Chapter 41

Arianna POV: 

I knew the toll of taking down my father would be a large one, and I knew some people I had grown to care about would leave us. I guess I had hoped it would take a little bit before that happened, or if I'm being honest…

I had hoped we could all walk away unscathed, we were the good guys after all. 

That wasn't the case, but I should feel lucky that it was only goodbye for a little while. Becca was refusing to go, but when I asked her to leave so that I knew she was safe, she didn't have much of a choice. I could still picture her flying through the air, and the grin on my father's face. 

I hope the satisfaction he felt was worth it, worth every penny he lost when Giovanni stormed into his manufacturing plant, mowing down any lost soul that had wandered in. I wanted to see the fire in his eyes, hear the glasses thrown against the wall, and watch him start to undo the seemly man who controlled everyone's lives. 

The way they had left that day I had felt a deep pit in my stomach settle, bile in my throat. More blood to be spilled, and more retaliation to come our way. 

We hadn't left the house for a week since they had returned, my father was surely too busy to do anything, Giovanni had made an anonymous tip to the feds and they had raided the building. Finding the red mess on the floor, the drugs stacked up to the ceiling, and enough ingredients to get a whole city hooked. 

What was worse was one too many men had ties to my father, the building was in the name of one of his shell corporations, and his signature had been found in the office. He was being dragged back into court and the judge had placed bail at 2.5 million. 

I hadn't done much with my life besides watch the news for a glimpse of him, I wanted to see him in chains. Maybe then I would feel safe, I paced in front of the television waiting for him to show up to the courthouse. I still felt like he could reach his hand out and wrap it around my throat. I held the remote in my hand my arms wrapped around myself, we had fallen upon this opportunity by happenstance. It would take a miracle to put him away, but if we could do it I would be forever grateful. 

"Arianna!" Luca shouted at me. 

I snapped my head up to the door to see Luca standing there. "I've been trying to speak to you," He chuckled. "Turn that off it's not doing you any good," 

He came over to take the remote from me but I held it away, "No!" I pouted. I had to see this,, if he got told to rot in jail I wanted to soak in every second of this moment. 

Luca took after Giovanni in height and build though so I couldn't keep something out of his reach for long. He took the remote and the screen went black. "Luca!" I growled. 

"You've barely left your room!" He challenged me. "Your father isn't waiting for you downstairs, he's in jail. He's contained at the moment, and we are trying to use that to our advantage," Luca explained. 

I walked away for a second my gut still twisting, my arms still wrapped around me. I wanted nothing more than to find a small corner of the world and cover myself up until this was all over. I couldn't see another body slumped over, not when I knew what could end this instantly. 

If I gave myself up, he would end this. 

What would he do to Giovanni? 

I stopped in my tracks as the horrible image flashed in my head, Gio lying in the street with a bullet in his head. 

I felt like I was going to throw up, I rubbed my arms and kept pacing, I couldn't let that happen I had to see. 

"Enough," Gio called to me and I turned to see him standing in the doorway. "We can't sit here like rats in a trap, pack a bag we're leaving," 

As happy as I was at the thought of leaving, it still terrified me. No doubt one of the things keeping us safe was the fact that we hadn't left the house. Even my father wasn't brazen enough to do that. If only because it would land the police right on his doorstep, and his ass in jail. 

I grabbed a bag and placed some clothes inside, if he took me back to the house on the coast I'd need sweaters it was a lot colder there than it was here. I felt my heart get a little lighter thinking of us holding up in that house. Weathering out the storm together. 

With Becca now gone, sent back to their family, and Giovanni doing everything to keep people in the city safe I had felt lonely. I could only do so much in a day and at night Gio was still drowning in work. 

I wanted to stay and make sure that my father got some form of jail time, and offer myself up to the D.A.'s office, but he had ties everywhere in this city. All I could do was hope, even if it got us nowhere. 

I finished packing and went downstairs, Gio and Luca waiting for me. We got into the armored S.U.V.s and left the city behind us. I felt myself unclench a little as we kept going, I wasn't sure if this was the right thing. 

We were leaving people open to attack by leaving weren't we, or were we moving ourselves into the open? I couldn't decide what route he would take, I was scrambling my brain trying to think of how my father would move what he might do next, where we were vulnerable, and how we could best defend ourselves. 

"If you're trying to predict the next fall out don't, I've been playing against him for years and all it does is drive you mad," Giovanni grabbed my hand. 

"We have him where we want him we should finish this," I told him. A sentence I had been repeating all week. 

"I'm doing what I can, but it won't be easy," Gio told me, it's what he had been repeating all week. He wasn't wrong while Giovanni had built his empire in years, my father's had grown over decades, long-standing alliances, endless favors owed, and influence that cropped up in every corner of the coast. 

Trying to dismantle that in a week was impossible, but I felt the time we had slowly shrinking. Sooner or later my father would walk free, he'd find some loophole to exploit or intimidate someone, he had far too much power to stay in custody. 

I leaned my head against the cold glass of the car, I was so scared to take my eyes off of him because I knew he'd slip away. When he did he'd wash the streets with blood to see victory. 

Even the warmth of Giovanni wasn't enough to distract me this time, we had to keep the upper hand or else we could lose everything. Leaving felt like accepting defeat. I tried to tell myself otherwise but the farther away we got the more sure I became something horrible was going to happen.