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“Where is Ignacio?” my father counters before turning his attention to Aris. “Why is it you never made your association with Ozias Glezos clear?”
“I didn’t see the need.”
Lavaughn slams his glass on the desk. “You should have. If I had known you were their son and you’d taken over the most influential organization in the world, I could have welcomed you into the family the proper way.”
“And what way would that be?”
“With an alliance of course. We can still agree to ally our families, but you’ve made a mess of my plans. If you want your wife returned to you, you’ll do the job she refused to do; kill Ignacio Arroyo.”
“You can’t return someone who isn’t in your possession.”
“Think not?”
I’m still processing how far my husband’s influence in the mob world extends when a hand covers my mouth. Another presses cold metal to my brow. My whimper causes Aris to look back. His eyes go dead, which ratchets up my concern.
“You want to negotiate with my wife’s life?” Aris relaxes his body.
I hold my scream inside. Aris is at his most dangerous when he’s calm, which means he will be more reckless with his life.
“Now you’re getting—” Before my father finishes his sentence a smoking hole appears in the middle of his forehead. Blood splatters my face and clothes and the body behind me drops. The action happens so fast, I have no time to react.
Aris strolls over to my father’s dead body. “This is the price for trying to take my wife from me.”
The study door leading to the hallway opens. The other two teams enter, surrounding Kayla and Trinity.
“Niyah?” They question me with horrified glances. Then they turn to where our father sits.
“Oh my God,” Trinity gasps.
“Let’s get out of here. We’ll regroup at my house.” Aris puts away his guns and approaches me with his outstretched hand.
My throat opens and closes without sound escaping and I can’t tell the last time I blinked. One second Aris reaches his hand out to me. In the next, total darkness.
“You didn’t have to kill him.” Trinity’s yelling is the first thing I hear as I regain consciousness.
We’re in my bedroom. I touch my face, glad for whoever cleaned the blood and changed my clothes. No one notices I’m awake, except Phin who’s curled beside me. I suspect Ferb is close by because one rarely goes without the other.
“I told you I don’t make idle threats.”
“Well… yeah, But—”
“And I told you what would happen to anyone who endangered Aniyah.”
“But—”
“I won’t apologize for killing your father, but I will for not providing you with adequate protection. If I had been more diligent, he never would have found you and Aniyah wouldn’t have had to worry.”
“You have it bad for my sister.” Kayla’s shock isn’t a surprise. Other than her one interaction with Aris, he hasn’t tried to win her over.
Instead, he treated our time together like something he had to hoard, a natural resource about to go extinct.
“Yes, he loves me more than anything else in the world.” I rise from the bed. “And I love him.”
Aris rushes over to prop me against the headboard while my sisters sit at the foot of the bed and Ferb rests his face next to my hip. I pat the dog and lean against Aris’ shoulder, preferring the comfort of his presence to the sturdy bed frame. My sisters wear their concern for me on their faces the way I expect mine is clear for them to see.
“Do you know how your father found you? When the night shift came to relieve the other guards, they told me the place was a war zone.” Guilt laces Aris’ words.
Although he’s kept his promise to bring my sisters home, he hasn’t forgiven himself for the security breach that allowed them to be taken.
