Chapter 56 Becoming A Monster
GIOVANNI'S POV
Arya was sitting on her bed, her back to me, and a phone pressed to her ear.
She was so absorbed in her conversation that she didn't hear me enter.
"And last night he literally threatened to kill all of you right in front of me. Like you're all just chess pieces he can…”
I crossed the room in three strides and yanked the phone from her hand.
"What is this?" I demanded.
Arya whirled around, her eyes going wide with shock then fear.
"Give that back," she said, reaching for the phone.
I held it out of reach, bringing it to my ear. A second passed then I heard a rustling sound followed by a familiar gruff voice.
“Arya? Are you there?
My lips curled into a snarl. “Marco. How thoughtful of you to check in on my wife."
"Giovanni?” He paused for a moment then cleared his throat. "We were just talking but it's nothing and-”
"Nothing?" I looked at Arya, whose face had gone pale. "It sounded like quite a lot of something from what I heard. I'm going to assume you gave this device to her without my knowledge.”
"She just wanted to hear a familiar voice," Marco said. "I don't understand what's wrong in giving her a phone, surely you can understand-"
"What I understand," I interrupted, my eyes flashing to Arya for a moment. "is that you're communicating with my wife behind my back. I don't care if you're a family friend or her fucking cousin, try this again and your limbs will come off.”
I ended the call and whirled around to face her, trying and failing to keep my temper in check. “Do you understand what you have done? Not only were you using an unauthorized phone but you were also telling him things that violates about a dozen clauses in the contract you signed."
Arya stood up, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "You can't control every conversation I have. You can't isolate me completely and expect me to just sit still."
"I can do whatever I want," I said, cutting her off. "That's what you still don't seem to understand, dolcezza. Everything about your life belongs to me now."
I looked at the phone in my hand. It was a burner, the kind of thing someone would use when they didn't want to be monitored.
"When did he give you this?" I asked quietly.
Arya lifted her chin. "Does it matter?"
"It matters very much." I took a step closer. "Did Marco give it to you during your little spa outing that Matteo so kindly allowed?"
Her silence was enough answer.
"I see." I turned the phone over in my hands, examining it. "And how long have you been calling your family? Or did you all connive together to sell information about me?”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I wasn't spying on you!" Her voice was rising. "I just wanted to talk to Marco! Is that really so terrible?"
"When you're married to me?" I looked at her, and I let her see the cold fury in my eyes. "Yes. It is."
I pocketed the phone and moved toward the door.
"Wait…" Arya called after me. "You can't just… Giovanni, please. That's my only connection to them. Don't take it away."
I paused at the threshold, looking back at her over my shoulder.
"You should have thought about that before you decided to go behind my back," I said. "Consider this a lesson, Arya. In this marriage, there are consequences for deception."
She stormed forward, her fist shaking terribly. "You're one to talk about deception!" she shouted. "You manipulated me, kidnapped me, forced me into this marriage against my own will!”
"And you agreed to all of it," I interrupted. "You signed the contract. You said the vows. You knew exactly what you were getting into."
Arya threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. "I didn't have a choice!"
"There's always a choice, dolcezza." I gripped the doorframe, my shoulder screaming. "You just didn't like any of your options and now you don't like the consequences of the choice you made."
I left her room and closed the door, her angry shouts following me down the hallway.
In my hand, the burner phone felt like evidence of betrayal. I was very certain she was working with her family behind my back and probably making plans that I didn't know about and couldn't control.
I should crush it under my heel and make sure she never had access to the outside world again.
But instead, I found myself scrolling through the call history.
There were all calls to Marco. And even the calls weren't up to ten, each one less than ten minutes long. I checked the messages next and the only one there was when they agreed on meeting up for the spa.
Something uncomfortable twisted in my chest as I swiped away from the messenger app and locked the phone
She hadn't been plotting or spying. She had just been talking to her family, like any normal person would have the desire to do.
And I had just taken that away from her.
"Cazzo," I muttered again, leaning against the wall as exhaustion and pain washed over me.
Maybe Enzo was right… maybe I was turning into someone I didn't recognize.
But it was too late to turn back now.