Four: The Honeymoon Is Over

The past five months were like a honeymoon for them. Though they lived every day looking over their shoulders, they did it together, holding hands, in love. Running from their past to be with each other was like living in a fairy tale. Maybe that was all it was, a fairy tale.

“Do you think you would live happily ever after with Armand Lombardo’s wife?”

Tony was not wrong to ask that question. For a brief moment, Diego believed he could do that. But he was fooling himself. No matter how in love they were, it was always bubbling under the surface. She was still married to her husband, legally and mentally. He could never get rid of Armand’s shadow, whether he was dead or alive.

She would’ve been devastated to have to live with the notion that she had ended Armand’s life, but she could never fully live knowing that he was still alive, either. And that was how it was for the past five months. She put on a smile; she laughed, she cuddled, she made love to him, and all the while, she tucked her memories of Armand in the nooks and crannies of her thoughts. And those thoughts would creep up at times when she was alone. She would never know how much it pains Diego to be aware of that.

When he made love to her, she was all his. Her mind, her body, even her soul. He could feel all of her with him. She loved him. That much he was sure of. Which made him crazy over her every day they were together. But he could not deny that nagging feeling that she still had some love for him too ... that psycho son of a bitch he had grown to hate more and more each day just because he couldn’t erase him from her mind.

Now they were back to this. From the moment he met her, he could see how she struggled with her desire to return to him. It was always there.

“Why do you think she agreed to go back in there at the first chance she got?”

Diego knew the answer. He didn’t want to admit it to himself. He traced his finger over her shape in the monitor. What he’d give to touch her skin now that he knew it would never happen again. Not for a long while, at least.

The mission would take months, even years, to complete. What had they gotten themselves into? Even if he had the chance to persuade her to change her mind, he doubted that she would. She had chosen this path for herself, going back to where it started, and he had no choice but to follow her.

“Our contacts will make sure that it is safe for her to return before we send her back ... don’t worry, she’s in good hands,” Tony assured him.

“As for Pasquale LaPenna, he’s the family lawyer and most trusted person in both Lombardo and Montenero families ... he’s acting as the underboss right now since Armand fell into a coma,” Tony added.

“He’s the one who ordered me killed when he picked up Ariana in Goldstone,” Diego remembered perfectly.

“Yes, but he never saw your face; no one can verify who you are. We made sure of that ... Pasquale is fierce and loyal to the family and a very efficient man, too ... no wonder he’s the most trusted man in both families. But he can’t do it alone. He approached Armand’s uncle and cousin to join the team, and ... he never made the effort to look for Ariana since the coma.”

“He’s replacing Armand?” Diego asked.

Tony lifted his shoulders and sighed, “He can’t do that unless Armand is unable to perform his duties, but we have new information; Armand had been asking for his wife.”

Diego’s expression changed. He clenched his jaw.

“It won’t be long until he sends a search party to find her, but we can’t be sure for what reason ... I believe he will only do what’s best for the family. It’s just that we can’t tell what that is because they are having a major shift right now. Everybody is assessing everybody else to see what works.”

“So she will have opposition from inside the family?” Diego thought.

Tony shrugged, “From everywhere ... the other families, major ones and minor ones, they are scrambling to look for allies. They can feel that war is coming ... and to be under her husband’s protection is actually the safest place she could be for the time being.”

The words stabbed him like a knife. To think Ariana would be safer with the man he hated the most. That is garbage he refuses to believe; she’s safe with him.

“When are you going to send her in there?”

“She’s being prepped. We need to get the story straight about where she’s been these last five months, why she never contacted them, and why she’s back ... maybe in two weeks ... she’s a quick learner.” Tony smiled and put his hand on his shoulder.

He couldn’t understand it. How could she have decided so quickly to go back in there? He had to see her, they had to talk this through, and he had to try to make her change her mind.

“As for you ...” Tony let out a long sigh. “She’s going back there to be his wife,” he said, looking at Diego straight in the eyes.

Diego fidgeted. The image of that alone burns him.

“We will never let you go in there unless you can handle that, or you will jeopardize the whole mission ... you need to separate your emotions from this job. I know you’ve been doing that for years, and this should be no different.”

He sat back on his chair and ran his hands through his hair. Of course, this is different. He had been dead for so long until he met her, and now he had to go back to being dead inside. How could she have played him like that? How could she do this to him?

“You’ll also need prep ... you need to know who these people are, what they do, how they do it ... their code of honor, everything ... and we need to secure a place for you from the inside before we send you there ... you'd better learn fast, or it may take a while.”

All this talk swirled round and round in his head, but he held on to one primary goal at the end of the tunnel. After all the shenanigans, he will be the one to put a bullet in Armand Lombardo’s head. That was all he was willing to think about.