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My heart is aching as the tears stream freely down my cheeks. In the weeks since she’s died, I haven’t allowed myself to cry. If my father heard me crying, he would demand to know why. He would never forgive me for crying over the death of a traitor.
It would mark me as weak, and there is no room for weakness in his family.
“You and I were supposed to grow old together and try to convince my father that I could travel the world without his men following me. And then we were supposed to spend six months backpacking through Europe.”
I sigh. Now, I don’t have a close friend who understands the life I live. There isn’t a person left who knows me better than I know myself.
“You were supposed to be my maid of honor when I finally decided to settle down but you’ve left me here alone. How the hell am I supposed to do this without you?”
The tears fall faster as I stare at the tombstone, wondering when Erin decided that acting as an informant would be a better idea than just leaving. Dad would’ve let her leave. She wasn’t important to his business. He didn’t need her. She would’ve been allowed to leave with no repercussions.
“I hate you sometimes,” I say, still staring at the tombstone. “I really do hate you for leaving me here to deal with all of this shit alone. And then I watched you die. Nothing prepared me for that either.”
My breath comes in short bursts as I try not to picture Erin’s last moments. I try to wipe the sweat from my palms on my jeans. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest. The entire world around me is starting to blur and I feel like I’m losing touch on reality.
“I wish that you were here. If there was some way I could bring you back, I would.” I sigh and wipe my tears, the ache in my chest starting to ease. “There’s a guy in my life. He’s the worst possible person I could ever get involved with. I’m not involved with him right now, though. Things are too complicated.”
Erin would tease me relentlessly if she were here. It isn’t like me to go home with a man after meeting him at a club. She would demand to meet Tyson, wanting to know who had been brave enough to approach me.
More than once I’ve heard my brothers compare me to a viper. Erin used to think that they were right. She demanded that my entire security team referred to me as Viper for months after the first time she heard it.
“I miss you and it’s killing me,” I say.
“You know that you’re not supposed to be out of my sight,” a deep voice says from behind me.
I turn and see Tyson with his arms crossed over his chest. The lines on his face look a little deeper than normal. I start to wonder if working as my bodyguard is taking its toll on him.
I know that he hates my family. He’s made it clear enough, though he disguises it well when he is around them.
“I just needed some time to myself.”
“You’re going to ruin the operation if you keep taking time to yourself. I need to know where you are at all times. What do you think your father would do if he knew that you escaped my supervision?”
I shrug. The outcome if Tyson disappoints my father should matter to me but, right now, it doesn’t. All I want to do is curl up on Erin’s grave and cry until I have no tears left.
“I know this isn’t what you want to happen,” Tyson says as he crouches down beside me. “But this is what is best. You can’t go anywhere without telling me. Not anymore.”
“Screw you.”
“Hate me all you want,” Tyson says, moving too quickly for me to stop him.
One second I’m on the ground, and the next I’m tossed over his shoulder. I pound a fist into his back once before trying to kick him. Tyson chuckles and wraps his arm around my knees, keeping me in place.
“We’re going back to the house, Aria.”
“I hate you.”
“That’s fine,” he says, chuckling as he approaches a black car. “I don’t need you to like me to be able to do my job. I just need you to stop making it harder.”
“You like when I make things harder,” I mutter as he opens the back door before tossing me inside.
Tyson leans inside the car, keeping one arm propped against the roof and the other on the door. There is a dark look in his eyes that makes me wonder if he regrets ever meeting me.
I hope he does.
10
TYSON
