket as she walked towards the corner.
"I'm sorry, okay. I don't know what to do, I need to call Leo," he said, taking out his phone.
She couldn't hear what was being said as she got undressed. Her hands trembled, and it took her longer to unbutton the shirt than usual. The suit jacket covered enough of her body, and she kept her undergarments on. She was just glad to be out of the clothes that smelt like blood.
She began walking towards the chairs when Damon stopped her. "Stop moving around so much, you're spreading evidence," he told her, motioning her to sit in the chair she had thrown at the man earlier.
She sat down, not sure what to do as Damon rolled up his sleeves, his shirt now bloody from when she hugged him. "Leo's on his way with the clean-up crew, and Charles is locking all the exits so no one can enter the building. He is also disabling the fire alarms. Steven will talk to the principal about sending everyone home, saying it's a gas leak. And stop looking at the body," he spoke the beginning parts to himself, but the last part was directed towards her.
She hadn't realized that she was staring intently at the body until he pointed it out. She ripped her gaze away from the man on the ground, and instead focused on the posters in the room. She was reading over the quote that said Music feeds the soul, when Leo and Dominic walked in through the door once Damon unlocked it. The fire alarms had also stopped, which lessened the pounding in her head. She had just realized her head was hurting, really fucking badly.
"Oh God, Aria," Leo said, rushing over to her, and pulling her into his arms. He held her tight to him, and she wrapped her arms around him just as tightly. "Are you okay baby? Are you hurt?"
That was when he noticed the body on the ground, and his eyes widened. "Damon, please tell me you did this to this body," Leo spoke out loud, not removing his hold on Aria.
"It was Aria. The body was like this when I came in," Damon said.
Leo pulled away and her body was soon swept up by Dominic, who felt his heart break as he watched his daughter's trembling figure.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Dominic told his only daughter. She wanted to tell him she wasn't, that her head was pounding and she felt like she was burning up, but he turned around just as quickly to continue speaking to Damon and Leo.
She frowned, moving to sit back down when she noticed something sticking out from the pocket of the dead man. She walked towards it, picking up the phone that belonged to the man. She placed it in her pocket, walking back over to the boys and noticing that Steven was there now. When did he get there? There were also men and women around her, picking up the man and beginning to clean the chunks of body and spills of blood off the carpet. She hadn't even noticed they walked in.
She was walking towards them, but the room was spinning around her. She tried gripping the chair, but it was as if it was moving away from her.
"My head," she said out loud to no one in particular. "I don't feel so good."
One of the women in the room noticed the disoriented and pale Donna. "Boss, Donna Aria doesn't look good," she pointed out to the men, who now turned towards Aria. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she began to fall.
The last thing Aria saw was Leo running towards her, as blackness took over.
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As promised, another chapter for tonight. I revealed a little bit about the secret that Leo is referring to, but this is connected to the letter Leo received and talked to Steven about when Aria ran away to Brooklynn many chapters ago. And don't worry, everything will be revealed soon enough to our little Aria hahaha ;). P.S. I wonder if y'all are gonna like Steven once we get into it all, lol. Anyways, let me know what you all think, don't forget to vote, and I'll be replying to comments because honestly you guys crack me up with some of the shit you say. Love you all, and hopefully next chapter will be very soon ;).