29

29

Isabella's POV

I awoke with an ominous burden on my chest. Victor was to hand over the papers I had lifted to ruin Aaron. Today was the day that I was going to watch the man that I was slowly falling in love with be ambushed and humiliated because of my betrayal.

The sunlight in the morning coming in through my bedroom windows felt like a taunt. It should have been a dark, stormy morning to match the chaos about to unfold, not a picturesque autumn day that made everything look calm and normal.
I made myself get dressed for the day, settling on a simple black dress that felt right for what was set to be a funeral, the death of the trust and affection that had blossomed between Aaron and me.

I came down to the breakfast room to find Aaron, already dressed in one of his ridiculously tailored suits, going through some papers, sipping his coffee.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he replied, smiling up at me as if there was nothing on this earth more heartwarming.

"Morning."

"You're up early. Sleep well?"

"Not really." At least that was honest.

Aaron put his papers aside and looked intently at me. "You look pale. Are you feeling alright?"

"Just tired."

He rose, going to my chair, holding the back of his hand to my forehead to assess fever. The gesture was so tender, so defensive, that I had to bite my lip to keep from crying.

"No fever," he said gently. "But you've seemed down to me lately. Perhaps you should find a doctor.”

"I'm fine, Aaron. Really."

"If you say so. But I worry about you."

He kissed the top of my head and walked back to his seat as I spoke to squelch down the rising swell of guilt. He was about to be destroyed and concerned with my health.

"Whatcha doing today?" Was my response, trying to sound casual.

“Some business meetings, nothing very interesting. Well, I do have a rather crucial family re-­unification tonight."

My stomach dropped. "Family gathering?"

“Just a few talks with the elders on syndicate business. Routine stuff, but necessary."

Routine. He figured tonight’s meeting would be routine business. He didn't know that Victor had set the whole scam up to humiliate him.

"Will it run late?" I asked.

"Probably. You don’t have to wait for me.”

"Would you perhaps like me to come with you, then?” I ventured cautiously. You know, as your wife. Show that we're united."

Aaron looked surprised but pleased. "I'd like that. Although I have to tell you, these meetings can get really boring.”

"I don't mind."

“Then you know what, yes, absolutely, I would be honored to have you there with me.”

The irony was devastating. Aaron was so flattered to have me on his arm for the meeting during which I was going to help Victor destroy him.

Aaron left to go into the office after breakfast anyway, kissing me good-bye so lovingly that I nearly called out to make him turn back, nearly made my confession to him that very instant in the entrance-way of our home. Instead, he drove away from me, one imagines, for the last time in life as a truster of me.

I spent the morning pacing in my room like some caged beast, glancing at the clock every few moments. Victor had told me to meet him one more time, right before the nightly meeting, so that we could go through the plan and so that I would know what to do during Aaron's fall from grace.

At noon, I got into the car and headed for our usual coffee shop, feeling as if I were driving to my own execution.

Victor was there waiting for me, and he looked more excited and sure of himself than I’d seen him in months. He burst his cheeks as I sat down, he was jiggling in his chair.

“It’s time,” he said, smiling. "Are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I can be."

"You don't look ready. You look terrified."

"I'm nervous. This is a big deal, Victor. We’re talking about ruining Aaron’s — his career, his life, possibly his life.”

"We are discussing stopping a traitor and saving our family from his influence," Victor corrected him. “Isabella, you can’t pussy out now. Too much is riding on this."

“Just let me know what’s really going to happen tonight.

"It's simple. The session will begin with the usual family business, news about territories and operations. Then I’m going to stand up and say we have disloyalty among our leadership.”

"And then?"

"'And afterwards, when you bring me the message that you have secured, then I will give you these other papers which you captured. I’ll show everyone that Aaron’s been in clandestine talks with American crime families, throwing the Italians under the bus at the expense of the American salesmen.”

I felt the bile rise in my throat as I pictured it - Aaron's expression when he found out he was being set up, the surprise and betrayal in his eyes when he saw me sitting there, backing the lies about him.

“What happens next when you exhibit the documents?”

"The family elders will vote. "They will depose Aaron as head of operations, and they will likely cast him out of the family."

"Exile?"

“Or worse, if they’re mad enough about his betrayals.”

Worse. Victor was speaking positively about Aaron getting killed and he appeared excited by the prospect.

“And what do I have to do with all that?”

“You’ll be there as Aaron’s wife, and that will make your support of the evidence against him even more” ll damning. And when the woman who ought to be his truest supporter acknowledges he is guilty, there can be no doubting the truth."

“Victor, what if I can’t do it? What if I can't publicly betray Aaron in that way?"

Victor's expression darkened. "You can and you will. Isabella, we’ve gone too far to back down. Plus, you don’t have a choice.”

“What do you mean, I have no choice?”

“Because some guys I promised something are coming to the meeting tonight and expect me to pay up. Northern syndicate reps that have been guaranteed Aaron Romano are going out tonight.”

“You brought strangers to a family gathering?”

“I have brought allies who are interested in removing Aaron from the throne. People who I can ensure better territorial arrangements for once I take control.”

Victor’s betrayal was even larger than I knew. He wasn’t just trying to displace Aaron from family control — he was looking to deliver family business to warring factions of various syndicates.

"Victor, that sounds like treason."

"That sounds like progress. Isabella, the old school isn’t working anymore. We need new partnerships, new approaches.”

“And all we had to do was sell out our own family?”

“By protecting our family from the incompetence and corruption of Aaron.”

I looked at him, struggling to see the man whom I had thought I had loved. This wasn’t the charming, romantic Victor who’d swept me off my feet on yacht parties and secret adventures. Indeed, this was a cold and calculating person, one who would manipulate his own brother and family in order to seize power.

“I’d better go,” I said, standing.

"Isabella, wait." Victor caught my wrist. "I need to be sure that you are with this. You won’t lose your nerve tonight.”

"I won't lose my nerve."

"Good. For if you attempt to alert Aaron or undermine this in any way, there will be repercussions.”

"What kind of consequences?"

"The type that would be really uncool for you. Remember, Isabella — you are the one who stole these documents.” You’re the one who’s been spying on Aaron for months. If this doesn’t work, you’ll sink with me.”

The threat was clear. Victor wasn’t simply requesting my cooperation — he was blackmailing me into it.

"I understand."

"I hope you do. Because after tonight, everything changes. Aaron will be dead, I’ll run things, and we’ll finally be together the way we were always intended to be.”

Victor's words still haunted me on the way back to Mass. He was thinking of shooting Aaron dead instead of merely defanging him. And he proposed that I stand there and have it be done to me, to grin and bear it as my husband was taken from me.

When I reached the mansion, Aaron was in his study at his desk alone. He glanced at me when I came in, and his whole face lighted with pleasure at the sight of me.

"There's my beautiful wife. How was your afternoon?"

"Fine. Just some errands."

"Good. I was hoping we could have some alone time before we have to go to the meeting tonight.”

"Aaron, about tonight..."

"Yes?"

“Perhaps I should not go after all. Family business should, perhaps, remain within the family.”

"Isabella, you are family now. You’re my wife, and I want you here.”

My heart filled with a screeching sound of pride when he uttered to me his wife. He was that naive, that secure in my fidelity, and I was that close to discarding him in the most public way I could imagine.

“And anyway,” Aaron went on, “we’re the united team now. Tonight’s meeting is big, and having you there proves to everyone that the Romano family is a solid front, which starts with family.”

Strong and stable. The family was coming apart, and I was one of the people holding the knife.
“When do we have to be out of here?” I asked weakly.

"Seven o'clock. The meeting starts at eight."

I glanced at the clock on his desk. It was already five-thirty. In under two hours, we'd be wandering into Victor's snare.

“I’d better go get ready,” I said.

"Isabella?" Just as I reached the door Aaron yelled.
"Yes?"

"Thanks for tonight, "He said as I lifted his arm, crossing it with my neck. It really means the world to me to have your support.”

Your support. The words stabbed me in the heart.

"Of course," I managed. "I'll always support you."
Except that we both knew that wasn’t true. In two hours, he would find out just how useful my support was.

I needed to change into something more befitting of what was in essence a betrayal. Here I was, standing in front of my mirror, bedecking myself with jewelry Aaron had given me, wearing a dress he’d complimented, yet the woman in the looking glass was hardly recognizable to me.

I was someone who was capable of embezzling from her husband’s safe, capable of smiling in his face and lying while she plotted his downfall, someone who could silently witness the ambush and humiliation of the man she was beginning to love.
I had turned into just the sort of person I’d never wanted to be.

And everyone else would know it in two hours.