Dominic just shrugged.
“What happened to her?”
“She died during childbirth.”
That’s convenient, Sin thought. The room was silent as she thought about everything Dominic had told her and about what had plagued her since meeting Aria for the first time. “Did you ever meet the girl?”
“My marriage to Aria wasn’t planned until after Vincent was killed. That was four months after Savio was born.”
“How do you know the story is true?”
“Aria told me. She knew Savio’s mother well.”
“A friend?”
Dominic shook his head. “A prostitute? A friend of Aria’s? No, not a friend. Alfredo didn’t trust anyone, not even the nuns. So, when he sent this girl to the convent, he made Aria go with her. That way he had someone on the inside.”
“Son of a bitch,” Sin mouthed. She tapped at the keyboard when her phone rang.
Sin glanced at her phone and stopped typing. “I need to take this call. Go and be with your daughter.”
Dominic paused at the door. “You know where I’ll be if you need me.”
Sin nodded. “Wait, one more thing. The money. Where is it?”
“The trunk of my car.”
“I may need it. I promise to return it to you.”
“I owe you more than that for saving Pia.” He pulled the keys from his pocket and tossed them to her. “Take what you need. Just promise me you’ll kill the bastards that did this to her.”
“Promise.”
Sin thanked him and answered the phone.
49
“Major, thank you for calling me back,” Sin said. “About that favor you owe me.”
She hung up once Major Sterling understood what she needed and the timetable in which he had to accomplish it. She then dialed Shea’s private number.
“How’s everything goin’ down there?” he said. “Did ya find the girl?”
“I did,” she said, “but things have gotten complicated.”
“I figured, or you wouldn’t be callin’. How can I help?”
“How soon can you organize the club for a road trip?”
“How soon ya need us?”
“Yesterday.” Sin explained the situation and their mode of transportation before hanging up.
Having done all she could at the moment, she checked her phone for the thousandth time hoping to find a text from Onyx. Not seeing any new correspondence, she hobbled over to the couch, stripped to her underwear, laid down, and pulled a blanket over her, hoping to get a couple hours sleep.
About to doze off, there was a knock on the door. “Come in.” She could tell, even in the dark room, that the shadow in the doorway belonged to Troy. She could smell his cologne.
“If you’re trying to sleep, I’ll come back later.”
“No, it’s all right. I just need to recharge my batteries. Come in and keep me company.”
Troy pulled a chair up next to the couch and sat. Before he had a chance to say anything, Sin beat him to it.
“Did you mean what you said back in the hangar?” she asked.
She felt Troy’s hand in hers. “I did. When I saw you injured, my heart was in my throat. I knew I never wanted to be anywhere but by your side.”
“You know you can’t change me. My life is—”
Troy’s lips on hers halted her words.
When the kiss ended, Troy whispered, “I love you just the way you are. I’ll follow you anywhere.”
She scooted over, lifted the blanket, and padded the open space beside her. “Lay down.”
He went to lay down, but she stopped him. “You’re not lying on this couch with those dirty clothes.”
As his shirt fell to the floor, she could feel her body start to heat up. When his pants hit the floor, her skin started to tingle.
Her eyes never left his as he stood there in his boxers. She moved the blanket to the side in a welcoming gesture. “Get in.”
“What you still have on looks pretty dirty, even in this light,” Troy whispered as his body pressed against hers.
“Then you better help me out of them.”
Troy ran his fingers through her ebony tresses and embraced her in a passionate kiss. “I thought you needed to recharge your batteries?” he mumbled from the side of his mouth.
“What do you think you’re here for, big guy,” she moaned. “Stop talking and start recharging.”
An hour later, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Sin said.
Deb poked her head in. “Aria LaBarbara is here to see you.”
“We just got out of the shower. Bring her to the kitchen. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“We? Shower?”
“Shut up and go.”
Ten minutes later, Sin exited the library dressed in uniform: tight-fitting, low-cut, black jeans, form-fitting grey t-shirt with a plunging neckline, and knee-high black leather boot with a three-inch heel.
Entering the kitchen, Sin spotted Aria sitting at the table, picking the polish of her nails. The dark circles under her eyes told Sin what she had expected. The woman hadn’t slept. Sin poured two cups of espresso and sat beside Aria, slid one cup in front of her and took a sip from the other.
Aria responded with a faint nod and brought the cup to her lips. Placing it back on the table, she looked at Sin. “I agreed to come down because you saved my daughter’s life, but I would prefer to be by her side. Please say what you must so I can go back upstairs.”
“I just have a few questions.”
“Questions about what?” Aria said.
“Questions about your involvement in Pia’s kidnapping. Questions about a certain contract on your daughter’s life. Questions about who really killed your brother and Salvatore Constantino.” Sin sat back, relieving some pressure from her ribs. “Where would you like to start?”
Aria seemed startled by the accusations. “I had no part in that.”
“Which one?”
“All of them. I don’t know what you heard, but I love my daughter. I would never want to hurt her.”
Sin decided to play along. “If you love her, why don’t you have a relationship with her?”
“That was Dominic’s doing. He poisoned my own daughter against me. It took me years to get her to talk to me again. For the past
