REIGN (A REVERSE HAREM)

5. Roman

"When did you find this out?" I turn the car around.

"Now." Asher says, "Marco messaged me."

"For fucks sake." I step on the gas.

Arabella is going to be heartbroken.

Her dad didn't make it.

"Marco said there's something important he needs to tell you." Asher reads off his phone.

"Well tell him it can wait. Arabella needs me."

"You're down bad for a girl who wants nothing to do with you." Luca says from the back.

"Shut up, Armani." I shift in my seat. It takes ten minutes to drive back to the house. When i walk in, i could hear her sobs.

I follow the sounds, running up the stairs to her laying in my bed, crying. Nicolas stood at the foot of the bed, not upset that his dad finally got what was coming for him, but upset because he's never seen his sister like this.

I know i haven't. I've seen her happy, when she's annoyed, when she's being annoying, when she's excited.

I've never seen her upset.

And it hurts to watch.

"Bring Marco round." I say to Nicolas and then dismiss him.

He walks out, closing the door, i sit on the edge of the bed. I put my fingers in her hair, she sobs harder. I lift her up and place her on my lap, she wraps her arms around me, crying into my chest.

I kiss the top of her head, rubbing her back. That's what her mom tells me to do when she cries. Juliana tells me she never cried. Hardly as a baby too.

Once Arabella finds out her mom isn't dead, she's going to hate me. But for now, i don't care. I'm taking all she's giving me, even if it is hatred, and that's enough.

"You're okay, baby." I rub her back.

She cries into me, reaches for my hand, squeezing it. I rest my chin on her head, an hour later, she cries herself to sleep.

I tuck her under the bedsheets, wiping the tear stains from her cheeks. Then, i head downstairs.

Marco was sitting on the couch, Nicolas looked like he was about to break something and my two friends couldn't meet my eye. "What's going on?"

"Uh... Before... well-"

"Spit it out." I look at my friend.

"So basically the reason papa was shot was because he was meeting Arabella's husband..."

"Excuse me?"

"He... He realized how unhappy Arabella was with you so he signed the marriage papers on behalf of her for a guy. Went to visit the guy and... well, whenever he told him that his wife was basically fucking another man because he sent her to live here with you, he shot my papa."

Nothing prepared me for that.

"You're meaning to tell me somebody has marriage certifates for Arabella? My Arabella?" I promised her mom it would be me she married. No one else.

Me.

And i stand by that promise. Her husband is going to die tonight, and i'm going to be the one to fucking kill him.

"Who is it?"

"Uh... I think... I think we should tell Arabella-"

"Who the fuck is it, Marco." I raise my voice.

"Giovanni Romano." He looks down. "You cant kill him, Roman."

"We'll see about that." I storm out of my house, into the car. I start driving while the guys stand outside, yelling for me to stop.