Mafia's Surrogate Bride Chapter 100

Aria's POV

"No!" The word tore from my throat before I could stop it.

There, on the stone pathway beside the tranquil water, I saw Benedetta Russo pushing Jessica's wheelchair. The sight sent every alarm bell in my head screaming at once. After everything I'd witnessed at the Monterosso gala, after discovering her secret affair with Ricardo, after the way she'd looked at me with that calculating intensity—seeing her here, alone with my vulnerable sister, felt like walking into a nightmare.

She's going to hurt Jessica. She knows I saw her with Ricardo, and now she's going to hurt Jessica to keep me quiet.

My shout echoed across the peaceful garden, startling a few elderly patients who were taking their afternoon walks. Jessica turned in her wheelchair, her face lighting up with surprise and delight when she spotted me.

"Aria!" Her voice carried genuine joy, completely oblivious to the danger I was certain she was in. "You're here early today. What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I forced my legs to move, closing the distance between us with quick, purposeful strides. My heart was hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat, and my hands were already reaching for Jessica before I was even close enough to touch her.

Benedetta turned slowly to face me, and that perfect, practiced smile I remembered from the gala spread across her features like a mask. "Miss Aria," she said with polite warmth that felt utterly wrong given the circumstances. "How lovely to see you again."

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, not caring how rude I sounded. The protective instinct that had driven me to sacrifice everything for Jessica's medical care was now screaming at me to get her away from this woman immediately.

"I'm here representing Mr. Antonio Monterosso," Benedetta replied smoothly, her tone remaining pleasant despite the accusation in my voice. "He asked me to check on Jessica's progress and convey his continued concern for her wellbeing. She really is a lovely child."

Her words were perfectly reasonable, exactly what I might expect from someone carrying out their employer's compassionate wishes. But there was something in her eyes that made my skin crawl.

I tried to force myself to remain calm, to think rationally rather than react from pure panic. Looking at Jessica now, I could see that she was completely unharmed. Her color was good—better than it had been in months, actually.

We're still waiting for a donor, I reminded myself.

But Benedetta's presence here still felt deeply wrong, like a predator circling prey.

Maybe I'm paranoid, I thought desperately. Maybe seeing her secret with Ricardo has made me suspicious of everything she does. Maybe she really is just here on a charitable mission.

The problem was that her manner was so perfectly courteous, so professionally appropriate, that I couldn't tell if there was genuine malice beneath it or if my own guilt and fear were making me see threats where none existed.

"I apologize for my rudeness," I said finally, forcing the words through gritted teeth. "I was just... surprised to see you here."

"Of course," Benedetta replied graciously. "It's only natural to be protective of such a precious sister."

After I managed to get Jessica back to her room, my hands were still trembling as I helped her settle into bed for her afternoon rest. The encounter with Benedetta had left me feeling shaken and paranoid, but I couldn't let Jessica see how rattled I was.

"Jessica," I said carefully, settling into the familiar plastic chair beside her bed. "What did that woman talk to you about?"

"Mrs. Benedetta?" Jessica's face brightened with memory. "She was very nice. She asked about our past, about how we grew up in the orphanage together. She seemed really interested in our story."

 "What exactly did you tell her?"

"Just normal things," Jessica said with the innocent openness of someone who had no reason to be suspicious. "About how you've always taken care of me, about how sick I was before the surgery, about how grateful we are for the treatment. She said it was wonderful that we had each other when we had no other family."

"Did she ask anything... specific? About our background, or about where I work?"

Jessica tilted her head thoughtfully. "She did ask about your job. She said it must be difficult work to afford my medical care. I told her about the nice man who paid for everything, but that you never told me who he was because you said it was private."

My blood chilled.

"Jessica," I said, turning the conversation away from dangerous territory, "I need to tell you something. I've been wondering... what have you been doing lately? What's keeping you busy?"

Her expression shifted to curiosity. "I'm basically just receiving treatment and waiting for someone to donate a kidney.  But Aria, what about you? You seem different lately. More worried, more... I don't know, like you're thinking about something serious all the time."

How do I answer that? The truth was impossible. I couldn't tell my innocent sixteen-year-old sister that I'd become embroiled with a dangerous mafia family, that I was carrying the child of one of Italy's most feared crime bosses, that I'd witnessed adultery that could destroy lives, that every day brought new complexities and threats I barely understood.

Jessica was too young, too fragile, too pure to be contaminated by the dark reality of what my life had become.

"I've just been working a lot," I said weakly. "You know how it is."

But as I looked at her trusting face, as I held her small hand in mine, a wave of desperate urgency washed over me.

I have to get pregnant soon, I thought with sudden clarity. I have to give Damian his heir quickly.

The sooner I fulfilled my part of our arrangement, the sooner Jessica would be truly safe. The sooner I could stop walking this tightrope between survival and destruction.

I pulled Jessica into a gentle hug, breathing in her familiar scent of hospital soap and the lavender lotion the nurses used. In this moment, holding my sister close, I felt the weight of every decision I'd made and every choice that lay ahead.