~~~A part of me died on our wedding day. You took everything from me. Whenever you were inside me, I imagined it was Andrea, it was the only way to make your touch bearable. And then you took that, too. You took away the one thing in my life that I loved more than life itself-I thought I hated you from the beginning, but now I know what it feels like to really hate. Every day since you killed Andrea, I have bonded to find a way to destroy you And then I found a way. I knew it could destroy you if you killed Daniel and Simon.
You love them as I loved Andrea. I wanted to kill my children to cause you the same agony I feel every day from Andrea, death. That, hew much I hate you, Alessio A part of me still wants to kill them But today, as I stood over Simon’s cradle, I could not do it Not because of you. They could be his children, and I cannot destroy this last part of him, not even to destroy you: I hope they are his. I hope you will find out for sure and it will destroy you. I wish your guilt for what you did would eat you alive, but knowing the man you are, I can’t even hope that my parents knew about Andrea and me. They forced me to marry you They lied to you and destroyed my life Even though I cannot hope for your guilt, I knew I could trust your revenge.~~~
My breathing had slowed as I read Gaia’s letter to me. I could not move, I could only stare at her last words. I was not sad about losing her. For one thing, I had never had her. She had been Andrea’s, even after her death. I felt a deep sadness for what this meant for Daniel and Simona and a furious madness toward the people who were responsible for this mess. Toward her parents who had forced her to marry me, even though they knew the truth. It was incest. Their love had been as doomed as ours, but her parents had let me bump into an open knife, had not warned me when I had allowed Andrea to spend every day alone with my wife.
A knock was heard, but I did not respond. Then the door opened. Faro slipped in and appeared beside me. He said something, but his words were muffled. He took the letter from me. I let him have it. It didn’t matter if he read it.
“Alessio!” He shook me hard, and finally my attention shifted to him. Behind him, my father leaned heavily on his walking stick, looking furious as he scrutinized the letter.
“Don’t you dare feel guilty, Alessio,” he murmured.
“It was what he wanted. He betrayed you, probably helped his brother leak information to the bikers, tried to kill your children. He’s not worth a glimmer of your guilt.” Faro met my gaze.
“You didn’t choose to marry her either. Both of you were thrown into this marriage for tactical purposes. You are no more guilty than she is.” Yet I heard him.
“I don’t know how much Daniel saw of this.” Dad grimaced.
“She won’t understand either way.” “I locked the damn dog in the closet. He was covered in blood,” Faro said.
I nodded absentmindedly, but my gaze returned to Gaia. My wife had killed herself because of me. I had been the last nail in her coffin, but her parents had built the fucking thing.
“Take care of everything,” I said. “I have to take care of something.” Dad grabbed my arm.
“Son, tell me you’re not going to do anything stupid?” I rarely saw the fear in his eyes, but it was there. “Not the kind of foolishness you fear. It is an act of cowardice and a crime against those left behind.” I broke free from his grasp and turned away. Faro hurried after me.
“Do you need my help?”
“No.” I took the car. Twenty minutes later, I knocked at my in-laws’ house. When they opened the door, I pointed the gun at them. “Let’s talk about Andrea and Gaia.” The next day, the maid found them dead in their bedroom. They had shot themselves, unable to bear the death of their son and daughter. This was the official statement.
Alessio
Slowly, I walked away from the fireplace, facing my young wife. She was pale, her lips half-closed in horror after my story.
“When I married Gaia, she was in love with her half-brother. I didn’t know it then. Her parents did, but they chose not to divulge the information. Maybe now you understand why I was wary of Christian.” Gianna covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, staring at the floor as if she couldn’t bear to look at me. I couldn’t blame her. It was a story that had shaken even my father and Faro.
“Oh my God.” I grimaced. I hated remembering, and worse, talking about what had happened, but even worse than all that was the look on Gianna’s face now that she knew the truth.
“After he married Gaia, he asked me if his half-brother could become one of his bodyguards. I agreed because he was unhappy away from home and I thought it would help. I wanted him to find happiness in our marriage.”
Gianna nodded, without looking up.
“His parents? You killed them.”
“I did. They betrayed me. Their lies cost Gaia and Andrea their lives.” She inhaled deeply, horrified.
Gianna was a good girl. Kind and positive, willing to see the light even in the dark. I had dragged a woman into an abyss. I hoped desperately that Gianna would be spared the same fate.
“Gaia practically asked you to kill them in her last letter.”
“She knew me well.” I would occasionally share with her the details of my work when I was particularly shaken or when she asked, which was not often. Gianna shook her head.
She had said that our marriage would be doomed if I didn’t tell her the truth, but I had a feeling that the truth had just ended everything that had blossomed between us.
Losing Gaia had not hurt. First, because she had betrayed me and because I had never loved her. Losing Gianna, I would not get over it. We had not been together long, but in the weeks of our marriage she had brightened my days more than I thought possible.
“I never raised my hand against Gaia, even then. I would never have killed her. Whatever you decide, you don’t have to worry about your safety, Gianna. I won’t hurt you.”