Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“That’s her choice.”
He stared at his mother. “You’ve got to be joking. Her choice? You didn’t give Carrigan a choice when you were going to shove her out the door and down the aisle to that monster. You would have done the same fucking thing to Sloan if she didn’t disappear.”
“If Carrigan had done her duty, none of this would be happening.” Seamus pushed Aileen’s hand away. “Don’t shush me, woman. You know I’m right. Keira’s a good girl, and she’s going to do what her older sisters failed to.”
Aiden shook his head. “Keira is an addict. She sees Romanov as just another form of killing herself, the same way she’s been killing herself since Devlin died.”
“Aiden.”
“It’s the goddamn truth.” He’d already talked to Liam before this meeting and figured out who on the staff would be a problem if it came to forcing his father out. There were surprisingly few of them. Most of his men had made the transition with him the week Seamus left. To have his father randomly show up and try to assume control was making everyone edgy. They might back Aiden if push came to shove, but he wanted to avoid putting them in that situation if at all possible.
Aiden stood and buttoned his suit jacket. “You will abide by my wishes in this, or you will be removed from the house. For now, we’ll move forward with planning the wedding, but it’s ultimately my decision with how that proceeds. Do you understand?”
Seamus’s face turned a mottled red that couldn’t be good for his blood pressure. “Crossing me is a mistake.”
Almost definitely. But the alternative—letting his father ruin the plans that had been over a year in the making—wasn’t much of an alternative at all. So he didn’t let his turmoil show on his face. “Do. You. Understand?”
“Oh, I understand all right.”
“And, Father? Stay the fuck away from Charlie. I’m marrying her, and if you corner her again, I’ll consider you an enemy and move forward appropriately.” He turned away and strode out of the room, leaving his father sputtering behind him.
It brought Aiden no satisfaction, but if he didn’t do something about his father trying to drive off Charlie now, he was afraid that she’d disappear and they’d find her body in the river. That was the normal escalation of things—a sly payoff, something to scare her into doing what he wanted, and then an untimely death.
I can’t lose her.
He barely allowed himself to articulate the thought. He was already going to lose her, if not because of their arrangement expiring, then because he seemed to be getting in deeper with Romanov by the minute. Or maybe I’ll lose her when she figures out that I’m using her to blackmail her father. He was in a tangled web of his own making, and he hadn’t anticipated it getting so complicated so fast.
It would be easier if he didn’t care about her—if it was just sex.
He could barely be in the same room with her without wanting to drag her off somewhere private and slake their mutual desire. He admired her strength. She’d been to hell and back, and it hadn’t broken her. And there was the fact that she slid almost seamlessly into his life here. She didn’t blink at facing down Romanov or the Eldridges, or even his father. Her courage scared the shit out of him. But knowing she could take care of herself only heightened his attraction.
And there was the fact that she pushed him to mend fences with his siblings. Keira actually looked like something resembling healthy since Charlie had moved into the house. Carrigan had invited them to an event, which was an olive branch if he ever saw one. Give Charlie another week and she’d have him sitting down to dinner with Teague and doing his damnedest to forgive his middle brother.
He…cared about her.
He wanted to wrap her up and send her away to somewhere safe until this was all over. Fuck, he wanted to keep her safe forever. To stand between her and the world so she never had to be hurt again.
It wasn’t possible, even if she’d let him. He needed her here, and so he’d ride this out to the bitter end and see where all the pieces fell.
He just hoped like hell that they’d both still be standing at the end of it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Charlie did her best not to clutch Aiden’s arm as they walked up the steps to the hotel where Carrigan and James were holding their fundraiser. The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind of activity, and though Charlie had fully expected not to see Aiden for most of it, he checked in with her several times throughout the day.
He covered her hand with his. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t feel up to it.”