CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE #2
“Hmmm. About that.” He pushes off the wall, takes my hand and leads me over to the sofa.
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AIDAN
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WE AGREED IT would be better if Briar didn’t know about her husband yet.
She’s not an operative, but tomorrow at Ryder’s wedding, she’s going to be an unsuspecting one.
“No fucking way.” Ryder growled when we told him about the plan.
I felt the same way, but I also trust our team.
There is no way I would put Briar in harm’s way, but their small, private wedding is going to be so well-guarded it’s the perfect opportunity.
“Nothing is going to happen before or during the ceremony.” I told him.
“We’ll grab Johnny Trevis afterward. I’ll brief the police once you’ve said your I dos and they can pick him up.”
“Let’s grab him now.” Ryder shook his head.
We would if we knew where he fucking was.
But we don’t.
“We can’t find him. If we do, of course we will. But we know he’s going to attend the wedding as Briar’s date. So assuming he turns up, this is the best plan.” Josh said earlier tonight.
Now I’ve got my girl in my arms, even if she is sitting stiffly beside me. She was ready to give me a speech and say goodbye.
Wrong.
That is not how this is going down. I just shoved a strawberry inside her pussy and ate it. Then fed it to her. I don’t do that shit with a woman I am not in love with.
I don’t want to touch another woman.
Briar is mine.
But once she learns the truth about Kael, it’s going to be another blow. Another person she couldn’t trust. No matter how she feels about him now.
I don’t know the answer to that last one and I’ll admit it’s been eating away at me.
Their marriage will be dissolved. You can’t marry someone with a fake identification, and it be legit. The law doesn’t allow it.
Not in any fucking state.
Tomorrow she’ll watch us have him arrested and then I’ll tell her everything we know about him.
When she’s safe. Until then, she’s not leaving my side, or she will be guarded by someone in the Black Hawke Security team.
“Listen, I know how this looks—” Briar starts to explain her infidelity.
“Stop.” I lean my arm along the cushions behind her as she sits on the edge, facing me. “I’m not looking for any bullshit excuses, Briar. I came to your house. I let you in last night. We’re both two consenting adults.”
She nods and guilt lines her face.
I grab her hands. “Tell me. Do you love him?”
Her eyes dart away and my heart contracts.
Fuck.
Does she love him? I’ve been trying to convince myself that she doesn’t. But she married him, so of course she did.
I clench my teeth.
“Um, I did once.” Briar clears her throat. “I hate talking to you about this, Aidan.”
Good.
Because I hate hearing it.
“So what changed?” I press and her eyes meet mine as her fingers press into my palm. She’s nervous and uncomfortable, which is understandable, but I need to keep her talking.
“You saw my bruise. You know what happened.”
I lift my unimpressed brows in acknowledgment. She’s right. I know exactly what he’s been doing and that until recently, she stayed with him and allowed it to happen.
I want to shake her.
“When did it start?” Why am I asking her about this? It’ll just make me want to kill the guy when we finally come face-to-face.
“Please, don’t.” Briar shakes her head.
“Why didn’t you leave him when he was hurting you?”
I know this line of questioning is going to upset her, but I need to know.
When her father died, surely that gave her a chance to create a new life for herself. I mean, I fucking walked away so she could.
“I’m not Savannah. I can’t afford a bodyguard.” Briar snaps.
Is she kidding me?
Now I’m getting angry.
“You have us. A whole team of paramilitary guys to protect you. Fuck, Briar. You could’ve asked me when I first saw you at Savannah's house.”
“No, I couldn’t!”
“Yes, you fucking could!”
“And what? Tell you I’m being abused again?” She throws up her hands. “Thanks for killing my dad, but I’m an idiot and ran into the arms of another abuser.”
I freeze.
“I didn’t mean that.” She stops. “I’m sorry.”
My teeth grind together.
Here it is.
The moment we have waited ten fucking long years for. The moment of truth.
How many times have I imagined asking her this question? Over a goddamn million. I don’t want to know. I need to know.
She just said the words and yet I’m such a fucking muck that I ask her plain and simple.
“Do you or don’t you think I am responsible for killing your father, Briar Sutton?” I ground out and we stare at one another, feeling like the floor was about to dissolve under our feet.
Nothing feels solid and real.
This is where our past meets us here in the future with the truth. Our truth. No one else’s.
“Does it really matter anymore?” Briar whispers.
Fuck.
I want her to say no.
I want her to have grown in the past ten years and have become her own person, independent of her mother’s manipulations.
She hasn’t.
I feel like the hope I had earlier is slipping away. Suddenly, there’s one more question I need an answer to. One that, despite the information I have, I need to know now.
Not after tomorrow.
I need to fucking know if Briar Sutton loves me. If she does, like me, there will be no one else for her. Our love, unless it’s one sided and unrequited, is consuming, demanding, and powerful.
There is no space for anyone else.
“Answer me this, then.” My voice is firm as I try to keep my anger at bay.
“Are you divorcing him?”
She looks me straight in the eye for a long moment, then shakes her head. “No.”