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Suddenly, I remembered that he’d been hiding something from me before the wedding. We’d been surrounded by security at the bachelorette… he’d told me that there were tensions with our allies…
Did that have something to do with what happened to Cullen?
“Aidan, what’s going on?”
“I just told you, my father is dead,” he growled at me like I was being deliberately dense.
“No, before that, before the wedding.” I got to my feet. “You’ve been hiding something from me, and I have a feeling it has something to do with this.”
“Cait-” He sighed, exasperated.
“Aidan, you promised you’d tell me. Now we’re being attacked. What the hell is going on?”
“The deal with the Russian’s is off,” he snapped. “They’ve turned on us, and we’re not sure why or who they’ve teamed up with.”
Suddenly the wariness he’d been displaying around Lex made sense. Although Lex had nothing to do with the Bratva, I knew his roots were tied there.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?” I murmured, moving to him. He was pacing like an anxious tiger and I knew I needed to help him calm down. He couldn’t think straight like this.
“I didn’t want you to run. I didn’t want you to use it as a reason to put the wedding off.”
I gawped at him. “Why would I have done that?”
“Because you’re scared…” he yelled. “You’re scared that what happened to your parents is going to happen to you.”
I stilled. I’d never told him that.
“And now this has happened… God, I should have told you Cait, I’m sorry. I should have given you the opportunity to run.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m in charge now. I’m boss, and you’re at my side… which means you’re in danger.” He shrugged out of my grip and started pacing again. “I should have made you leave New York. I should have let you go a long time ago-” He was starting to hyperventilate.
Jesus.
“Aidan, no.” I grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the bed, forcing him to sit down. I perched next to him, cupping his face to make him look at me. “Everything is going to be alright,” I soothed, stroking away the solitary tear that slipped from his eye.
“My dad is dead,” he whispered.
“I know, and I’m so sorry.” I pulled him into my arms and he buried his head in my neck. “But we’re a team. We will handle this together.”
I stroked the back of his neck until he calmed down. I knew he just wanted to protect me. It was all he’d ever done. But in taking on all these burdens alone, he didn’t realize that he was causing more harm than good.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Aidan
When we arrived back at Ella and Logan’s place, Bree threw herself into my arms.
She let out great heaving sobs, and for the first time in a long time, I hugged her back. Her and Cait, they were the only family I had left.
After a few moments, I passed her over to Cait who offered her some soothing words as I stalked into the living room to find the rest of the group.
It was a cavernous room with a group of couches in the middle where Lex, Vanessa and Ella sat. Logan stood behind his wife, his hands on her shoulders.
I glared at Lex. “Do you know who did this?” Afterall, he’d grown up amongst the scum on that side. He knew who the key players were.
He placed a hand on his wife’s knee. “We have our suspicions.”
