Aria didn't remember sitting down.
One moment she was standing, heart racing, trying to process Rafael's words; the next she was on the edge of Caspian's white leather couch, hands shaking in her lap.
Her world had tilted so far off its axis she wasn't sure it would ever turn normally again.
Her mother.
Killed.
A secret.
Tied to the Leone family.
Tied to Isabella.
Her breath felt thin, like she had to steal it from the air.
Caspian crouched in front of her slowly—as if approaching someone on a ledge.
"Aria."
She didn't look at him. Couldn't. "My mother was a nurse. A good one. She didn't get involved in… whatever this is."
Rafael snorted from across the room. "Good people get pulled into dangerous things all the time. Sometimes by accident. Sometimes by choice."
Caspian shot him a cold, lethal look. "Rafael. Stop."
Aria squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't understand any of this."
Caspian's voice dropped—softer than she'd ever heard it. "I know. And I'm sorry."
He reached out, hesitated… then finally placed his hand lightly over hers.
Not demanding.
Not controlling.
Just… grounding.
For once, she didn't pull away.
Because right now, it was the only thing keeping her steady.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.
Caspian's jaw clenched. His eyes held hers with painful honesty. "Because I wanted to verify everything first. I didn't want to pull you into my world unless I was certain."
"And now you are?" she asked, voice small.
He nodded slowly. "Yes."
Her stomach twisted. "Because people are trying to kill me."
His fingers tightened around hers just slightly.
"Because you deserve the truth," he said. "And because I'm not losing anyone else to this."
The rawness in his tone startled her.
This wasn't the Caspian who walked into the ER like he ruled fate itself.
This was someone carrying grief… and fear.
Fear for her.
Before she could respond, Rafael cleared his throat loudly.
"Touching. Truly. But we have logistics to discuss."
Caspian rose to his full imposing height. "I said stop."
"Someone has to think rationally," Rafael shot back. "She's a walking target now. They won't wait long."
Aria stood abruptly. "I'm right here. You can talk to me, not around me."
Both brothers paused.
Then—unexpectedly—Rafael gave a small approving nod. "Good. You're going to need that spine."
Caspian glared. "Get to the point."
Rafael pulled a sleek tablet from his jacket and tapped it. A map appeared—red dots scattered across the city.
"Surveillance picked up movement. Two mafia families you don't want knocking on your door are mobilizing. Both have connections to the man who grabbed her wrist in the ER."
Aria's pulse spiked. "The one who told me to run?"
Rafael nodded. "He wasn't warning you about us."
Caspian's expression darkened like a storm. "Then who?"
Rafael zoomed in on two red dots converging.
"The Camorra and the Vitalli."
Aria blinked. "I don't know who those people are."
"You don't need to," Rafael said. "You just need to know they don't come after people lightly. If they want you?"
His eyes flicked to hers.
"They think you're valuable."
Aria felt sick. "Valuable how?"
"That," Rafael said, shutting off the tablet, "is what we're going to find out."
Caspian stepped closer to her. "And until we do, you're not leaving my side."
Aria frowned. "I can't just disappear from my job. I have patients. A life."
"It's gone," Rafael said bluntly.
Caspian snapped, "Rafael."
"What? Sugarcoating won't save her."
Aria's eyes stung. "I can't just vanish. People will worry."
Caspian's voice softened again. "We'll handle your absence. But I'm not risking your life to maintain normalcy."
Something in his tone—protective, fierce—hit her harder than she expected.
Rafael grabbed his coat. "I'll increase security around the building. Don't open the door for anyone. And Cas?"
He paused at the elevator.
"Prepare her."
"For what?" Aria asked.
"For the truth," Rafael said. "Because once you know it? There's no going back."
He stepped into the elevator and disappeared.
The silence left behind was heavy.
Aria finally turned to Caspian.
"You keep saying you want to protect me," she whispered. "But protect me from what? What is this? Mafia? Family secrets? Some war I don't understand?"
Caspian stepped closer—so close she could feel the heat radiating from him.
"Aria," he said quietly, "if I tell you what I know… it will change everything between us."
Her heart hammered. "Everything?"
He swallowed. A rare crack in his armor.
"Yes."
Aria took a shaky breath.
"Then tell me."
Their eyes locked.
The room shrank.
The world narrowed to just him.
Caspian lifted his hand—slow, controlled—and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, fingers lingering near her jaw.
Not possessive.
Not aggressive.
Just unbearably intimate.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"Your mother wasn't just a nurse."
He held her gaze.
"She was a witness."
"A witness to what?" Aria breathed.
Caspian's next words shattered the last piece of normal she had left.
"To the night my sister was murdered."