What is family?

Chapter 91

Third Person POV

"Until the day we found you, we thought Angelina was a product of your mother's trauma.", Nina said seriously, looking at Arianna.

Aria's eyes widened in shock and her brows pulled together into a frown.

"Trauma?", she asked, shock and confusion very clear in her tone.

Her father had once told her that he already knew Angelina was not his daughter when he saw her for the first time and confirmed it by running a DNA test with his own blood.

He said that he didn't check Angelina's DNA with his wife's and assumed that she was his wife's child.

It was very confusing back then and to top it off her father had refused to disclose the complete truth.

Now that her aunt was saying something, Aria remotely had an idea where this was leading to but she just hoped it was not so.

"Yes, trauma.", Nina said and paused.

Aria wanted to ask what it was, but her brain already formed a possibility which suited the situation the best.

Her father had told her that her mother never cheated on him. That left with only one possibility and Aria didn't want it to be true.

Her heart was thumping loudly with unknown emotions and fear.

Her own heart was confusing her mind. On one hand, she wanted to hear the truth and on the other she felt it was better off not knowing.

Nina looked at her niece and realized that she had zoned out.

She gently squeezed Aria's hand and called out her name.

Getting no response, she called her out loudly, jerking Aria off her chain of thoughts.

Aria bit her lower lip to control her breathing and looked at her aunt.

"Calm down, princess. It's fine. You don't have to know it if you feel uncomfortable.", Nina said gently, looking at her niece's agitated state.

She realized that Aria liked the girl a bit too much than what she had expected.

She knew it was going to be tough to get Aria to dislike Angelina.

But that didn't mean she would stop. Nothing in her life came easy or so she thought.

Aria took a deep breath and looked at her aunt in determination.

"I want to hear it, aunt Nina.", she said firmly.

Nina nodded her head in contentment.

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again in hesitance.

"Claire didn't want the kids to know about it. I want to respect her wish and keep this matter a secret."

Nina remembered what Riccardo had told fifteen years ago.

Her sister didn't want her kids to know about what happened. That was the reason none of them spoke about it in front of their children. 

Vince and Aurelio only knew that Claire was kidnapped. They didn't know about what had happened there and Riccardo wanted to keep it that way.

Nina wondered if telling Aria was okay.

She knew that Vince and Aurelio were smart enough to have deduced what might have happened there and why the elders disliked Angelina though no one ever explicitly told them about it.

Other than that none of the boys know about it and they never questioned about it either.

So, was it really okay to tell this to Arianna?