The Contract
987 Words
Aria barely had time to scream.
A hand clamped over her mouth, dragging her backward into the darkness.
She kicked hard.
Her heel connected with someone's shin.
The grip loosened for half a second.
Aria twisted, desperate to see her attacker, but before she could break free, a familiar voice cut through the chaos.
“Let her go.”
Dante.
The man holding her froze.
Aria's eyes widened.
There was something different about Dante's voice now.
It wasn't cold.
It was dangerous.
The hand disappeared from her mouth.
Aria spun around and found herself staring at a man dressed entirely in black. His face was partially covered, but Dante's men were already surrounding him.
Within seconds, the stranger was forced to his knees.
Dante stepped toward him.
“Who sent you?”
Silence.
Dante crouched in front of him.
“I'll ask once more.”
The stranger smiled.
“You already know.”
Dante's expression hardened.
Aria watched carefully.
There was something about those words that clearly meant more to him than they did to her.
Dante stood.
“Take him.”
Two men grabbed the stranger and dragged him away.
Aria turned toward Dante.
“What the hell was that?”
He looked at her.
“You're coming with me.”
“No.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“Aria—”
“I said no.”
She pointed toward the door.
“I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I'm done. My father disappears, someone breaks into my house, I find a photograph of him with your mother, and now one of your men—or whoever he was—tries to drag me away.”
Dante didn't answer.
That silence made her even angrier.
“You know something.”
His eyes met hers.
“Yes.”
The single word stole the air from her lungs.
“What?”
Dante looked toward the photograph still clutched in her hand.
“Your father wasn't simply in debt to my family.”
Aria's fingers tightened around it.
“What was he involved in?”
Dante hesitated.
Then he said quietly,
“Your father made a deal.”
“With who?”
“My father.”
Aria stared at him.
“And my mother?”
Dante's expression changed.
For the first time, something almost like pain crossed his face.
“My mother discovered the truth.”
“What truth?”
“She was killed before she could tell anyone.”
Aria went still.
Dante reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded document.
He held it toward her.
She didn't take it.
“What is that?”
“Your father's contract.”
Aria's stomach twisted.
“My father signed that?”
“Yes.”
She finally took the document.
The paper was old, but the signature at the bottom was unmistakable.
Daniel Bennett.
Her father's name.
Aria's eyes moved across the page.
Most of it was legal language she barely understood.
Then she saw the final paragraph.
Her blood ran cold.
“What does this mean?”
Dante stepped closer.
“It means your father promised something to my family.”
“What?”
Dante's gaze remained fixed on hers.
“You.”
Aria stared at him.
“No.”
“He used you as collateral.”
Her heart pounded.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It doesn't have to.”
Dante pointed toward the final line.
“Your father borrowed eight million dollars from my family. If he couldn't repay it, the contract gave my family the right to claim what he had pledged.”
Aria's voice trembled.
“And he pledged me?”
Dante didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
She dropped the document.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Aria stepped backward.
“So that's why you brought me here?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Dante's expression hardened.
“Because your father disappeared before the debt was settled.”
“And?”
“And someone is killing everyone connected to that contract.”
Silence.
Aria stared at him.
“My father is dead?”
“I don't know.”
“But you think he is.”
“I think someone wants you to believe he is.”
A cold shiver ran through her.
Dante bent down and picked up the contract.
“There is one more thing you need to know.”
“What?”
He turned the document around and showed her the bottom.
There was another signature.
Not her father's.
Her eyes widened.
“What is that?”
Dante's voice dropped.
“My mother's.”
Aria stared at the name.
Isabella Romano.
The same woman from the photograph.
The woman her father had supposedly never known.
Aria looked up slowly.
“Why would your mother sign a contract involving me?”
Dante's face became unreadable.
“That's what I'm trying to find out.”
Suddenly, his phone rang.
He answered.
“Speak.”
A pause.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
Aria watched him carefully.
Dante ended the call.
“What happened?”
He looked at her.
“They found another photograph.”
“Where?”
“In your father's old office.”
Aria's heartbeat quickened.
“What was in it?”
Dante's eyes darkened.
“You.”
Her breath caught.
“But the photograph was taken twenty years ago.”
Aria frowned.
“That can't be possible.”
Dante stepped toward her.
“That's the problem.”
He handed her his phone.
The photograph on the screen showed a little girl standing beside Daniel Bennett.
And beside him stood Isabella Romano.
Aria recognized the little girl immediately.
It was her.
But there was something written across the back of the photograph.
Four words.
SHE WAS NEVER THE DEBT.
Aria looked up.
Dante was already watching her.
“Then what am I?”
Dante's answer came quietly.
“The key.”
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