Finding Beauty in the Darkness

by Ash, Nikki

  “What do you want, Aria?” I hold my breath, wondering if she’ll say me, unsure if I’ll be able to resist her if she does.

  She stares at me for a few moments before she closes her eyes, takes another measured breath and swallows thickly, then reopens them, looking determined. “To be independent. I want to work at La Stella’s.”

  There’s a fork in the road. I can go left and tell her no. Tell her I want her and want to try to settle down. Or, I can go right. Tell her okay and lose her before I’ve even had her. My heart says to go left, but my head says to go right. Her working for me will mean she’s off limits. It’ll mean she’s safe from the life I live and I know it’s the choice I have to make. “Okay. If you want to work at La Stella’s, I won’t stop you.”

  She doesn’t smile. She doesn’t say a word. She simply nods once then stands and walks out the door, and fuck if my heart doesn’t feel like I just made the wrong choice. Like she’s not just walking out of this room but out of my life.

  We ride home in silence and once we get up to the room, she begins to pack her stuff.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, beginning to panic. There’s no way she’s leaving.

  “Escorts sleep on the second floor.”

  “So what? You sleep in here.” I snatch her clothes out of her hands, not wanting to come to terms with the fact I’ve pushed her away. That I’ve made my bed and now I have to lie in it…alone.

  She takes her clothes back and sets them on the bed. “I’m going to be staying on the second floor, Giovanni. Sienna and Natalie said I can room with them.”

  I watch as she continues to pack. She’s only moving one floor down, but it feels like she’s moving across the fucking continent. I don’t help her. She comes in and out of the room several times, taking all her stuff, while I sit here, frozen in my spot, unsure of how to fix this. When she’s finally done, she closes the door behind her and I sit in my same spot, staring at nothing, my heart feeling like it’s been ripped from my fucking chest, knowing this is the way it needs to be.

  * * *

  For the next several days I drown myself in work and getting information on Aria’s biological father. Most nights I sleep on my office couch, not wanting to go back to my room—not wanting to accept that Aria is gone.

  I stay away from the main area. Cecilia updated me that Aria is being trained, but I told her I don’t want to know anything. She doesn’t update me on the other girls, so there’s no reason to update me on Aria.

  My phone rings and it’s a New York area code. “Hello.”

  “Giovanni Valentino?”

  “Yes, who’s this?”

  “This is Anthony Torino. My assistant has told me you’ve called looking for me. What can I do for you?”

  “I think it’s best we meet in person.” That way I can look him in the eye when I threaten him.

  “Okay, I’m assuming since you want this meeting you’ll be flying out to New York.” Smart guy…he wants the home court advantage, but a true player knows it’s not where you play but how you play, and I’ll win at this game no matter where we are. Game on, fucker.

  I check my calendar. “I can be there the day after tomorrow.” We confirm the time and location before hanging up.

  “Are you going to tell Aria?” Johnny asks, sitting across from me.

  “I’m going to bring her with me.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  ARIA

  It’s April in Nevada. The sun is shining and it’s humid as hell, but the flowers in the garden are blooming. I snap a couple pictures of each beautiful flower. Today is April twenty-ninth—also known as my twenty-first birthday. I’ll be spending it out to dinner with Benjamin Fields. He’s good-looking, with brown hair and brown eyes, looks to be in his mid-twenties, and is originally from New York, but travels all over opening up night clubs.

  He doesn’t know it’s my birthday and it wouldn’t really matter. While Benjamin seems like a decent guy—at least based on the one date we went on—I’m paid to focus on him. He said he joined La Stella’s Gentleman’s Club to try it out because he enjoys the company and it can be difficult to find a companion who isn’t looking for strings. At first, I thought he’d try to hit on me, thinking I’d give him more, but at the end of the date, with a kiss to my cheek, he said good night.

  I’ve gone on a few other dates with other guys similar to Benjamin—men simply looking for a woman to have dinner with, or attend a function with. I’m not sure why they waste their money to spend the evening with me, when they could get more from another woman, but I’m making money, and based on how much I get paid per date, a few more guys like Benjamin and I should have enough to sign up for a couple online classes. Gio was right. He does pay his escorts well…very well.

  I snap a few more photos of the gardens before heading back inside to get ready. When I turn around, I’m met with a hard chest. “Jesus, Gio! Ever hear of personal space?”

  Gio looks down at me and chuckles. “Are you getting annoyed because you weren’t watching where you were going and ran into me?”

  “What do you need?” I ask, trying to get to the point. Gio has been making it a point to avoid me, so for him to be here in my space must mean he needs something.

  “I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday.” He holds out a small box wrapped in silver and pink shiny paper, and I feel a crack in my carefully guarded heart, reminding me I need to keep this man at arm’s length. He made it clear how he feels and now I need to move forward. Letting him in will only hurt me in the long run and I’ve been hurt enough.

  “You remembered.” I reluctantly take the gift from him.

  “Of course, I did. You’re officially of drinking age.” Gio gives me his signature panty-melting wink. “You don’t have to open it now.”

  “Oh, well, I want to.” I rip open the paper and inside the small box is a shiny silver key. “A key?”

  “It’s to a dark room. I know you like digital prints, but I remember you saying you loved using the college’s darkroom.” I told him this one night while we were watching an old black and white movie, that I love and appreciate the new technology but sometimes it’s nice to go at it old school.

  “You built me a darkroom?”

  Gio just shrugs, like turning an entire room into a darkroom is no big deal, when it is, in fact, a big deal. Most of my life I’ve been given gifts that people expect me to want. Clothes, jewelry, a car. Materialistic possessions wealthy people should want. When I was younger, before my mom met Weston, she was different. She would buy me personal gifts like scrapbooks for my pictures. But the longer she was with him, the further apart we grew.

  But sometimes, my real mom, the one who knew me, would shine through. One time she bought me a polaroid camera. Weston would bitch every time I would drag it along with me everywhere we went, snapping pictures. The camera would make a loud scraping sound as it would develop, the photo printing right there. I would pull it out and shake the picture as it magically appeared.

  I look down at the key sitting heavy in my hand. “Thank you. I can’t wait to use it. There’s nothing like the feel and smell of real photos.”

  “You’re welcome. Do you have any plans tonight?”

  “I’m working.”

  Gio frowns. “Okay. Well, Maggie made you a cake. It’s in the kitchen. Make sure you find time to eat a piece.”

  “I will. Thank you.” The awkwardness that surrounds us is palpable, so I make the first move to walk away, but before I do, Gio stops me, his hand touching my arm and sending a bolt of electricity through me.

  “I have some info on your ex-boyfriend. We have a meeting in New York we need to go to. It’ll be a same day trip, so you’ll need the day after tomorrow off.”

  I have so many questions to ask but hold them in for now. “Okay, I’ll let Cecilia know. Thank you, Gio.”

  He gives me a curt nod before stalking away.

  * * *

  “I have a club opening in two days. I
know it’s short notice, but I’ll let Cecilia know I’m willing to pay double for the inconvenience.” Benjamin and I are sitting at the dinner table. Caesar is only about ten feet away guarding me. You wouldn’t know it unless you knew him. He never looks my way, but I know I’m safe no matter where I am because he’s always close. I’ve spent the last two hours pretending Benjamin and I are at this fancy Japanese restaurant for my birthday but when the waiters came out to sing Happy Birthday and they stopped at the table next to us, it hit me that while I wanted this, to work and be independent, I’m not any happier than I was before. While I might be going through the motions of life, I’m not actually living.

  “I can’t. I have a meeting in New York and I don’t know what time I’ll be back.” Benjamin’s mouth turns downward into a frown. “I’m sorry.”

  “Aria, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing. It’s just a last-minute meeting.”

  “Not the meeting. Tonight, you seem down. You haven’t spoken more than a handful of sentences the entire night.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say again.

  “Stop apologizing and tell me what’s going on.” Benjamin takes my hands in his and for a second, I think about what it would feel like to be on a real date with Benjamin instead of getting paid to escort him to dinner.

  “Today’s my birthday,” I blurt out.

  His eyebrows raise in shock. “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Because I don’t get paid to celebrate my birthday.” I pull my hand out of his. “I’m twenty-one today and my life is nothing like I pictured it would be.”

  “How did you picture it?”

  “In college, majoring in photography. Maybe traveling to Italy for the summer. Dating and hanging out with friends. Visiting art museums and taking tons of pictures to commemorate each new chapter of my life.” I’m not sure why I’m telling Benjamin all this. Maybe because he’s an outsider and I don’t have any feelings one way or another for him.

  “I went through some stuff recently and I’m finally ready to move forward with my life. Start living again. But it feels like I’m hitting one obstacle after the next.”

  “Then you should start living,” he says. “Life’s too short to not live it how you want to.”

  Those are my thoughts exactly, so why haven’t I started living my life with that mindset?

  We finish our dinner and Benjamin pays the check. A twenty-minute ride in silence later and he drops me off at the front door. He leans in close, his lips grazing my cheek softly. “Good night, Aria. Good luck on living your life.” He steps back, and with a wink, walks back toward his vehicle. He didn’t say it, but I can tell by finality in his words, I won’t be seeing him again.

  I walk inside and find Cecilia sitting at the bar. I sit next to her and ask Emilio for a Jack and Coke.

  “Aren’t you a little young to be drinking such an adult drink?” God, this woman is such a bitch.

  “I’m twenty-one today.” I take my drink Emilio placed in front of me and lift it up, giving Cecilia a fake cheers before I down half the glass. I set it on the bar top and glance at her. “I want to change my profile. I want to add an option to it.”

  “Oh yeah? And what would you like to add?”

  “Sex. I’m willing to have sex.”

  * * *

  The plane ride to New York is five hours. Gio and I are sitting next to each other in first class and for the first four hours, I read my book while he works on his laptop. Exactly one hour before the plane is scheduled to land, he puts it away and turns to me. “Before we arrive, I need to explain to you what I found out and my theories. You need to know what’s going on before we walk through those doors.”

  I click off my iPad and close the case slowly. “Okay, you have my attention.”

  “Antonio Torino, your ex-boyfriend, is the son of Anthony Torino. His father is a well-known leader.” He says leader, but I know what he means. He’s a mob boss for another organization.

  “Okay.” Gio pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to me. “My birth certificate?”

  “Take a look at who’s listed under your father.”

  “Angelo Moretti. I’ve never seen this before. Is this my dad?” All this time, my father’s identity has been written in black and white on my birth certificate. No wonder my mom never gave it to me.

  “It would make sense. You said your mom insisted your dad’s life was too dangerous. Angelo Moretti was huge in the mob.”

  “Was?”

  “He was killed eight months before your mom died.” My heart tightens and hot tears burn my lids, not necessarily for a man I never knew but for a man I would never know.

  “Anthony and Angelo were business partners. Your father was worth millions, possibly even billions, before he died. When did you start dating Antonio?” I think back to when I met him. It was about a month into my Sophomore year. My mom died the first week of May… Eight months before that would be… I gasp loudly, causing someone in the row next to us to glare. “September. He showed up in September, eight months before my mom died. But why?”

  “My theory is your dad had shares in the company, and when he died, they had to go to somebody or Anthony would get the entire company. My guess is they went to you, only you didn’t know. We also found an envelope with attorney information on it. He’s based in New York. I placed a call to him and I’m waiting to hear back.”

  “But why would Antonio date me? It doesn’t make sense. He never once asked me anything regarding my dad. To be honest, we weren’t even that serious.”

  “I’m not sure, Ari. But hopefully we’ll get some answers today.”

  A thirty-minute cab ride later, and we arrive at a building that reads Torino Real Estate.

  “Let me do the talking, okay?” Gio says.

  I nod in agreement, while glancing around. It feels like I’m being watched, but I’m not sure why…

  “Rome and Caesar are here,” Gio whispers, answering my silent question, and I feel my shoulders sag in relief.

  When we get to the top floor, Gio lets the secretary know we’re here to see Mr. Torino. She escorts us to the room and when I walk in, I come face-to-face with Antonio Torino. I gasp for the second time today louder than planned. Gio takes my hand and gives it a comforting squeeze.

  “Gentlemen. I don’t believe we need to make introductions. After all, Aria dated Antonio, for what, eight months?” Gio has slipped into business mode. His voice is cold and calculating, his face devoid of all emotion. It’ll never cease to amaze me how he can so easily switch from hot to cold.

  He sets his briefcase down and pops open the locks, taking some papers out. “Anthony, before I begin to share with you my theory, would you care to explain anything?”

  “Giovanni, why don’t we have a seat?” Anthony gestures to the conference table which seats probably twenty people easily.

  “We could, but I don’t expect to be here long enough to waste my time getting comfortable. Why don’t we just cut to the chase? You have shares of Aria’s that belong to her. Either you give them back or I’m going to dismantle your entire life piece by piece, starting with your organization and ending with this business.” Gio waves his arm in the air to emphasize his point.

  “You motherfucker!” Antonio seethes. His father holds him back and Gio laughs, only it comes out dark and sinister, sending a chill up my spine.

  “Looks like I hit the nail on the head.” Gio turns to me. “Before we proceed, Aria, do you want to be a part of this business? Does real estate interest you?” He knows it doesn’t, but I go along with his question.

  “No, I don’t want any part of this business.”

  “Very well. Mr. Torino, I have put a call into Angelo Moretti’s attorney. He’ll be getting back to me with the specifics of the will and when he does, I’ll know exactly how many shares Aria owns.”

  “She signed them over to me!” Anthony booms, his fist slamming down on the table.

  “No, she did
n’t. Weston did. What I want to know is why? There’s a couple pieces to the puzzle I’m missing. Maybe you would care to fill me in?” When Anthony doesn’t speak, Gio adds, “Keep in mind, your company and organization are at stake here. Now is not the time to stay tight-lipped.”

  And with that, Anthony sings like a canary. “I built this goddamned company from the ground up! And what did Angelo do? He left his half to his daughter! A daughter he didn’t even know. They should have been left to me.”

  “So, you what, had her kidnapped and forced her to sign?”

  “No, that was all Hightower. When I approached him after finding out about the will, I offered him a finder’s fee if he could get his wife to sign over the shares. Five months later she died, and a month after that, Aria signed over her rights.”

  “Where does your son fit into all of this?”

  “He was keeping tabs on her…until her mom died. Then he took her and delivered her to the senator in exchange for her signature.”

  My eyes go to Antonio. “You’re the one who kidnapped me?” My voice raises several octaves with each word I spit out.

  “You didn’t really think I was in love with you or some shit, did you? You were nothing more than a decent fuck to pass the time with until we got the business of the shares handled.” No, I didn’t think he was in love with me. I sure as hell wasn’t in love with him, but damn, how did I misjudge his character so badly?

  Gio stalks toward Antonio and grabs him by his shirt. He shoves him up against a wall and punches him straight in the jaw. Antonio’s face jerks to the side, his lip gushing out blood. Anthony’s guards, as well as Caesar and Rome, run into the room, prepared to defend their bosses.