Chapter 13
Viktor~
Contrary to what my wife thought, there’d be nothing worse than her being with another man.
Not only would it rob me of the intimacy of being the only one to have ever slid inside her, but I refused to let another man be her hero.
It was bad enough that I had to compete against her brothers and father for that title, so I’d be damned if another man became an option for her.
“So, what is it?” I asked, still dreading whatever this could be.
“Have you ever heard of Astaroth?” she asked quietly, her dark gaze regarding me carefully.
My head jerked back a bit, Astaroth being the last thing that I had expected her to mention.
Now, you couldn’t live the life that we did and not have heard of the elusive ghost that killed without conscience.
Of course, with no evidence that the man existed, a lot of people had reduced his reputation to being a boogeyman that the Marchettis had concocted for clout, but now that Aurora was bringing him up, I wasn’t so sure.
“Of course,” I answered. “Almost everyone in this life has heard of him.”
Looking me straight in the eyes, Aurora said, “Astaroth isn’t a he.”
It took me a second, but once the implications of what she’d said hit me, I thought back to how Stefano had called her Stella at the church.
It also wasn’t hard to figure out the math.
Estella meant star in Italian, and the word star could be found right smack dab in the middle of the name Astaroth.
Nonetheless, I needed an explanation for the bomb that she had just dropped on me.
“If you’re saying what I think it is that you’re saying, why are you telling me this?” I asked plainly.
“Two reasons,” she answered. “First, it puts us on an even keel. You got down on your knees to prove your love for me, and that deserves an equal return in power. I know something about you that can ruin your life, and now you know something about me that can do the same.”
Now, while I hadn’t been expecting Aurora to say the words back, I didn’t like how she was categorizing what I’d said as a power play.
I’d told her that I loved her to prove that I’d never choose any traitor over her, and that’s what my father and brother would be to me if it really was one of them behind what had happened to her at the pier.
Relaxing my jaw, I asked, “And what’s the second reason?”
“To help you understand why I don’t need you to avenge me, Viktor,” she said, and it was a good thing that I was sitting down, because the seriousness in her voice would have cut me to my knees. “To help you understand why my father and brothers allowed me to return here alone.”
I stared at her, not really knowing what to say.
I knew that she wasn’t lying to me, but I could still hardly credit it.
Even as lethal as she was, to be Astaroth was something entirely different.
To have made the kills that were credited to her and not get caught was short of a miracle.
So, it was hard not to feel like I was missing something very important here.
Then the lightbulb went off.
“How did you know about the four weaknesses on our property?” I asked, remembering that little gem of a conversation.
Aurora sat up straighter. “I paid attention when you gave me a tour of the grounds.”
“And?” I prompted, pushing for more.
My wife let out a heavy sigh before saying, “Viktor, I have a photographic memory.”
“You have a photographic memory,” I echoed.
She nodded. “It’s how I’ve managed to get away with my kills. Being able to remember everything about my target and their environment helps me plan and execute almost flawlessly.”
So, not only could my wife fight like a trained soldier, speak and understand multiple languages, run the Marchetti’s gambling empire, and shoot a gun like a marksman, but she also had a photographic memory that was a more dangerous weapon than all of her other skills combined.
If Aurora truly had a photographic memory, then that meant that she could remember every place that I’d taken her, the faces of everyone that she’d been in contact with, and could assess any situation enough that she knew more about what had happened on that pier than she’d led on.
“And you think that this information makes a difference?” I finally asked her.
“I’m just explaining that I’ve got this,” she said, pissing me off a bit. “I know what I’m doing, and I don’t need you to put yourself in the line of fire for something that I can and should handle on my own.”
“Are you seriously sitting there, telling me to back off?” I bit out, the heat of rage slithering down my back and everywhere else.
Her eyes gave nothing away as she said, “Even if I believe that you weren’t behind the attack, there’s still a traitor walking around freely right now, and I’m no closer to knowing who it is than I was two weeks ago. So, I’d feel better handling this myself.”
“You can’t honestly believe that I’d ever go for something like that, Aurora,” I said, my voice biting with anger. “You can’t seriously believe that I’d ever step aside to let you fight an enemy alone.”
Aurora let out another heavy sigh. “What’s it going to take?”
“For what?’
“For you to finally believe that I can take care of myself,” she answered.
“You know who my family is, you’ve seen me fight off four grown men, and you’re a witness to the men who love me the most letting me come back here to take care of this situation alone.
What more do you need as proof of what I’m capable of? ”
Leaning into her, I said, “I don’t give a fuck if you’re a goddamn Greek Spartan. I’ve already told you that it is my job to protect and avenge you. It is my fucking job to make sure that everyone knows that you are untouchable.”
She shot me a look, and she didn’t even need to say the words to make her point.
I had failed in protecting her, and I had failed to make her place in my life known.
Still, be that as it may, I wasn’t about to let her rob me of the chance to avenge her.
It was the only way that I was going to be able to survive failing her, and if she took that away from me, I knew that it would slowly drive me insane.
“My choice to do this on my own has nothing to do with you, Viktor,” she said, but she couldn’t be more wrong. “It’s just how I do things.”
“Not anymore,” I shot back. “That all changed the second that we said our vows.”
Aurora cocked her head as she asked, “Is it really so hard to let me protect you?”
“Protect me from what?” I snapped, the sentence enough to piss me off more.
“From whatever this is,” she answered. “By staying out of it, then you’ve got options should it come out that your family is behind all this.”
“I don’t want options,” I fired back. “I want you. Above everything else in my life, you are the only thing that I want, and if the traitor ends up being my father or brother, I will handle that.”
“And that’s what I’m trying to save you from,” she insisted. “It’s easy to say the words, but if it really came down to it, that’s not a decision that you’re going to want to make.”
I reached out, grabbed her chin, then yanked her forward.
“Though it’s quite obvious that you don’t believe me, I love you.
I love you in a way that I hadn’t ever imagined possible, and if you think for one minute that I’d ever just stand by and let you go at this alone, you’re out of your fucking mind. ”
Not backing down, she said, “You’ll just get in my way.”
I let go of her chin, then leaned back before I strangled the fuck out of her.
“I’m going to say this only once, and I need you to really, really fucking listen, Aurora.
You don’t have an option here. While I can admit to you having me wrapped around your finger in this room, outside of it, my word is law.
I give the orders, and I expect you to follow them, no matter what you’re capable of. Do you understand me?”
“You can’t honestly expect me to agree to that,” she replied, almost as if nothing that I’d said was registering. “You can’t seriously expect me to follow you blindly, husband or not.”
“I expect you to honor your fucking vows and obey me when I tell you something,” I bit out, and it was clearly the wrong thing to say, but I wasn’t backing down on this one.
“And maybe if someone hadn’t tried to kill me on your watch, I would,” she fired back, cutting me off at the knees. “So, a little piece of advice, Viktor; do not turn this into a pride thing, because it’s not. This is about a sonofabitch trying to kill me and nothing more.”
“And that’s the difference between you and me, Aurora,” I replied.
“To you, this is just another day at the office, another Marchetti problem that needs to be taken care of. However, to me, this is about how someone tried to kill my wife, and I can’t see it any other way.
Besides, the last thing that I’ll ever allow is for your family to have a reason to take you from me, and cowardice would be a valid reason. ”
“Viktor-”
“I said no!” I thundered, done with her bullshit. “I said no, and so help me God, if you defy me on this, I will handcuff you to my wrist, and freedom will become a long-forgotten memory for you. Now, have I made myself fucking clear, zhena?”
Aurora arched a brow. “Crystal.”
“Good,” I bit out. “Now get some sleep. We have to meet with my father in the morning.”
Luckily, she didn’t argue with me, but that really didn’t make me feel any better.