The rain poured harder as Aria stood at the kitchen window, watching water slide down the glass. Her nerves were on edge. The calls. The van. The look on Luciano's face when he answered that last phone call. It all swirled in her mind like a storm she couldn't stop.
The boys were playing in the living room, laughing, building something with blocks. So innocent. So unaware of how much danger surrounded them.
Luciano hadn't come home last night.
She told herself she didn't care.
But that was a lie.
She cared.
Too much.
**Across Town
Luciano stood in front of a small warehouse on the edge of Ridge Hollow. Inside, Matteo waited, armed, angry.
"He's in there," Matteo said, nodding toward the door. "Alone."
Luca's jaw clenched.
"Are you sure it's him?"
Matteo handed him a photo grainy, taken from a distance. But there was no mistaking the face.
David Kingston.
Aria's ex. The man who disappeared five years ago. The man who had once hit her hard enough to bruise her ribs. The man she ran from.
He wasn't dead.
He was back.
And Luca knew why.
The boys.
**Aria's House (Later That Day….)
Luciano showed up just after sunset.
Aria opened the door before he could knock. Her face was pale, lips tight.
"I need to talk to you," she said before he could speak. "It's important."
He nodded. "Me too."
She led him into the kitchen. The boys were asleep upstairs.
She sat across from him, rubbing her hands together.
"I've been thinking about everything," she said. "The calls. The van. The way they knew exactly where I was…"
She looked him in the eye. "I think someone I used to know is involved."
Luciano leaned back, folding his arms. "David Kingston."
Her eyes widened. "You know?"
He pulled out the photo and slid it across the table.
"I found him this morning."
Her breath caught.
"He's here. In Ridge Hollow. And he's watching."
She stared at the picture for a long time.
"I thought he was dead."
"He should be," Luca said coldly. "You should've told me about him."
"I didn't want you to know I'd been that stupid," she whispered.
Luca didn't move. "It's not your fault. Men like him.... they're experts at control. And now he wants control again."
Aria buried her face in her hands.
Luciano leaned forward.
"He won't get it."
**The Boys Start Asking Questions
The next day, Nino sat beside Aria on the couch while she folded laundry.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Why don't we have the same last name as Mr. Luca?"
She froze. "Where did you hear that?"
"Nico asked the teacher what our last name was. She said 'Castell.' But Luca's name is De Rossi."
Aria swallowed hard.
"Do you want to know the truth?"
Nino nodded.
"Luciano… Mr. Luca… he's your father."
Nino blinked. "For real?"
"Yes."
"But why didn't you tell us before?"
She smiled sadly. "Because I was scared."
"Of him?"
"No. Of everything around him."
Nino leaned on her arm. "He's nice to us."
"I know. He loves you."
"Do you love him?"
She didn't answer.
But her silence said more than words.
**Later That Night
Luciano parked his car a block away from Aria's house. His guards were already stationed in the shadows.
He walked the rest of the way on foot, cautious. Careful.
And he was right to be.
Halfway down the sidewalk, he saw the broken flower pot.
Small. Easy to miss.
But Luca had trained for years to notice what others didn't.
That pot had been standing on the porch all week.
Now it was shattered.
He pulled his gun.
**Inside
Aria heard the click of the front door. Her heart jumped.
She walked slowly toward the living room.
"Luciano?" she whispered.
Silence.
Then footsteps.
She turned the corner and stopped cold.
It wasn't Luciano.
It was him.
David Kingston.
He stood in the hallway, wet from the rain, hair slicked back, smile too calm for a man who wasn't invited.
"Aria," he said softly. "You look just like I remember."
She couldn't breathe.
Her voice cracked. "How did you—how are you—?"
"Alive?" he smirked. "Didn't like the life I had. So I made a new one."
She stepped backward.
"You shouldn't be here."
"I came to see my sons."
Her blood ran cold.
"You don't get to call them that."
"They're mine. I gave you everything, and you ran. Now I'm here to collect what I'm owed."
She reached for her phone. He was faster.
He grabbed her wrist and twisted.
She cried out.
Then....
"Let her go."
Luciano's voice. Cold. Steady.
David turned, smirking. "You must be the king of this little empire."
Luciano didn't smile back.
"I'm the man you just made your last mistake with."
David shoved Aria toward him.
"She's still mine."
"She never was."
Luciano stepped forward. "You so much as look at my sons again, and I'll bury you so deep, no one will find you."
David chuckled. "You think you scare me?"
"I know I do."
Then - sirens.
David's smile fell.
Luciano didn't look surprised.
"I told you I'd come back with proof," he said to Aria. "Now you have a restraining order. And a witness."
David turned to run but Matteo and two guards were already at the door.
He was trapped.
And furious.
"You'll regret this!" David shouted as they dragged him away.
But his words were lost in the rain.
**Aftermath
Luciano stayed the night.
Not because she asked.
But because she needed him.
She sat beside him in the dark, her body still shaking.
"I can't believe he found me," she whispered.
"You don't have to be afraid anymore."
"I'm not afraid of him," she said. "I'm afraid of what this means for the boys."
"They'll never know the monster he is," Luca said. "Only the father I'm going to be."
Aria looked at him.
And for the first time since that night five years ago… she believed him.
**But Elsewhere...
David wasn't the only one watching Aria's house.
Far across the street, inside a dark sedan, someone else made a call.
"He failed."
A deep voice answered.
"Then we move to Phase Two."
"What about the kids?"
A pause.
"Take them."