Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Killian
Aria refused to come down for breakfast. Which was fine, he told himself as he stared out the window of his office for the fiftieth time that morning. If she wanted to be stubborn, he could wait her out.
Probably.
Annoyed with himself for moping about like a lovesick teenager, he forced his attention back to the spreadsheets in front of him.
Something wasn’t lining up, but he couldn’t pinpoint the fuck-up.
There was a time he would have just called Braden to come look things over with him, but for obvious reasons that was no longer an option.
Perhaps Murphy could find the discrepancy. He was good at that kind of thing, almost as good as he was at telling him exactly where everything could possibly go wrong in any given plan. If Killian couldn’t figure out the problem by lunch, he’d call his cousin.
He’d just gone through another column of numbers when his phone buzzed. The guard stationed at the front gate. Frowning, he hit the button to answer. “Yes?”
“Ah, sir? There’s a very angry blonde woman here demanding to speak with you.”
Curiosity nudged annoyance to the side as he brought up the cameras on his computer and grinned at the sight of Cordelia Summers with her hair pulled up in her usual high ponytail glaring up at the camera.
“Let her in. She’s not a risk.” Or she might be, but likely in a way that would be more amusing than actually harmful.
Hanging up the phone, Killian buzzed for fresh coffee to be brought into his office and closed out all his spreadsheets and locked his computer. By the time he had everything secured, Cordelia was there, bursting into his office like some sort of avenging fury.
“Ah, Delia.” Picking up a fresh cup of coffee from the silver tray on his desk, he held it out to her. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“You used my boy.”
Guilt, an emotion he was becoming uncomfortably familiar with these days, washed away his amusement. Because it wasn’t just anger in her tone, but hurt and betrayal as well. “I did. And I regret that it was necessary.”
“So you don’t regret putting him in the middle of this shitstorm between you and Braden?”
“I do. And I regret that it was necessary to do so. I had hoped that Braden wouldn’t find out, but… circumstances changed.”
Cordelia blinked, her glittering emerald eyes going blank for a moment before the fury came rushing back. “Circumstances changed? What the fuck does that even mean, O’Rourke?”
It wasn’t really his news to tell. But Jacob was dear to him, and as Jacob’s Domme and Daddy, Cordelia deserved the truth. “What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room.”
“Fine,” she snarled.
“Aria is pregnant. With my child. So she is staying with me for the foreseeable future, so I can keep her safe. Braden is… understandably distraught by this news.”
Mouth falling open, Cordelia stared at him for several long moments. “You knocked up Braden’s daughter?”
“If you must be crass about it, yes.”
He watched the wheels turn as she put the pieces together. “Holy fuck. I knew you two hooked up—rude of you not to tell me, by the way—but holy fuck.”
“Wait, you knew?”
“Of course I knew,” she shot back with a snort of pure derision.
“Aria comes back down to the pit looking all rumpled and well-fucked, when there was literally nobody else in the club that night, and then the next morning you show up at the brunch acting all squirrelly about things. It didn’t take much to put those things together.
What I don’t know is how Jacob fits into all this. ”
“You haven’t asked him?”
Her expression darkened. “Asked him and threatened his sitting privileges for the rest of his life if he didn’t tell me, but he is incredibly loyal to you. To his own detriment. Braden knows he has something to do with what went down with you and Aria, and he’s furious.”
“Fuck.” Gripping his coffee, Killian paced over to the wet bar and poured a generous helping of Irish crème into the drink.
“I asked Jacob to cover my tracks. Gave him cash to pay for the toys we used and asked him to clean the princess room for me without telling Braden. Or rather, I asked him to tell Braden it had been used by someone who wished to remain anonymous.”
“Oh, you asshole.”
“I know. I’m sorry, Cordelia. I was trying to keep this from blowing up in all our faces, and I fear I only made things worse.”
“You did. You put my boy in the middle of all this and Braden is being an absolute fucking dick to him because of it. Jacob is devastated. He wants to be loyal to you, but he loves Braden, too. It's killing him to be caught in the middle.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t ripped Braden a new one yet.”
“I tried.” Hurt flickered across her face. “He pulled the ‘I’m your boss and I’m the one who gives orders around here, not you’ card.”
“He did that? To you?”
“Yes. Jacob and Ivy and I are refraining from taking any shifts at the club or even playing there until Braden calms down.”
He’d done what he’d felt was necessary to protect himself and Aria from a very messy situation. And given the same chance with the same information, he would do the same again, and he couldn’t find it in him to feel guilty about it.
But knowing those actions were hurting people he genuinely cared about, that he did feel guilty about. “I’ll make it up to Jacob.”
“You will, after you fix things with Braden. Until then, consider the three of us Switzerland. I’m not letting my boy get caught in the middle of this fucking shitstorm any more than he already is.”
“Fair enough.” Though it killed him to know he wouldn’t be able to talk to either of his closest friends for the foreseeable future. “Tell Jacob I’m sorry for getting him caught in the middle.”
“I will. And congratulations. I understand why Braden is pissed, but I’ve watched you with my boy. You’ve got all the makings of a great father.”
Surprise had his brows rising before he could think to hide his reaction. “Thank you, Cordelia. That means a lot, especially from you.”
Sighing, she ran a hand over her hair. “I need to get back home and take care of my subs. Let me know when you fix this shit with Braden so we can go back to our club. Ivy needs her people.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
With a sharp nod, Cordelia turned and strode from the room. Killian drained his spiked coffee and returned to his spot behind his desk.
And tried to focus on his fucked-up financial reports rather than all the lives he’d managed to ruin with one careless night.
Aria
Boredom had once again set in. When she’d refused to come to breakfast, Killian had sent food up again, this time with an ebook reader on the tray.
She’d been intrigued enough to check it out, and she even downloaded a few mafia romances for ‘research’.
Most likely, they weren’t the least bit realistic, but they could potentially give her some insight into the man whose child she was carrying.
Which was, apparently, a rather common theme in those mafia romances, so maybe they were more relevant to her current situation than she was willing to admit.
But after breakfast and a book, she was tired of being locked in her room. So she pulled her Queen of the Manor routine again and waltzed past her current guard—how many fucking cousins did Killian have, anyway?—and down the stairs to find herself some other entertainment.
Which she found in the form of a furious female voice reading Killian the riot act on the other side of his office door.
“Oh, you asshole.” Not just any female voice. Cordelia.
Get him, Delia!
Excitement, both at the prospect of hearing Killian get his ass handed to him by the fearsome Domme and at the idea of doing something ‘naughty’ by eavesdropping, coursed through Aria’s veins as she pressed her ear to the office door.
“I know. I’m sorry, Cordelia. I was trying to keep this from blowing up in all our faces and I fear I only made things worse.”
To Aria’s surprise, he actually did sound sorry. So he was capable of the emotion, he just wasn’t sorry for any of the shit he’d put her through.
Asshole.
“You did. You put my boy in the middle of all this and Braden is being an absolute fucking dick to him because of it. Jacob is devastated. He wants to be loyal to you, but he loves Braden, too. It's killing him to be caught in the middle.”
Guilt stabbed at her. No matter how her father felt about her and Killian, he shouldn’t be taking it out on innocent members of his club. Especially ones as sweet as Jacob.
“I’m surprised you haven’t ripped Braden a new one, yet.”
“I tried.” Instead of anger now, it was hurt in Cordelia’s voice. “He pulled the ‘I’m your boss and I’m the one who gives orders around here not you’ card.”
“He did that? To you?”
“Yes. Jacob and Ivy and I are refraining from taking any shifts at the club or even playing there until Braden calms down.”
Fuck. Swallowing hard against the emotion lodged in her throat, Aria stepped away from the door and pulled her phone from her pocket. Closing herself off in the parlor with her new guard stationed outside, she hit the button to call her father.
“Aria? What’s wrong? Are you okay, did something happen?”
“I’m safe, Dad. Really.” God, she didn’t want to say the words she knew she had to say, but she needed to do something to get her father calmed down.
“Honestly, Killian and I talked after you left and… he’s right.
This is the safest place for me. We didn’t take his warnings seriously and we’re lucky it was him who got to me first.”
Parroting Killian and Reagan’s talking points now, she realized a little tiny part of her actually believed them.
It was a good thing Killian had been the one to snatch her off the street, and while she still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced his enemies were after her, she was grateful she wouldn’t have to find out.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Aria. You’d be just as safe here with me.”
“Would I, Dad? Yeah, Holden could put a team on us but Killian has an army. I’m beginning to think he’s building cousins in his basement like some kind of supervillain.”
“Fine. We’ll let him consult, provide extra guards, whatever he wants to do. I just want you to come home.”
Closing her eyes, she willed back the tears. “I know. But I really do think this is where I’m safest, at least for now. Please don’t be angry.”
“Oh, baby. I’m not mad at you. I never was.”
“Just everyone else in the general vicinity.” Try as she might, she couldn’t keep the bitter accusation out of her voice.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Cordelia is here, ripping Killian a new asshole because you’re being a dick to Jacob. That’s not right, Dad, and you know it. The members of Club BDE trust you to be fair and you are not being fair to Jacob by taking out your frustrations with Killian on him.”
“He lied to me, Aria, right to my face. He covered Killian’s tracks so I wouldn’t be able to put two and two together about you and him.”
“Did he lie, or did he agree to keep a confidence for one of your members, which is a service your club prides itself on?”
Silence stretched between them, followed by a string of swear words creative enough to send a sailor to confession. “You may have a point.”
“You know I do. Cordelia is planning to boycott the club until you get your shit together, and I don’t blame her. It’s not fair of you to take all this out on Jacob just because he’s available and Killian isn’t. You owe them all an apology.”
“I’ll consider it.”
Given how furious he was and everything she’d put him through, it was the best she was likely to get, at least for now.
“Thanks, Dad. And I know it’s pointless to tell you not to worry, but can you try to trust me when I tell you that I’m exactly where I want to be?
Killian isn’t keeping me prisoner any longer.
We made a decision together to do the best thing for our family. ”
Our family. God, that was weird to be saying about anyone other than her father.
And it hit her, as she said the words, how true they were. Even if she and Killian hadn’t actually sat down and talked things out, some part of her recognized that this was actually the safest place for her. And that by not actively trying to escape, she was, in fact, choosing this.
Choosing Killian.
Jesus.
“I’ll try. But I’m not going to stop fighting to get you back.”
Her heart twisted with worry. “Just don’t get yourself killed in the process. I want my baby to grow up with a grandfather, and you’re the only one we’ve got.”
“I’ll do my best. I love you, Aria.”
“Love you too, Dad. Give Lottie my best, unless you’ve been an asshole to her too, in which case give her my condolences.”
“Condolences, it is,” he said dryly.
The call ended, but she didn’t leave the room. Instead, she poked her head out the door and asked if someone could bring her ebook reader down to her, along with a glass of water and a snack.
Settling on one of the oversized plush couches by the window, she set her phone down with a sigh.
And prepared to make the best of her new home.