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“If you do that, you’ll hurt her,” Aidan said, voice thick. “And we both know you don’t want to do that.”
Alex considered it for a beat before she moved the knife back up to Viv’s throat. “That’s true.” She pressed a kiss to Viv’s cheek, and Viv had to force herself not to recoil at the touch. “You can go, Callahan. We don’t need you anymore. Viv has made her choice.”
“I can’t do that until you put the knife down.”
Alex’s laugh was a harsh bark. “I’m not stupid. I know the second I put this knife down, I’m dead. Like you said, I won’t hurt her. So get out of here. Once you’re back in your truck, I’ll let her go so we can live happily ever after. And forget you ever existed.”
Viv could tell Aidan was searching for some other excuse to stay, but Alex was losing her patience, the knife twitching in her fingers.
“A…Callahan,” Viv corrected when Alex jerked. “You have to let go,” Viv added, praying he caught her meaning. “Drop it so we can move on.”
Viv reached up to gently touch Alex’s arm around her shoulders, breaths coming fast when her hold loosened. “You can’t hold on to me forever.”
Aidan gave a slight nod. “I understand. Of course. You’ll be safe now.”
At the last word, Viv wrenched herself free from Alex’s grip and dropped to the floor, pressing herself flat against the carpet as gunshots exploded overhead. She saw the knife fall from Alex’s fingers and reached for it, throwing it into the corner.
When she looked back, Alex’s body was stretched out on the floor next to her, lifeless eyes staring at nothing. With a strangled scream, she shoved to her feet and spun toward the door, straight into Aidan’s arms.
“Hey, hey, it's me,” he said when she fought against his grip.
“Aidan,” Viv said, breaking down into sobs and wrapping her arms tight around his neck. “How? How did you know it was her?”
“I’ll tell you later.” He stroked her hair. “Are you hurt?”
He pulled back to look at her, wicking away a dot of blood from her neck with his fingertip.
“She got a little shaky with the knife there at the end.”
“McGee’s on his way,” Brogan said from the doorway, and Viv jumped. She’d forgotten he was there.
“I should call Papa.”
“I called him,” Brogan said. “Declan too.”
“Let me take you outside. We can wait for them there. No, don’t,” he said, gripping her chin and forcing her eyes forward when she turned to glance down at Alex.
He shifted so his body shielded Alex from view and led her away from the house. His truck was parked haphazardly against the curb, and he led her around to the passenger side, opening the door and blocking the wind from licking at her skin.
“I was so afraid I was going to lose you again,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers. “Both of you.” He rested his hands on her stomach.
Viv squeezed her eyes shut against the sharp sting of tears. “I’m not ready to talk about it yet. But soon. I think…however things end up between us, you should be part of this baby’s life.”
“I’ll never be able to say sorry enough, Viv. I didn’t…I never wanted to hurt you.”
He leaned back to look down at her, reaching up to cup her cheek and rubbing his thumb across her lower lip. When he kissed her, she fisted her hands in his shirt to push him away, but she couldn’t. Instead she pulled him closer, sighing when his arms encircled her waist, molding their bodies together.
She jerked at the sound of slamming car doors, breaking their connection, and when her brothers rushed over, raking Aidan with cruel glares, he reluctantly released her and stepped back.
He gave her the space she’d told him she wanted while she took her father, brothers, and Declan through the story of what happened, but his eyes never left her. She felt him watching her, wanting her, but not pushing.
When her father finally asked Leo to take her home, she glanced at Aidan over her shoulder as her brother led her to his car. Leaving him felt like leaving a piece of her soul behind, but she didn’t know how to soothe this ache he’d written on her heart. She worried it might not be possible.
ChapterThirty-Four
Aidan glanced at Viv sitting in the passenger seat of his truck and then up at the black and white photo tucked into his visor. His child. Their child. A staticky blob of light with a healthy heartbeat. That steady pulse had nearly brought him to his knees when he heard it in the doctor’s office this morning.
She’d called him a few days after he found her at Alex’s place to ask if he wanted to go to the ultrasound appointment to hear the baby’s heartbeat. It hadn’t even been a question.
