The Heiress' Re Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Chapter 120

Ariana’s POV

My phone buzzed on the nightstand in Marcus’s guest room the screen lit up the dark, making my brows furrow, wondering who it was.

I moved to it my eyes falling on th caller Id, my heart did a crazy painful flip. Part of

wanted to throw the phone against the wall.

Another part wanted to grab it and never let go.

I picked it up.

My finger hovered over the answer button as I took a deep shaky breath, I slid it to answer not say anything.

"Ariana?" His voice ca through.

It wasn’t the cold flat voice from my office.

It was his voice, my Dante’s voice cracked and rough and full of pain.

"What do you want?" I asked my own voice sounded small and cold.

"I... I need to talk to you please, Marcus told ... he told

you know."

"Know what?" I snapped, the anger flooding back hot and fast. "Know that you lied to

for weeks? Know that you have a whole other family living in our house? Or know that you and your sick nephew and your ex-wife are playing so sick, twisted ga and you decided to use my heart for target practice? Which part am I supposed to know Dante?"

He was silent for a mont. I could hear him breathing. "All of it," he whispered. "I am so sorry Ariana. I am so, so sorry."

"Sorry?" I stood up from the bed pacing the small room. "Sorry doesn’t even begin to cover it! Why Dante? Just tell

why, why didn’t you think to tell ? From the very beginning, from the mont she showed up at our door!"

"I was scared!" he burst out. "I was terrified! I saw her and I saw Leo and my whole past... this huge ugly mistake... it was standing right there on our porch. I thought if I just told you you would look at

and see a liar an you wouldn’t want anything to do with , but I promise you, that’s not it... whatever

and my ex had it is nothing compared to us... I was scared that you’d leave ."

"So you lied instead!" I yelled into the phone. "You thought the better option was to look

in the eye every single day and lie? To let her sleep down the hall? To let her son play with our children? You thought that was better?"

"No! I didn’t think it was better...I wasn’t thinking, I panicked and I thought... I thought I could fix it. I thought I could get her an apartnt, get her settled and she would go away. I thought I could make the problem disappear before you ever had to know. I was trying to protect you!"

"Protect ?" My laugh was harsh and broken.

"You didn’t protect ! You made

live with a stranger and you made

feel crazy for not trusting her! You let

sit at the sa dinner table with your ex-wife and your secret son and you made small talks. Do you have any idea how humiliating that is? How stupid you made

feel?"

"I know... God Ariana I know! Every day it was killing , I an looking at you, loving you so much and having this poison inside . Marcus was telling

every day to tell you and I wanted to but I was a coward and I’m so sorry. Every ti I would look at you and I would imagine the hurt in your eyes and I would choke"

His words were full of real pain. But my hurt was a burning fire.

"And then it got worse," I said my voice dropping to a deadly calm. "They got to you, Angelo and her.... And instead of coming to , your wife, for help... you let them write you a script. You looked at

and you said those horrible things and handed

papers. You said you would take my children."

I started crying again. I couldn’t help it. "You looked so cold Dante, you looked like you hated ....You said you loved her that you wanted your real family back. You looked right at

and said all those hurtful words. How could you do that? How could you say those words to ?"

On the other end of the phone I could hear him sobbing. Hard ugly sobs. "I didn’t an any of it, not a single word and you know that. They threatened

Ariana. They said if I didn’t push you away if I didn’t make you leave and hate

they would hurt you. They said they would hurt the girls and asher."

"So you chose to hurt

yourself?" I cried. "You chose to be the one to tear my heart out because you thought it was kinder?"

"I thought it was the only way to keep you safe!" he shouted, his voice ragged. "And then even with

ruined lissa said she would still co after you. She said she would make sure you and the kids got hurt. What was I supposed to do? If I told you the truth, they would have acted. If I did nothing, they would have acted. The only move I had... was to make you run so far away from

that you weren’t a target anymore. If you hated

if you wanted nothing to do with , then you were safe."

He was crying so hard he could barely talk. "Do you think I wanted to say those things? Do you think I wanted to see your face when I said I was taking Asher, Isabella and Sofia? It was the worst mont of my entire life. Worse than anything. I died in that office with you. I had to kill myself to try and save you."

I slid down the wall onto the floor his pain was so raw, so huge, it was crashing through the phone.

My anger was still there but it was beginning to cool down to a terrible, aching pity and understanding.

"You should have told ," I said but my voice was weaker now. "From the very very beginning Dante, the second she showed up, you could have told , then could have faced it together. We could have made a plan together instead of lying to

and shutting

out. You let

beco the enemy in my own ho."

"I know," he wept. "I know that now It was the worst decision I have ever made. I was trying to carry it alone and then I ended up breaking everything instead, us, you and our family and I am so sorry. I don’t expect you to forgive . I don’t deserve it."

"You don’t," I whispered.

There was a long silence. Just the sound of us both breathing, both crying.

"I love you," he said his voice just a broken whisper. "I have always loved you only you. lissa... that was a disaster from a lifeti ago, a mistake but you are my life. You and the girls. You are my real family. My only family. Saying those words to you... it was like cutting out my own soul."

Hearing him say he loved

in his real voice, undid .

The wall around my heart cracked wide open.

"I hate you for lying to ," I said, the tears streaming down my face. "I hate you for making

feel so alone, I hate you for letting her win even for a second."

"I hate

too," he said.

"But..." I took a shuddering breath. "But I believe you Dante, I heard them. I heard them planning andlaughing about it. I know it’s real."

"You do?" He sounded so small.

"Marcus told

you talked. He told

you told him everything."

"I did I’m done with lies Ariana no more, I swear to you no more lies. Even if you never want to see

again. I will tell you the whole truth every ugly part for the rest of my life if you let ."

I wiped my face with my sleeve.

The anger was still there but it wasn’t hot anymore. It was a sad heavy weight.

"What do we do now?" I asked. "They still have those threats. They still think their plan is working."

"Marcus and I talked," he said. His voice was a little stronger now. "We have to be smart and pretend for a little while longer. They have to think you hate

and they have to think I broke you and you left. It’s the only way to keep you safe while we figure out how to stop them."

The thought of pretending made

sick. "I don’t know if I can look at them and not scream."

"You won’t have to," he said quickly. "You stay away. You stay with Marcus and let

handle them."

"No," I said, surprising myself. "No. I’m not running away not from them. They ca into my ho and ssed with my family. This is my fight too."

"Ariana, please, it’s too dangerous—"

"You tried to handle it alone and look what happened!" I interrupted. "We do this together or not at all."

"Okay okay but you have to promise

you’ll be careful and you won’t take stupid risks."

"I promise," I said. "But you have to promise

sothing too."

"Anything."

"Promise

that no matter what happens, no matter what they say or do, you will never look at

again with those cold dead eyes. You will never shut

out like that again. Ever."

I heard him take a deep shaky breath. "I promise my love with everything I am. I will never shut you out again, I am yours always and forever. Even if you don’t want ."

We stayed on the phone for a long ti after that, not talking much, just listening to each other breathe.

The lies were out.

The truth was ugly and painful but it was ours now and we shared it.

EPILOGUE

A R I A N A

One year later...

The sun was warm on my face as the garden was full of noise, the good kind. The kind made by laughter and running feet and the happy shrieks of little kids.

I watched my boys and girls roam about.

Asher and Leo and the twins were chasing a bright blue ball. The twins were celebrating their 5 birthday.

A little further away, Isabella was trying to teach Sofia how to play hopscotch on the patio stones she’d drawn with chalk.

Sofia at five was taking it very seriously, her tiny tongue poking out in concentration.

My hand rested on the round hard swell of my stomach. The bump was getting big now another boy.... We’d found out last week.

And I can’t believe it’s been a year, a whole year since the storm ended.

My father that had escaped from prison, had been the key. He’d been caught trying to flee the country when he was cornered and after police took him to questioning, he started talking.

He talked about a deal.

With Angelina and how they’ve been involved together right from the start, and how Angelo had promised him money, a new life, in exchange for causing chaos.

That was the proof Marcus said we needed.

With my father’s statent, the police went to Angelo and they found everything. Their financial records showing Angelo moving money, trying to weaken Dante’s company from the inside.

They were both arrested for conspiracy, blackmail, extortion. The charges were long. They pled guilty and Angelo got eight years. lissa got ten.

The relief when they were taken away was like being able to breathe for the first ti in months.

Dante and I... we had to rebuild brick by brick. Trust doesn’t just co back. Love does, because it never really left, but trust... that takes work.

We went to counseling.

And tried so much and thankfully everything was beginning to fall back into place.

"Mummy my Ball!" Asher yelled over, the blue ball clutched to his chest. He dropped it in my lap with a proud grin.

"Thank you, sweet boy!" I said, pulling him into a one-ard hug and kissing his ssy hair. Leo saw and imdiately ran over, crashing into my other side for his own hug.

I laughed surrounded by them, my heart so full it felt like it might burst.

I heard the back door slide open.

I looked up.

Dante stood there still in his work suit with the tie loosened.

He looked tired but his eyes found us under the tree and his whole face changed. It lit up with a love so clear and deep it still took my breath away.

He walked across the grass, his shoes forgotten by the door as he knelt down on the blanket beside us.

"Daddy!" the twins yelled in unison, abandoning their play to climb all over him.

"You are late, Mr. Russo," I saidtrying to sound stern, not being able to keep the smile off my face.

"I know I know," he said, looking at

over the boys’ heads. "The last eting ran long, a crisis with a supplier but I tried to get here as fast as I could. I would have run every red light, but I figured you’d be more mad if I got arrested on the twins’ birthday."

"You figured right," I said as I reached out and straightened his tie. "If you had missed it I would have been so mad. They asked for you every five minutes."

"I’m here now," he said softly.

We had the party.

Cake with too much blue and pink frosting. Presents that were more fun to rip the paper off than to play with.

Silly gas that made everyone laugh until their stomachs hurt.

It was perfect.

Simple, ssy, and perfect.

"Happy birthday to our girls," Dante said quietly, his arm around my shoulders.

"Happy birthday," I whispered back.

We were quiet for a while. It was a comfortable silence. The kind you only have with soone when every part of you is at peace.

"You did this Ariana... you saved all of this. You saved ."

"We saved each other," I corrected him, my own throat getting tight. "We did it together."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I ssed up big ti and I know nothing I do could erase the past, but I swear to you id make our future much better than it already is. You fought for , for us. You gave

a second chance I never deserved."

A tear slipped down my cheek but he brushed it away with his thumb.

"You have made

a better person," he said, his voice rough with emotion. "The man I was a year ago... is nothing compared to what I am now"

He placed his hand over mine on my stomach. Our baby kicked a strong little flutter right under our joined hands.

We both smiled.

"You gave

this family," he whispered. "Not just the children but the ho. The real, safe, loud, ssy, wonderful ho. Isabella’s drawings on the fridge, Sofia’s endless questions and then Asher, even though I wasn’t there for you two while you raised him, but god! Your a wonderful strong beautiful woman. Every single good thing in my life is because of you."

I turned into him burying my face in his chest as I broke into sobs, not sad tears.

"I love you," I said my words muffled against his shirt. "I love you so much it hurts sotis."

"I know the feeling," he said, kissing the top of my head. "I love you more than I knew it was possible to love anyone. I will spend the rest of my life making sure you know it every single day."

We sat like that for a long ti just holding each other swinging slowly.

I looked up at my husband. He looked down at

and smiled.

It was the smile I fell in love with.

Open.

Honest.

Full of love.