Beautiful Lies (Complete)

Chapter 29 - As Time Goes By

Sierra's POV

It's been 2 weeks since Aria entered into a coma and there has been no change since then. Every day I watched it destroy Niccolo little by little. Every night I held him as he cried himself to sleep. It completely broke me seeing him in such agony. All I wanted to do was take every ounce of that pain and make it my own.

Watching the man you love deteriorate was a suffering I cannot explain. It was an even deeper suffering knowing you are the cause for his pain. And yet, it wasn't enough. I felt like I deserved a whole lot more affliction for what I have done to him. For what I have put his family through. This is all my fault and it should be me fighting for my life, not Aria.

The family decided it was pointless them all being there at the same time when only two people were allowed inside at a time. They started taking shifts. Dominic was there the whole day, morning to evening. Rafael was always accompanying him. Nico went to his parents' house every day while his father was away. He sat in his office, working and making phone calls while I took care of the dogs and helped Odette with Alessia ever so often.

Odette was such a sweet person. I could see why Rafael fell in love with her. She knows I'm hiding secrets, she knows they are not good secrets. Yet, she has treated me like I belong here. She has been kind to me, loving, caring and affectionate. And she wanted me to spend time with her and Alessia. She wanted me to be a part of my niece's life.

Some days, I was the only one able to put Alessia to sleep. She would only calm when she heard that song my brother and I have both sung to her previously. Today was one of them. I sang the last bit of the song and began humming it now, shifting Alessia in my arms to a better position to lay her down in her cot.

I gently bent over the side of her cot and placed her down on her side. I placed a pillow behind her back before covering her with the blanket. As I turned around, I jumped slightly at the figure leaning against the doorframe. Nico had his arms crossed as he watched me. He hadn't moved yet, and his eyes lingered for a while with a genuine and gorgeous smile.

"You really need to stop doing that." I scolded him in a whisper as I turned on the baby monitor. I walked towards him to leave the room, but he didn't move. He merely kept his eyes on mine.

"What?" I furrowed my brows, a little unsure of his reaction.

His eyes softened while his smile grew. He glanced down towards the floor in between us before bringing his gaze up slowly, pausing for a split second on my abdomen, before finally meeting my eyes again. He straightened himself, cupped my face in the palm of his hands and pulled me into him, connecting our lips gently. It was an extremely moving and caressing kiss. It was slow and tender, holding a lot of emotion within it. His tongue flicked against my lips causing me to part mine. He deepened the kiss but kept it slow. This kiss was different from every other. It made my insides explode and my soul screamed out for more.

This kiss fed right past my core, deep into my soul. It truly made me weak at the knees as I felt a little unstable. He wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me firmly against him as he continued his gloriously beautiful attack. After some time, he pulled back and pushed some strands of hair behind my ear as his eyes took everything in.

"What was that for?" I whispered to him, looking for indications within his eyes. He gave me a sweet smile before replying.

"No reason." He spoke softly then grabbed my hand, heading downstairs. I was a little perplexed by his actions and lack of explanations. When we reached the foyer, he turned to face me.

"I need to go see my mother a little earlier today. I need my father to see these papers on the business schedules." He held up a red folder in his hands.