FIFTEEN_NIGHT TERRORS
Alexander watched Aiden carefully.
The younger man still stood in the hallway, looking slightly guilty after being caught listening outside the door.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Aiden said quickly. “I was just walking around and then I heard voices and—”
“You stayed,” Alexander finished calmly.
Aiden sighed.
“…Yes.”
For a moment, Alexander said nothing.
Then he stepped aside.
“Come in.”
Aiden blinked.
“You’re not… angry?”
“If I were angry,” Alexander replied calmly, “this conversation would be very different.”
That didn’t sound comforting at all.
Still, Aiden stepped into the room.
A few of Alexander’s men were still there, but the moment they saw Aiden, they quietly gathered their things and left.
Within seconds, the room was empty again.
Alexander closed the door.
“You shouldn’t involve yourself in my business,” he said.
“I wasn’t trying to,” Aiden replied. “I just heard something about the Romano family and shipments.”
Alexander studied him.
“You’re curious.”
“I read a lot of crime stories,” Aiden admitted.
Alexander sighed.
“Real life is far more dangerous than those stories, kitten.”
Aiden rolled his eyes slightly.
“There you go again.”
Alexander ignored the complaint.
“The Romano family is not someone you should worry about.”
“Which probably means I should worry about them,” Aiden muttered.
Alexander gave him a look.
“Go to bed.”
Aiden lifted his hands in surrender.
“Fine.”
---
That night, the mansion was quiet.
Aiden lay on one side of the large bed while Alexander worked quietly at the desk across the room.
For a while, everything felt peaceful.
Until Aiden fell asleep.
And the nightmares came.
Darkness.
Shouting.
The sound of something breaking.
A young Aiden stood in the hallway of his childhood home, trembling as voices echoed from another room.
His father.
His stepmother.
And his mother.
His real mother.
“Please…” her voice sounded weak.
Then came the sound Aiden hated the most.
A loud crash.
Young Aiden covered his ears.
“Stop!”
But the nightmare continued like it always did.
The memory he could never escape.
The day his mother disappeared from his life.
“Aiden.”
“Aiden.”
Suddenly, the darkness broke.
Aiden woke up with a gasp.
His chest was rising and falling quickly, and his hands were trembling.
For a moment, he didn’t remember where he was.
Then he heard a voice beside him.
“Kitten.”
Alexander was sitting next to the bed.
His expression was serious.
“You were having a nightmare.”
Aiden wiped his face quickly, embarrassed.
“I’m fine.”
Alexander clearly didn’t believe that.
“You were shouting.”
Aiden looked away.
“It happens sometimes.”
Alexander was quiet for a moment.
“Since when?”
Aiden hesitated.
“…Since I was a kid.”
Alexander didn’t push further.
Instead, he stood up and poured a glass of water before handing it to him.
Aiden took it slowly.
“Thanks.”
Alexander crossed his arms.
“Was it about your family?”
Aiden stared at the glass.
“…