Chapter 29 Aiden
TWENTY-NINE
AIDEN
The Callahan empire was built on blood, drugs, and alliances of the arranged marriage kind. My wedding to Raven was the exception, and due to that particular betrothal, our empire was falling apart.
I couldn’t help but blame my uncle.
The minute we learned that Raven was Duncan’s daughter, we should have negotiated a deal that didn’t end in my marrying the woman. I had ignored my intuition and now it was costing us a shipment every few days. However, amidst the forced arrangement and days spent together, we found each other.
So my wife she would remain.
Ever since Uncle Jack’s retirement five years ago, I’d made calculated moves to ensure the Callahan empire didn’t collapse due to the Lyonses’ constant shipment seizes.
Aligning with the Omertà last year—although it was to help my sister and brother-in-law—was one of them.
Working with the Ashfords, Kian Cortes, and the Kingpins of the Syndicate was another.
It flabbergasted me that Raven had managed to escape my notice. All of the underworld’s notice. Granted, none of them knew about her or our marriage, and I wasn’t exactly looking for her because I thought she was dead.
But now that I knew she was alive, I would get leverage over her and use it mercilessly.
Now, sitting in the office of my Parisian penthouse, report in hand courtesy of Kingston, I’d finally found it.
“You’re sure about this?” I questioned Kingston, although judging by his expression, he was positive. After all, he’d spent the past month digging up anything and everything on Raven. “Do you have evidence?”
“Yes and yes.”
Tyran whistled, reading the document over my shoulder. If I didn’t trust him with my life, I would have had to kill him.
Kingston moved to the little bar in the corner of my office and fixed himself a drink, then strode back to the desk and handed me a glass of scotch. I shook my head, so he put it on the coaster in front of me before downing his in one go.
I read through the file, discovering the details of a murder that my wife and her friends had gotten away with.
“I cannot believe they killed Angelo Leone,” Tyran muttered.
“Ditto,” I hissed. I wanted to hold something over her head, but this… this was explosive.
“It’s what you were after, isn’t that right?” Kingston remarked. “You wanted leverage, and you got it. I’m also sending you video footage in case you need additional evidence.”
My phone beeped and I slid the message open. The grainy images showed Raven and her friends cutting up a body and smuggling it out of an apartment. But it wasn’t just any body. It was the body of the old Leone, Dante and Amon’s father.
Fuck!
“That’s just… sick.” Tyran gagged before he swallowed and asked, “Although brilliant. It leaves me to question how they got away with it.”
“Apparently, one of the Konstantins—Isla’s brothers—erased all traces of it, but they somehow forgot about the apartment surveillance,” Kingston deadpanned. “You’re the only one who has this footage now. I’ve wiped it from every database, including my own.”
Tyran cleared his throat. “I’m assuming it was Maxim, the dead Konstantin brother, who had their place surveilled? Illias wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake.”
Kingston nodded. “Nobody knew about that surveillance in their apartment, and it continued running after Maxim’s death.”
It was truly a miracle that Illias Konstantin—or any other criminal in the underworld—hadn’t learned about it. Hiring Kingston was definitely the right call, and I owed him big-time.
“How much do I owe you?”
The details didn’t really matter at this point. We just had to make sure nobody ever saw this, and then I could use it to get Raven to come back to me.
Silence stretched and Kingston finally replied, “It’s on the house.”
My brows dipped. “Why?”
He shrugged. “I’d rather not be connected to it, and knowing the sick bastard, I’m sure he deserved it.”
He wasn’t wrong; the head of the Leone family had been a cruel man and everyone in the Omertà breathed easier when his sons took over for him. He should have paid for his sins decades ago. It almost felt wrong to use this information to blackmail Raven. Almost.
I didn’t need my conscience shitting on my parade right now.
“If anyone else tries to dig for information on your wife, they’ll probably connect the dots, Aiden. You might want to get your house in order. Or let the world continue thinking she’s dead. Hell, it’s unbelievable that she managed to stay invisible with such friends and their ties.”
He was right.
I’d heard about those girls in one way or another over the years, but Raven’s name had never come up.
Phoenix and Reina Romero were Tomaso Romero’s daughters—practically raised as daughters of the Omertà.
Athena Kosta had indirect ties to the Greek mobster Lykos Costello.
And then there was Isla, sister to Illias Konstantin, the Bratva Pakhan.
And then there was my wife.
“I’ll protect her,” I rasped, a promise made to myself as much as to anyone else. She was mine to ruin and put back together. Mine to protect.
I sent off a message to Kyran, who took to watching over her today.
Me: Don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll be coming to collect her soon.
Kyran: About time. Babysitting her and her girlfriends makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
Tyran chuckled beside me, his fingers flying across the screen.
Tyran: Stop whining.
Kyran: They got dressed up like fucking clowns and are headed over for Reina Romero’s engagement party.
“Shit, we should be there too,” I grumbled, although it was the last place I wanted to be. But Raven would be there and it might present a perfect opportunity to snatch her.
“What are you going to do?” Tyran questioned. I could feel his inquisitive eyes on me.
“I have a plan,” I announced.
Kingston shook his head. “I’m going to let myself out before you share it.”
Tyran let out a wistful breath. “I wish I had that option, but considering he’s my brother and the head of our family…”
My brother spoke with complete nonchalance, appearing almost bored. Or maybe tense. Sometimes it was hard to tell.
“Good luck, Aiden.” I nodded as Kingston headed out the door.
“I have a feeling I’ll need another drink to stomach this plan,” Tyran muttered as he reached for the drink Kingston poured me, throwing it back before folding himself into a chair.
My gaze drifted to the window, where the Paris skyline unfolded. From this vantage point, I could just make out the bell towers of Notre-Dame rising solemnly above the rooftops, and beyond them, the Seine winding its ageless path through this timeless, almost sacred city.
And yet, I had the unsettling feeling that what I was about to do would leave a mark on it, however faint.
I turned my head and met my brother’s eyes. “I’m going to use this information and force her to stay with me.”
Tyran let out a relieved breath. “That’s not so bad. At least you won’t kill her.”
“Why would I do that? She’s my wife and I’m going to make her the mother of my children.”
Surprise flickered in his gaze. “Wow, moving fast, I see. No judgment here, I’m just surprised you’re not planning to punish her for letting you believe she was dead all this time.”
I smiled cruelly. “Oh, I’m going to make her pay.”
She would enjoy it, of course, but I would enjoy it more.