Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
AIDEN
That morning, I woke up dreaming about Ella. Sometimes, I went months without thinking about her. Others I spent ruminating about the past and wishing there was something I could have done differently to change the outcome.
Now, she was here.
In Devil’s Creek.
As no time had passed, she looked the same but with more ink and curves. I loved the new shape of her body and that round ass I wanted to fuck. Her blonde hair was longer, midway down her back, and grimy. She’d spent the past two weeks in a shipping container, trapped like an animal in a cage.
How did she survive?
Why was she here?
And she was engaged.
Fuck .
I’d imagined reuniting with Ella hundreds of times, wondering what we would say and if we would still have the same connection from high school. My dreams disappeared the second she stated she had a fiancé.
Sonny went into attack mode and caged Ella against the couch. “You’re engaged to Jimmy Walsh, you lying little bitch? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish it was a joke.” She trembled beneath him, her top lip quivering when he curled his long fingers around her throat. “It’s not by choice. Please, Sonny. Just let me explain.”
I grabbed his wrist and yanked him off her. “Stop it. Let her speak before you accuse her of stealing from your uncle.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she stammered. “I promise. It’s not what you think.”
In the past year, I had become a member of The Devil’s Knights, almost died on Skull Island during initiation, and got myself kidnapped by an Italian Mafia boss along with my sister.
My life was not simple.
Never a dull moment.
Once Alex and I became Wellingtons, our lives changed for the better and worse. We had money and access to anything we could ever desire. But we had a constant target on our backs, always having to look over our shoulders.
“Drake was kidnapped on the same day she shows up instead of my uncle’s AK-47s. I don’t believe in coincidences.” Sonny glanced at me, his body relaxing as our eyes met. “Do you believe her?”
We still had a connection, one we tried to ignore. The instant spark between us would never go away. We were perfect for each other but incomplete without Ella.
I nodded. “Let her go.”
With his eyes on me, Sonny released his grip on Ella’s throat. He did whatever made me happy—anything for me to give him another chance.
Over the years, we rarely saw each other. He lived in Cambridge while attending Harvard University, and I was over an hour away in Providence at RISD. Our paths occasionally crossed, but it was nothing more than a few drunken kisses. The two of us didn’t work without Ella.
“Then start fucking talking,” Sonny snapped at Ella as he sat on the coffee table, legs spread.
Ella sat up, arms wrapped around her middle and shivering. Dressed in ripped jean shorts and a dirty white tank top with a black bra underneath, her tits practically fell out of the top. Her legs were long and thicker than I remembered but toned. Fuck, she looked incredible, even with grime on almost every inch of her beautiful body.
I missed her so much.
“My dad arranged our marriage,” Ella said, her gaze shifting between us nervously as if awaiting an adverse reaction.
She wouldn’t get one from me or Sonny. We both understood how marriages in our world worked. It was par for the course to have our families find us the perfect match. But in Ella’s case, her dad chose poorly.
“I don’t want to marry Jimmy,” she continued. “He’s abusive and horrible and…” Ella raised her leg onto the coffee table between us and pointed at several scars. “He did this to me with a knife because I wouldn’t have sex with him.”
Sonny fixed his gaze on the scars on her thigh, nostrils flared. I didn’t want to upset her by flipping out, so I curled my hand into a fist to contain my anger.
“Just to be clear, I never had sex with him. The few times we were alone together, I fought him.” She held out her forearm and showed us a few more scars. “I got those from his cigar when I wouldn’t sit on his lap at a dinner party.”
Seeing my perfect girl marked by another man stirred up a raging desire to set the world on fire. I even considered flying to Dublin just to put a bullet in his skull. But men like Jimmy Walsh were nearly impossible to reach. He hid behind layers of bodyguards, untouchable unless you were a member of his inner circle.
“We were supposed to marry next week.” Ella tucked her messy hair behind her ears and avoided our gazes. “I overheard him talking to his men about a shipment to the US.” She looked at Sonny. “Jimmy hates your uncle and wanted to pay him back for something. I’m not sure what. But when I heard it was one of your family’s freighters, I figured I could hide aboard and find someone to contact you and Aiden.” She expelled a breath of air and slumped against the cushion. “It didn’t work out that way, though. I spent the past two weeks hiding from security and trying not to get caught.”
“You’re lucky that container doesn’t go through the customs checks,” Sonny told her. “If someone had found you…” He shook his head. “What did you do all that time? How did you eat? How did you…”
“I brought a backpack with granola bars, water, and fruit. I ran out of food and water a few days ago.” Her stomach growled, and she rubbed a hand over her belly. “So, I could use something to eat and drink, if you don’t mind.”
Sonny hopped up from the table and removed his cell phone from his pocket. He tapped a few buttons and said, “Your pizza will be ready in twenty.”
He shoved the phone into his pocket, retrieved two water bottles from the refrigerator, and handed them to Ella. “Take a shower while I’m gone.” He tipped his head toward the bedroom. “Alex left some clothes in the top drawer. You’re around the same size as her. They should fit.”
He turned his back to us and walked toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked him.
“To get her food.” He opened the door and lingered in the entryway. “Do you want anything else while I’m out?”
“No,” she said with a quick shake of her head. “And thank you, Sonny.”
He shrugged and left without another word.
Once we were alone, I pulled Ella into my arms and kissed her lips. “I meant what I said earlier. I missed you so fucking much, Ella. All these years… I wondered. I…”
“Me, too,” she said as if she could read my mind. “I never stopped thinking about you, Aiden. You were always on my mind. I thought about Sonny, too, but not as much as you.” She pushed up her tank top, revealing a black, lacy bra, and pointed at three interlinked shamrocks over her heart. “I got this to remind me of the only night we had together.”
“One perfect night,” I said with a smile, bringing her lips to mine. “I can’t believe you’re here. I feel like I will blink, and you’ll disappear.”
“I’m real.” She pinched the skin on my forearm, a grin plastered on her pretty face. “But how do we…”
“I take it your dad doesn’t know you left Ireland.”
She bobbed her head. “He does by now. I’m sure Jimmy called to yell at my father for sending him defective goods. That’s what he called me… when he wasn’t yelling whore at me.”
I gritted my teeth, attempting to maintain my composure. “I want to kill him.”
“No one wants that more than me,” she agreed. “But Jimmy is like a myth. People know of him but don’t know how to find him. They’re not even sure if he exists. Unfortunately for me, he does.” She dug her teeth into her bottom lip, those big, blue eyes red-rimmed and glassy. “I’m here now. But how do I get out of this marriage? How do I escape my father and his wrath?”
“That’s why you came to Sonny and me.” I moved her onto my lap and kissed her shoulder, my lips trailing to her cheek. “You knew we would protect you. And we will. This time, I’m not letting you go.”
She shifted her weight on top of me, rubbing her thick ass on my semi-hard cock. “How do you plan to do that?”
An insane idea popped into my head. Our families would never accept our union. Not unless we took drastic measures to bind our families forever. One of us had to get her pregnant. My grandfather would never deny his great-grandchild, nor would Sonny’s parents. It wouldn’t matter which one of us fathered the child.
“I’m locking you in this apartment… until you’re pregnant with mine or Sonny’s baby.”