AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My father and the other two criminal patriarchs in this city have a deal: eithertheytransfer power to their heir or the other mobsters absorb their criminal enterprise. For some reason, they don’t trust us.” Aiden didn’t manage to sound offended. “One of many failsafes.”
Xander’s gaze flickered toward him and I knew there was more that Aiden wasn’t telling me, but I let it pass for now.
“So let’s be friends,” Aiden told me. “He’s willing to retire. But thanks to some bullshit family traditions I will never understand, my father needs to see me married before he’ll let me take the throne.”
“And what do I get out of this deal?”
“Your freedom. And a second crack at killing Gavin Crude, if you can find him.” Aiden flashed a smile down at me. “I don’t want to stop you and the other Belladonnas from murdering criminals. You’re thinning out the playing field, and as long as you never come for me… we’ll never come for you.”
The arrogant bastard would never see us coming.
Or at least, that was what I wanted to tell myself, but here we were. I was the one strapped to the bed and he was the one who had the gun. I needed to know what he knew and how to keep anyone else from finding out that information.
Aiden leaned down and brushed the hair from my face. His fingers sent little tingles across my skin, and I gritted my teeth, annoyed by the way I felt undone. “So, Selena. Will you make me the luckiest man alive? Marry me?”
“I’d be delighted.” I lied.
Or was I lying to myself?
* * *
Dominic
Now that thegirl was playing along—though I was pretty sure she’d stab us the second she had the chance—the three of us stepped out of Selena’s cell into the dimly lit basement.
“I want you to try to be the nice one,” Aiden said to me.
I regarded him skeptically, then glanced at Xander. “That seems like a better assignment for Xander.”
While women flocked to all three of us, I couldn’t deny that Xander held a special gravitational pull for the feminist psyche. Apparently women love an insane artist.
Aiden gave me a look. “My father is going to want me to come deal with this for him. And I need Xander.”
“You always do,” Xander said.
Aiden ignored him. “Gavin’s convinced that perhaps it’s a Belladonna, or perhaps it’s Aster, using the Belladonnas to hide his murder attempt. What a surprise, Aster might not be thrilled to have my father muscling in on his territory.”
The bandage on Aiden’s shoulder looked like blood was beginning to seep through.
I gestured for him to sit down, and he reluctantly did just that. “While we’re busy, you take care of her.”
I raised my eyebrows meaningfully as I pulled my chair up beside him, then peeled back the bandage over the wound. It looked nasty, but he was too deep in his new plan to give a damn about pain. When Aiden had a mission, he was focused—disturbingly so—and he didn’t care about any little details like a gunshot wound.
He said, “Not like that. She’s going to be my wife.”
I shrugged as I began to re-dress the wound. The two of us had a long standing history of fucking with each other. “I don’t think she said yes.”
“Explain to her what her duties are going to be.”
“This is the worst idea you’ve had,” Xander said. “And we’ve been with you for a lot of bad ideas. That girl is going to kill you in your sleep. And then, more importantly, she’s going to killus.”
Aiden shook his head. “I can manage her.”
Xander frowned down at him, crossing his arms. “You like her.”
“I see an opportunity. Gavin can’t get to Selena.”
Xander’s gaze met mine over Aiden’s head. Neither of us would say Lolly’s name, but Gavin’s games had clearly made Aiden lose his mind.
