Chapter 81- Lunch With Lucia
It was a week later, and Aria hadn’t stopped thinking about what Suzanna had told her about the night she had got stabbed. She replayed that moment in her head many times but no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn’t remember seeing anyone there but Rylan.
She decided that she would talk to Adrian later and see what he says, but first she needed to meet up with Lucia for lunch as she wanted to ask her something important.
Aria was wearing a nice black off shoulder top, which she had tucked inside a pair of black leather pants. She wore soft makeup and left all of her long hair opened with only the front tied back loosely.
She slipped her phone into her pocket and picked up her large black handbag from the bed, before she quickly made her way downstairs.
Aria kissed Lyla goodbye and gave her a quick cuddle before she quickly walked out of the house, thinking the weather finally seemed to be getting better in New-York.
She was walking towards Jared’s car when Hunter stepped in front of her and looked down at her with a serious look,
“Where do you need to go? I can take you” he said with a hand in his pocket, thinking he was pretty sure she was avoiding him, but he had no idea why.
Aria took a step back from him and looked up at him with a serious look,
“I don’t need you to take me anywhere, my bodyguard is already waiting for me, now if you excuse me, I need to go” she said before she walked past him.
Hunter quickly took hold of her wrist and looked over at her,
“You sound annoyed? Is everything ok?” he asked as he pulled her towards him gently.
Aria pulled her wrist free from his hand and looked up at him with a very serious look on his face,
“Never do that again, you are no longer my bodyguard, which means you have no right to touch me” she said icily, thinking how dare he pull her back and question her.
Hunter listened to her quietly, thinking he had never seen this side to her before as usually she was always happy and friendly.
“Have I done something to upset you?” he asked.
Aria looked at him and shook her head lightly,
“It’s not you, it’s me, I have a lot going on right now” she said before she quickly walked from him, thinking she couldn’t put the blame on him just yet, not without any evidence.
It was in that very moment she decided that she was going to start noting down everything that didn’t add up, no matter how big or small as she was pretty sure Hunter had something to do with Rosalina’s disappearance.
Jared drove her to the small cosy restaurant where she was meeting up with Lucia for lunch. Aria had specifically asked Adrian to assign him as her main bodyguard, as he was the only one, she trusted and liked.
“I’ll be right here if you need me” he said to Aria once they both made their way inside.
Aria turned slightly and looked at him,
“Thank you, I won’t be long” she said before she walked over to the table where Lucia was sitting.
Lucia met her with a quick hug before she sat down and opened up her menu,
“How are you and how’s everyone else?” she asked, thinking if it wasn’t for her and Angela, her son would have never been accepted into the Delgado family.
Aria sat down on the seat opposite of her and looked at her,
“We’re all ok, what about you and Aidan?” she asked just as a young waiter walked over to their table and asked them if they were both ready to order. Lucia looked up at him,
“We need a few minutes” she said before she looked back at Aria.
The waiter gave them both a small nod, before he walked away, thinking the one in black was hot.
“Aidan’s good, how’s Lyla is she walking?” Lucia asked Aria.
Aria slipped a few strands of her hair behind her ear and looked at her,
“Yes, she took her first steps a few days ago, but still prefers to crawl everywhere” she said with a small smile. Lucia chose what she wanted to eat from the menu and looked at her,
“That’s cute, how’s Cengiz?” she asked as she hadn’t seen him since Angela’s funeral.
Aria closed her menu and looked over at her,
“He’s not doing so well, Adrian and I have both asked him to move in with us, but he doesn’t want to leave the house he shared with auntie” she said quietly, about Angela.
Lucia quickly told the waiter what they both wanted before she looked at Aria,
“Angela was a good woman, even after everything that had happened between me and Cengiz, she didn’t hold it against me in any way and treated Aidan well” she said truthfully.
Aria listened to her quietly,
“She was indeed” she said as Angela’s smiling face crossed her mind and she felt a dull painful ache in her heart. Lucia took a small sip of her water and looked at her,
“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked before she put her glass back on the table.
Aria leaned back against her seat and looked at her,
“I need to know if you are staying here for good or thinking of moving back to California at some point” she said.
Lucia looked at her a little confused,
“I don’t understand what you mean, of course I will be living here permanently, why else would I go through all this trouble with you and the Delgado’s, if my intentions were to move back there eventually” she said with a small smile.
Aria listened to her quietly,
“Then I have a proposition for you, but you don’t have to agree if you don’t want to, I was wondering if you and Aidan could move in with uncle for a couple of months, just until he comes out of this dark phase that he’s in currently” she said with a serious look on her face.
Lucia was not expecting for her to put such an amazing offer forward,
“Wait a second you want me to move in with Cengiz? He would never agree to that” she said just as the waiter returned with their food.
Aria waited for him to leave before she looked at Lucia,
“He didn’t dismiss the idea when I mentioned it to him, which means he might consider it” she said before she took a small sip of her drink.
Lucia couldn’t believe what she was hearing,
“I mean this would be so good for Aidan to, the two might actually have a relationship” she said happily.
Aria forked some of her pasta and looked at her,
“Yes, Aidan’s the only reason Adrian also agreed to this, so what do you think? You don’t have to give your answer right now” she said before she took a bite of her food, thinking it tasted amazing.
Lucia picked up her glass of water and looked at her,
“I could never take Angela’s place but the least I could do is be there for Cengiz, Aidan’s still young which means they both have plenty of time to get to know each other and bond” she said with a small smile.
She couldn’t believe that Aria had put forward such a great idea,
“You know if it wasn’t for your bodyguard I may have never returned” Lucia said before she ate some of her food.
Aria looked up at her a little confused, wondering if she had heard right.
“What do you mean?” she asked with one of her eyebrows raised slightly. Lucia told her everything how Hunter had emailed her and asked her to come back to New-York.
She told Aria how he told her that Adrian had a good relationship with his daughter and would definitely accept Aidan as his one of his own.
“I can’t believe this, could you please forward me the email if you can” Aria said quietly, thinking Hunter was clearly not as innocent as he liked to portray himself as.
Lucia put down her fork and knife and looked at Aria,
“Yeah, I’ll do it right now, you know meeting you in that store was no coincidence, he’s the one who told me that you were going to be there” she said truthfully.
Aria listened to her quietly, thinking Hunter was definitely very sly, but what she didn’t know was why he did such a thing as it just didn’t make sense for him to interfere in their life, unless of course he wanted to cause a small rift in her and Adrian’s relationship.