Kissing The Moon Goodbye - A Midnight Mafia Novel

Thirty Six

Alessio

I was too on edge to sit still. Katherine had left, and I hadn't followed her I had practically opened the door and gave her a kick out myself! I knew that if I should be angry it should be with only myself, but still I could focus on nothing myself looking for Sergio again. My own brother had slept with my wife! She may not have known but he did.

I went first to the control room to see where he was on the cameras, he was still here, Padre had made sure of that to this point.

"I have a gun." Aria said calmly the moment I opened the door. Sergio was seated in a chair and Aria was kneeling on the floor between his legs, calmly wrapping gauze around his split knuckles.

"You shouldn't be taking care of him right now, don't you know what he's done?"

She didn't even look over her shoulder, I took a single step forward and she rose immediately and crossed her arms over her chest. "Go up to your old room, I'll handle him." She said to Sergio.

"It's fine, I'd love another round. I'm not afraid of him, or anyone." He boasted and came to his feet only slightly too slow.

"I will remind you both I have a gun." She said firmly.

"You wouldn't kill me, why don't you go home and let us handle each other." I began approaching again and Sergio tried to move past her.

She put her arm out to stop him. "No, I probably wouldn't kill you. But I could shoot you in the foot, or the knee, or the shoulder, or even there, there, there, or there without killing you." She motioned from one spot to another. "And I will ask you again, please go upstairs." She said again to Sergio.

I clenched my fists not willing to accept that they couldn't make contact to his face again, but I didn't press her bluff. She waited until Sergio had gone sufficiently far before motioning towards the chair he'd been sitting in.

"He slept with my wife, my own brother!" I yelled and motioned towards the empty doorway he'd left through.

"You have no brother." She reminded me calmly.

"That's not funny Ari, how would you feel if-"

"You don't get to accept him as your own only to make your story more dramatic, but refuse to accept him when anyone else implies such to make their story less dramatic. Either he is your brother always, or he is not. Which is it Alessio? Will you accept your brother again now? At the root of your hurt? Or will you continue to imply that he does not and has not lived these past years?"

I grunted and took the seat and put my head in my hands. "This was a mistake. This was a huge fὑcking mistake."

"Gee, ya think?" Ari replied dully and took my hand and poured disinfectant over it.

I pulled my hand away. "Stop. Stop trying to take care of me Ari!" Her eyes rose to meet mine. She didn't look hurt, or angry, or confused. She just watched me with a knowing look for enough seconds that I finally lowered my hand and surrendered it to her again.

"Tonight, why were you acting the way you were, acting as though you and I were, I don't know. Something more."

"Because Kate asked me to."

"Since when did you make a habit of doing as asked?"

"Since she was clearly on some sort of ledge and she needed answers, obviously, they weren't coming from you. I've been on the receiving end of your silence Alessio, it's not a great place to be. If she thought me pressing you was going to help her to get what she needed, who was I to tell her no? I mean think about it, apparently she didn't even know I existed before this month and she finds out you have an ex-fiance and that you've kissed her just months before your wedding? Clearly I owed it to her this."