Chapter 37

Arianna POV: 

I wish I could have seen the look on his face when he heard the news. The scene in my head was him throwing glasses, flipping tables, demanding blood. If he thought we'd lie down and take it he was wrong. I'm sure he knew we'd retaliate, but I didn't think he thought we'd take it this far. We had him scared enough to involve the police while he was being investigated, which meant he was getting desperate. We wanted to keep our momentum, so we sent a couple of burn crews out to a few of his properties in neighboring areas. 

I should have been horrified at the damage we were doing but I wasn't. I felt a burning satisfaction swell in me, he knew now what he had done was coming up to catch him. He had killed my mother and covered it up, tried to take me captive with his false heroism. I wanted him to slowly lose everything, his houses, his business, and then when it was all gone and there was nowhere left to run I wanted to see the light drain from his eyes. 

Perhaps then this wouldn't hurt quite so much, I could feel pride in myself again. I was the reason she'd died but I would also be the reason the scum of the earth who took had been purged. 

I knew he would strike hard and fast going for blood this time, but what we hadn't expected was for some of his men to act on their own. 

He had headed out of the office early to get some information. The man that tried to attack Aldo was somehow still alive and they had been working him over to see what he might give up. 

I had gone out to the car as I always did but this time some of my father's lackeys were waiting for us, and about ten of them ambushed us. They had sucker punched Luca hoping to get the drop on him. The gorilla at the door had grabbed two of them by their throats as I had tried to get in the car but one of them had grabbed me by my hair and tried to pull me out of the car. Peanut saw to his hand quickly, but another had then grabbed me by the waist. 

I'd spun around and started swating at his head, scratching at his face and screaming as the driver came out to deal with the rest of them. Eventually, I'd got him off of me enough for the use of my legs. Two high heels to the gut knocked the air out of him and he'd stumbled back. Luca came over and finished him off with a bullet to the back of his head off jumping into the car and we'd sped off. 

Luca had gotten me home and into my room to calm down I hadn't realized at the time but I had been shaking quite ferociously. I'd sat on the couch in my room while Luca had ordered more men to the house and soon Becca had showed up and helped me into the tub to calm down. 

That was when I had realized the blood under my fingernails. She'd helped me clean them out and get the splattered chunks of the skull off my skin. 

I'd heard him enter the house from downstairs, he'd slammed the door so loudly. His footsteps thundered up the staircase as he'd marched towards us. Becca was sitting beside me on my bed as I zoned out. 

He came up to me with fear and fire in his wide eyes. Cupping my face and looking over me, there was no visible damage. He'd pulled me in and that was when I had started to cry. 

Becca had stayed in my room with me that night and I didn't go into the office the next day. 

That was when we decided I needed to learn to defend myself. 

Now I was sitting in the gym at our house as Giovanni corrected my form. I don't know why someone else couldn't train me I might be able to focus then. 

"Raise your fist in front of your face," he gently moved my arm so it was protecting my face. "Turn," he moved my hips and I squared up against him. 

I was ever grateful he couldn't see the blush on my face. 

"Put your weight into it," he instructed me. And I did as he instructed punching the bag with all my weight anchoring my feet and protecting my side. 

"Good," he commented. "You should try lifting some weights some days to increase your strength but that's a good punch," he patted my side. 

The devil seemed to be reveling in this new uncharted territory. Did he know his hands burned against my skin, it took all of my focus to hear what he had to say. 

"Try again," he told me, his hand still on my back.

I did again as he instructed, taking my frustrations out on the bag. It was easy to not think of him romantically when we didn't touch but with his arms around me, my thoughts were swimming with compromising positions.

"Yes," he finally took his hand off of me and missed it dearly. 

I had to scold myself, I had nearly been kidnapped by my psychotic mafioso father and here I was daydreaming of my Victorian love affair with his arch rival. 

I need some perspective. 

Perspective came the next day as Giovanni had decided to take me to the range so I could learn to shoot. I hadn't held a gun before let alone shot one, but he was right I needed to defend myself. 

"Your thumb here, raise it a little higher, your other hand here no not like that it'll fly back at your face," he was once again flush against me as he corrected my hand's placement. 

I felt entirely uneasy holding the cold steel of the weapon, this thing could take a life in the blink of an eye. I didn't feel prepared to use it all, like a child holding an axe was more like it. 

"Alright, take the safety off and try to shoot," he explained. "Don't worry about aim just get used to it being in your hands," 

I did as he told me waiting for a long breath before I wrapped my finger around the trigger and squeezed. The large jolt of the gun scared me and I set it down stepping back. 

He came forward smiling, "It's a lot I know and you've never been around them but you'll get used to it. Try again," his voice was firm. 

I hesitantly grabbed the gun again and placed my hands around it as he said. Then I pulled the trigger again my heart racing as the shot rang out. I pulled again. 

By the end of the day I was at least on target and I was not quite as terrified of them as I had been when we started. 

I sat on the drive back thinking of how I had protected myself the other day, it was embarrassing when you thought of my form, the tiny slaps I had used to berate my would be kidnapper. 

Still, I hadn't gone down without a fight, and I was learning other ways to defend myself and those around me. 

I looked over at Giovanni, knowing in my heart none of these things would have happened without him. I have been in serious danger with him in my life and have seen horrible things, but he's kept me sane through all of this. Without him I would still be under my father's thumb, terrified and frantic. 

Even with all the bad, I was thankful for him. I knew life brought good with the bad, but perhaps it also brought the saviors with the monsters as well.