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“What in the hell does that even mean?”
She shrugged. “Hard to get a read on you most days.”
Before he could ask her to explain, she bolted from the car the second he threw it in park and rushed into the house. Why wouldn’t he be worried about her safety? He’d always been perfectly clear that keeping her alive was important to him. Fuck’s sake, he’d been the first one to volunteer to shadow her weeks ago.
Slamming out of the car, he stalked to the door. From the moment Leo had told him what happened, he’d been worried for her. He couldn’t stop the rapid beat of his heart until he saw for himself that she was all right.
Of course he was worried about her. She was his fucking wife. His irritating, headstrong wife with a razor-sharp tongue, but his wife all the same. Husbands were supposed to worry about their wives, so what the fuck was her problem?
The living room was empty when he let himself in, but he could hear the distant hum of voices, and he followed them back to the family room. He paused in the hallway and listened to Viv recount the story in full for everyone who’d gathered. Now that she wasn’t talking directly to him, her voice had lost its hard edge, and that pissed him off too.
“Aidan,” Declan said when he spotted him in the hall.
Aidan immediately noticed Viv’s spine straighten. Evie must have noticed too, because she passed a look between them before raising a brow at Viv, who only shook her head.
“You think this was him?” Declan asked.
“Who the hell else?” Aidan said, pulling the note from his back pocket and handing it to his brother. “He said at the party he’d wait for her to come to her senses. He’s clearly not pleased that she hasn’t left me for him yet.”
He slid a look to Viv, whose eyes darted away the minute his landed on hers. They were absolutely going to have to fucking talk about whatever the hell was wrong with her. Soon.
“I haven’t had any luck with the video surveillance around the bridal boutique,” Brogan admitted. “There weren’t any cameras directly where you saw the Jeep pull out from, and every other angle I can find only catches it partially in frame. Nothing to get any kind of definite ID from.”
Aidan caught Viv’s look of surprise when he turned to Declan. “Just let me take him out.” Viv snorted, and he ignored her. “Falcone and his evidence be damned.”
Declan’s jaw firmed. “I can’t. I gave Falcone my word. None of this means anything if he loses control of the Mafia. The first couple of casinos will be ready in a few weeks. And she’ll have to stop going out without a detail.”
Declan pinned Viv with a pointed look, and Aidan admired the way she met his unflinching stare with one of her own.
“She can’t have someone follow her around indefinitely. What if this guy never backs off? What if he tries to hurt her?” Aidan shoved a hand through his hair. “How am I supposed to keep her safe?”
“I’m right here,” Viv snapped. “Stop talking about me as if I wasn’t.”
“I’m sorry,” Evie said. “I really do know what you’re going through. I’ve been there,” she added, flicking a glance at Declan, who looked entirely unmoved.
“Me too,” Libby said. “It’s…suffocating.”
“It’s for your own good,” Aidan said. Any softness Viv might have shown Evie and Libby evaporated when she glared at him.
“And suddenly you want me to believe you have my best interests at heart in all of this?” The venom in her tone silenced the entire room. “I need a minute.”
“What did you do to her?” Evie demanded once Viv stormed out.
“I didn’t do anything to her!”
“You did something,” Declan assured him.
“You should probably go try to fix it,” Brogan said, wrapping an arm around Libby’s shoulders and pulling her back against his chest. “Unless you’re as dumb as I thought.”
Aidan stared at the empty hallway where Viv had been. She was obviously upset about something, but fuck if he knew what. All he’d been trying to do all damn afternoon was make sure she was okay. Waving away Evie’s offer for a drink, he crossed the family room and sprinted up the stairs.
Viv was curled up in one of the chairs flanking the fireplace, staring into the flames that danced behind the grate. She didn’t look up at him as he sank into the chair next to hers.
“Want to tell me what’s wrong with you?”
“Not really.”
“How am I supposed to fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong?”
