ARIA'S POV
I laid in bed with Leo, as he held my naked body to his. I loved the relaxation of lying with him in the mornings, but I would be lying if I said that there wasn't still a little part of me that was upset he kept this secret.
"Leo, can I ask you something?" I spoke up.
"Mhmm, of course," he replied, sounding a little bit drowsy. His eyes were still closed, but I knew he was awake. His scar over his heart was visible, and I allowed myself to trace over it with my fingers.
"How would you have reacted if our roles were reversed?" I asked. I knew that he would know what I was referring to.
It was quiet for a moment, but then he spoke up. "I think I would be a little upset over the fact that you lied, but I think once you explained yourself I would understand. I don't think I could ever truly be upset with you. Even when you went down to visit Adrian without telling me, I was angry for all about fifteen minutes before I was over it once again. This also reminds me, you won't be seeing Adrian ever again."
My eyes widened, "Why not? Is he dead?"
He sighed, "No, I wish, but no. He confessed something and for my sanity, I never want to see you around him ever again."
This caught my attention and I sat up now. "What did he confess?"
Leo frowned, "That he had feelings for you."
I was shocked, there was no way he had feelings for me. He tried to choke me out the last time I saw him. It would make sense though considering some of the things he's said to me. However, I thought he was just joking the whole time, trying to get a rise out of me and Leo.
"He has feelings for me?" I asked, trying to confirm what I had heard.
Leo narrowed his eyes, "Yes. Why are you making that face? Do you have feelings for him too?"
My face turned into one of annoyance as I looked at Leo. "No, I don't have a crush on Adrian. Have you lost your mind?"
"So you've never felt anything for him? Not even a little bit, right?" Leo asked, and I could see he was becoming more upset by the look on his face.
Of course, I didn't have feelings for Adrian. I mean he was cute, but he wasn't crazy, possessive, and an Italian mafia leader - which just so happened to be my type.
"No, I have never felt anything for him," I told Leo, pressing my lips against his. "He's not my type."
"Am I your type?" He asked, crossing his arms.
I laughed, "No, of course not. I've just been putting up with your ass for almost a year for fun."
"You're not making me feel better," he muttered. I pulled him into my arms again.
"Leo, you're the man of my dreams even if you are a little bit crazy and keep very important secrets from me," I told him.
He groaned, "I'm sorry for keeping the secret, Aria. I could've just killed Steven at the time and been done with it."
I pulled back, cupping his face instead. "Leo, I'm not asking you to kill Steven. You're not going to kill him."
"But I should," he continued. "I should kill him forever threatening your life. This all made me realize that you're the only one there for me, baby. Even when I was sure you were upset at me over what you found out, you still found it in your heart to protect me. No one has ever protected my honor like that before, ever. I will never let a single person disrespect you or threaten you ever again. No matter whose blood flows through their veins."
I stared at him in somewhat awe at what he was saying. This man would kill his own father, for me. It didn't feel right, and knowing Leo, I knew he was telling the truth. If it didn't feel right though, why did I feel my core clenching once again? His lightning eyes bore into mine with such an intensity that I would've flinched away if I wasn't used to this side of him by now.
Why was I getting so hot and bothered by his words?
"I am thoroughly devoted to you, sweetheart. Now and forevermore," he finished, pressing a kiss to the palm of my hand.
My breath hitched as I watched his movements. His soft lips against my hand sent a spark up my hand. Goosebumps coated my skin, and I knew his words planned a large factor in how I was feeling.
"You never fail to make me swoon," I told him, laughing softly.
He laughed softly as well. It was quiet for a moment until he spoke up, "So you wanna fuck?"
The next day I met up with the Amato family heir. She was around 25 years old and had a dazzling personality. She reminded me a lot of Claire if Claire was forced to be in a mafia. I had also received reports from my spies letting me know all of the councilmen were dead. I almost completely forgot about it, especially when Leo did such an amazing job helping me forget last night. Tomorrow the new council members would be sworn in, pledging their loyalty to us.
I didn't know how these ceremonies went, and I was excited to see it happen. I wasn't sure why I wasn't given one though. I assumed it had something to do with the fact that we were at war now. I still would've liked a ceremony though.
Leo and I went out for lunch, wanting to enjoy some time together before the inevitable shit show tonight. We were treated to a private room, and the restaurant was quite extravagant for just lunch. The chandelier above us told me that much.
Leo pulled his chair over to sit next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I basked in him, enjoying the way it felt when he held me.
We ordered our food, and I even ordered a cocktail to soothe my nerves. "Everything is going to be fine, sweetheart. There's no point in worrying about it," he told me, pressing a kiss to the temple of my forehead.
I sighed, "I know, but I'm still stressed. Steven and Dominic are going to know it was us who got rid of the council."
"They can assume all that they want, but there's nothing they can do about it. We're in charge now, baby, and what we say goes. Their loyalty either lies with our mafia, or it doesn't, and if it doesn't they will be taken care of," Leo told me.
"Ugh, everything is so messy," I complained, digging my head into the crook of his neck.
"Life always is. Imagine how boring things would be if we were normal," he pointed out. I laughed at the thought of a normal me and Leo. Him coming to pick me up from my parent's house, taking me to a movie, dropping me off at 9:55 instead of the agreed curfew of 10 to earn extra points with my dad.
Leo might be a football player, I might be a cheerleader. We both would've sworn ourselves to marriage, and gone to the same college. We would've one day had a house, then a wedding, and kids with a dog, working 9-5 jobs.
I shivered at the idea. That sounded more like hell than a dream. Somehow I preferred the life I was in now.
"I'm so glad we're not normal," I admitted, taking a sip of my cocktail when it arrived.
"What's our plan for our anniversary?" I asked him.
He grinned, "I'm glad you asked. I was thinking we should completely transform the house. Make the living room a dreamy oasis with nice pink clouds everywhere. Then, we can have the pool covered in roses, and of course, make sure the jacuzzi is ready. I also think we should get one of those circle beds and put it in a room that we'll transform into a red room type of deal. We'll get our favorite foods, ask that no one is at the house and no one disturbs us unless it is an absolute emergency for the whole week. I wanna be able to fuck you wherever I want in our house."
I stared at him. He was absolutely insane, but I also didn't hate that he was going all out for our anniversary. I nodded my head, "Can you also get a tattoo artist to come to the house? I want to get matching tattoos."
Leo's eyes lit up, "Abso-fucking-lutely. Also, what would you do if I proposed?"
I shook my head, "You're not proposing to me until this war is over and not for a couple more years."
"So what I'm hearing is that you would say yes?" He grinned.
"If you propose in a couple of years, yes. If you propose while we're in a war, you'll be one sad man," I patted his cheek.
"Wanna start planning our wedding?" he asked.
I shrugged, "I actually had a question for you. Did Damon ever mention a girl named Sasha to you?"
Leo's eyes widened, "Sasha? Yeah, he was in love with her. He would go on and on about her to me all the time. Why do you ask?"
I frowned, "She might be a new member of the council. She was the only person from the Carafo family, and apparently, you killed the guy that bought her."
"Enzo? Fuck yeah, I killed him. He was suggesting we kill you because the Russians wanted to go to war with us," Leo shrugged, taking a bite from a breadstick on the table.
I nodded, "Hmm thanks for that. Anyways please don't mention anything about Sasha to Damon. I think she's going by Stephanie and she asked that I keep her identity a secret."
"Damon's gonna recognize her right away. His love for Sasha was very similar to how I feel about you, only, of course, I love you more than anything on this fucking planet and we're better than everyone else. I wonder what'll happen between him and Victoria," Leo said, but he stopped once a look of panic crossed my face.
"Fuck, I mean Victoria and Damon will be fine," he tried to cover up.
"Oh my God Leo, what if I destroyed Damon and Victoria's relationship by doing this?" I asked him, running my hand through my hair.
"Baby, you didn't ruin anything. What they decide to do is their business, not ours. If their relationship fails, it's not because of you." Leo reassured me. I completely forgot about what we were talking about once our food came out. I still hoped no one would feel too angry with me about what happened.
Maybe those feelings were gone though. I knew that Leo's feelings were able to last the whole time he was away, but he didn't move on. In a way Leo and I were a different case, I didn't know about his feelings while he remained dedicated to me. Even if Damon felt that way about Sasha once in his life, he could've moved on. I loved Damon and Victoria together, I just hope they stayed together. Most of all though, I just hoped Damon would be happy, he deserved that much.
"Any idea if you're gonna return to school? I would prefer you didn't, but it's also not my decision to make," Leo said.
"I don't think so," I admitted. "I could've seriously put someone at risk that day. I couldn't imagine what I would do if someone used my best friends against me. I'll just have to stick to online until we finish all this."
He kissed me on the lips, "Don't worry, we'll get our lives back."
In no time we were pulling up to the club where the meeting would be taking place. More guards surrounded us this time around so we could attempt to avoid suspicion about what happened to the councilmen. When we entered the room Steven and Dominic were already there. Damon was waiting outside the hall and entered with us.
"What did you do?" Steven seethed, pushing me up against the wall. I gasped at the impact looking at him with wide eyes. His hold on me didn't last long, however, because Leo threw him off of me in a second.
"Who the fuck do you think you are putting your hands on her?" Leo spit out, his eyes filled with rage. His gun was pointed at Steven before I could even blink.
"I am your father," Steven spoke up.
"That means absolutely nothing to me anymore, not when you keep forgetting who you are dealing with. I am the Don and she is the Donna, and you will respect us. You gave up your position, that was on you. But I swear on everything that if you ever put your fucking hands on her again, you will not live to see another day," Leo threatened Steven. I placed my hand on Leo's shoulder, snapping him out of his daze. He lowered his gun but continued to keep his glare on Steven.
"What are you accusing me of?" I asked Steven.
"All four council members are dead, and you expect me to believe you didn't have any role in their deaths?" Steven asked, his eyes showing that he didn't believe me.
"Of course I didn't have anything to do with it. Why would I have wanted them dead?" I asked, feigning innocence.
Steven couldn't be trusted. If he knew for sure that we were the ones that killed the council members, he could use that to get us removed, have people turn on us. Leo killing Enzo at the time didn't matter because we were still pawns in Steven's game. However, now we weren't, and everything needed to remain a secret as much as possible.
Steven stared me down, "I don't know, but I know you had something to do with it."
"We're in a war Steven, there are plenty of people who could've had something to do with their deaths. However, I'm not one of them. I'm not like you, I don't end people's lives just like that," I told him with a mocking smile on my face.
At that moment Fionn entered the room with his second in command. "Is everything okay here?" Fionn asked.
I nodded, "Of course, I'll have the council member seats filled by tomorrow. Until then, let's begin the meeting."
I dared Steven to defy me, to go against my wishes. He didn't. He just sat down huffing. I looked over at Dominic now. "We need to talk after this."
He just nodded and we began the meeting. "Before we begin, I have some good news. I was able to get some intel on Olezka's whereabouts."
"What do you mean? Where is he gonna be?" Leo asked quickly.
"Le strip club," Fionn grinned.
"He's going to a strip club? When?" I asked, confused.
"Friday night. He's meeting there for some business deal with the Greeks. I suspect he's trying to gain support," Fionn said.
"Well then perfect, we get spies to act as strippers and find out what they can," Damon concluded.
"Are the stripers female or male?" I asked.
"Most likely women, Olezka can't let them know he's avenging a lover. For all they know, he's getting revenge for a leader."
"The only problem is that we don't have any women within our mafias who could do the job. They're guards, not stealthily enough to get in and remain undetected," Leo said.
"Well I think we have a pretty little spy right in front of us who also has friends that can do the job," Fionn grinned at me.
"You mean me and my best friends? Absolutely not," I said quickly.
"They would recognize her in a second. My girlfriend is not going in as a striper anywhere," Leo slapped his hand on the table.
"Neither is Victoria," Damon concluded.
"My daughter will be doing no such thing," Dominic spoke up. I rolled my eyes.
"Then I guess we'll never get any real leverage over them otherwise," Fionn shrugged. "The last person they would expect to be close to them is Aria. I'm sure they think she only stays locked up in your little tower, so it works out perfectly."
"For people who want this war to end so badly, you sure as hell aren't willing to make sacrifices for it," Steven mocked.
I moved to attack him, but Leo held me down. "Fine, I'll do it, but I can't guarantee that the other girls will be okay with it," I told them.
Leo's eyes narrowed, "No you will not."
"Leo they're right. This is the perfect way for us to stay a couple of steps ahead of them. We need to do this," I told him, sighing.
I pulled out my phone, putting the girls on a 4-way call. "What's up bitch?" Claire was the first to answer. I cringed because she was on speaker.
"Aria is everything okay?" Victoria asked.
"Sorry if I sound out of breath, I just got done with a session on myself, if you know what I mean," Elena giggled and my face got red.
"With your fingers or a toy?" Claire asked.
"Oh my God, shush," I said into the phone. "You're on speaker."
"Stop, I wanna hear what she used," Fionn said.
"Whose voice is that?" Victoria asked. "Aren't you at a meeting right now?"
I sighed, "Yes. I needed to ask you bitches if you would be down for a secret mission Friday night. Just letting you know it will be dangerous, and you can absolutely say no if you want-"
"Hell yeah, I'll do it!" Claire was the first one to answer.
"I don't have anything going on," Elena said.
"If everyone else is going, then I wanna go too," Victoria said. Damon slapped his hand against his forehead.
"Yes, but we'll have to be strippers-" I tried to explain more.
"Super sexy undercover stripers? That's so Charlie's Angels, I'm so in now," Claire cheered. "Are we gonna have disguises?"
"I wanna try purple hair," Elena said.
"I wanna see what it's like to be a brunette," Victoria told us.
I laughed at this, "I'm gonna try red hair then. Or should I go with black bob?"
"Oh definitely red, it would look great with your skin," Claire said. "Maybe I'll do a black wig then."
"That would look so good with your jawline," Elena gushed. "I have this hot leather outfit."
"Shit I don't have anything to wear," I told them, completely ignoring the men around me who were waiting on me to end the conversation.
"I don't either, shopping tomorrow morning?" Victoria asked.
"Ugh yes, I need some new shoes," Claire said quickly. "Oh my God, did I tell you guys, the other night Justin couldn't get it up?"
"No way," I said shocked.
"He said he was stressed, but once my jaw started cramping up I stopped," Claire said. I gasped.
"That's why I go with girls," Elena said.
"That's never happened to me," Victoria said.
Damon's eyes widened, "Hang up." I held my finger up in annoyance telling him to give me a moment.
I took the phone off of the speaker, and held it up to my ear, "It's never happened to me either. What do you do if it does happen?"
I tried to whisper, but I knew they could still hear me when Leo cleared his throat and kept motioning his eyes towards Dominic who sat there with narrowed eyes. I still held my finger up.
"Put it back on speaker," Fionn groaned.
"It was awkward, but he went down on me so it was fine. But eh, it happens," Claire said.
"The other night I got 3 O's," Elena told us.
I smirked knowing they were about to be passed by my record. "In the past 24 hours, I've gotten 6."
I heard gasps on the other lines. "You're kidding!" Victoria screeched.
"You lucky bitch!" Claire screamed into the phone.
"Jesus," Elena said. "He managed to get you that many?"
I turned my back on the men in the room, whispering into the phone. "It was fucking amazing. He just went for it. I felt like I was floating."
They giggled and screeched on the other side of the phone. I smiled, laughing with them. I missed gossiping with them. I keep getting so wrapped up in all of the mafia stuff, that I forget about the teenage girl stuff. I was excited that I would now be able to do something fun like this with my besties.
"We're in a meeting," Steven spoke up. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Ugh I have so much to catch you guys up on," I said into the phone, rolling my eyes at Steven. "I have to go for now, but come by tomorrow at noon. I'll have someone set up brunch for us."
We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone. I cleared my throat, putting on my leader's face once more.
"Where were we?" I asked, crossing my hands on the table.
"Can I join your group calls?" Fionn asked.
I narrowed my eyes, "Absolutely not."
We continued with the meeting with Leo mentioning that the Russian boats would be docking sometime late Friday night, which was the perfect time to attack because Olezka will be preoccupied.
After another hour, we decided to call it a night. I texted my lead spies, Cass and Poppy, to follow Dominic and Steven home. I still needed to talk to Dominic about everything though, which I was not looking forward to.
He hung back while everyone left. Leo kissed me on my forehead, letting me know he was waiting for me outside with Damon, Fionn, and Edward, who was Fionn's new second in command. I was nervous to talk to him because realistically, I couldn't lose another father figure. I didn't want to go through that pain over and over again.
"I just need to ask, did you fight Steven on his decision to set everything up that day?" I asked him, not wanting to beat around the bush.
"I couldn't, I was his second in command. I had to go with whatever he chose," Dominic said dismissively.
"You knew I was your daughter, you knew what he planned to do to me and you allowed him to? Why didn't you protect me?" I asked him, practically begging him to give me an answer that made sense.
"No one knew you were my daughter, if I tried to stick up for you they would question my actions. I believed in you, I knew you would be fine," he told me.
"That's the thing though, I wasn't fine. You didn't even see half the shit that I dealt with and yet you say I'm fine. I would've been fine if for once in my life I had parents that stuck up for me," I cried out.
"Your mother and I are good to you, we love you," he tried to defend him and Lauren.
"My mother drugged me! You allowed me to kill someone the night of my party, you both are terrible! You, Lauren, Sofia, Steven, you all fucking suck," I screamed at him.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" he screamed back, pointing his finger in my face.
"Or what? Huh, what are you going to do? Send me away, David?" I mocked him. "You promised to protect me, yet you failed when it mattered."
"You're nothing but an insolent child who has no respect for anyone else. I could guarantee you that if I had been your father all these years I would have taught you better than throwing your body at Leonardo, bragging about it on a phone call!" he screamed.
My mouth dropped in surprise. Fury built up in my chest. "You're right if you had been there, things would've been better, but you weren't. Me throwing my body at Leo is your fault and I fucking love it!" I screamed.
Perhaps I was being dramatic, but I would rather eat shit than allow someone who just barely became my father a few months ago tell me that I was throwing my body around.
"Have you no shame? Don't talk like that," he spit out.
"Talk like what? That I like throwing my body around, that I embrace my sexuality. It's wrong when I do it, but it was okay when Lauren was keeping two men around?" I screamed out.
"Don't talk about your mother that way!" He was so angry I thought he might blow the vein in his forehead out.
"Don't talk to me like that!" I told him.
"I will talk to you however I want, I am your father," he growled out.
"Oh really? So where was that energy when Steven was planning an ambush on my birthday?" I mocked him, laughing when he became angrier.
"You're mother was right. With this behavior it must've been hell for her," he told me.
My face dropped in a second. "My mother said raising me was hell? It was hell when she indulged in mojitos more than her own daughter, when she told me I needed to lose weight in high school so I could fit into the clothes she made for me better, when she keeps leaving me for bum ass men when I needed her the most!"
I had never felt anger like this in my life. It was consuming me, eating me alive. Betrayal was all I had ever known from my "parents", and I was sick of it.
"Fuck you and fuck her," I told him, running out of the room.
I noticed one of the guards outside the room had a baseball bat in his hand. I didn't know why, and I didn't ask. I just grabbed it out of his hands and rushed to get outside. I needed to hit something, destroy something the way the people in my life kept destroying me.
As soon as I made it outside, I ignored Leo, Damon, and Fionn and went straight for the car that the sperm donor would be driving in. Steven was standing outside of it, talking to someone and I walked directly past him.
I angled the bat and drove it straight towards the headlights in the front of the car. They shattered, but I didn't stop there. I continued banging on the front of the car. I jumped on the hood with some struggle, but I was standing on it in no time.
"My name is Aria, my parents are fucking awful, Leo's parents are fucking awful, and we're all fucked up, and raising me was hell," I screamed out. "Apparently I throw my body around too, but guess what, I like to have sex!"
I then brought the bat down to the windshield, shattering the glass completely. Thankfully no one was inside, but even if they were, I don't think I would've cared. I slammed the bat down over and over again until it was completely busted.
It was exhilarating to let loose like that, allowing my anger to take over. Perhaps this will become my new coping mechanism.
I finally stopped, catching my breath. I dropped the bat, watching as it rolled off the car. I lifted my head, noticing how everyone was watching me, guards included. Dominic stood in the front seething.
I simply smiled and jumped off the car, walking past him.
"Enjoy your ride home, Dominic."
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back at it again with another one, this time earlier in the day lol. Aria beating up the car was probs dramatic af but i felt like she needed it, the older people in her life suck tbh. Also hehe can yall see why I'm excited for the next couple of chapters? we're gonna have charlie's angels type of vibe in here with super-secret spy work and disguises which is absolutely necessary for Aria's friend group. also, me and my friends talk this way lol vulgar but it happens more than you would expect. get ready for more badassery in the upcoming chapters. let me know what you think and don't forget to vote. Love you all!