Chapter 50 Parker #2
“I’m sorry,” I say, and I mean it. Some of it, at least. “I’m sorry my father did that to you.
I’m sorry Charles treated you the same way Dominic did, like you’re a problem to manage instead of a person with value.
But hurting my children isn’t the answer.
Kidnapping me isn’t going to make Charles respect you. ”
“Don’t,” she warns, her voice going cold as she turns back to face me. “Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, Parker. You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
“Then tell me.” I lean forward as much as the zip ties allow. “Tell me what this is really about. Because I don’t think this is about the organization or Charles or even revenge.”
“This isn’t about making Charles respect me anymore.” Aria stands, walking to the window. “This is about showing all of you that dismissing people has consequences. That underestimating someone can be fatal.”
Aria’s expression shifts. Something raw and painful flashing across her face before she locks it down again.
“You just couldn’t stay away,” she says, her voice shaking slightly. “You had to come back.”
“This is about me getting a job you wanted?” I ask, trying to piece it together.
“This is about you getting everything I wanted!” Aria’s voice rises. “Including a man who is so incapable of love, but can’t seem to get over his obsession with you!”
I blink. Stare at her. Try to process what she just said.
“Who?” I ask. “Ryan? Take him. He’s yours. I’ll even buy your first blender. Maybe a Vitamix. Those things are expensive but really worth the investment if you’re making smoothies.”
“Not Ryan, you idiot!” Aria’s composure shatters completely. “Silas! I’m talking about Silas!”
The world stops.
“What?”
“Silas Vale.” Aria’s voice is raw now, all pretense gone. “The man I was with for four years. The man who was mine until you came back and took him.”
I can’t breathe. Can’t process. Can’t make sense of what she’s saying.
“You and Silas?” I manage. “When?”
“After you left.” Aria’s pacing now, agitated. “About a year or so after you ran to California. After Dominic ordered all surveillance on you to cease. After Silas was grieving the woman he loved who disappeared.”
Oh God. I’m going to be sick.
“We were together for four years,” Aria continues, and there’s pain in her voice now. Real pain. “He was the only good thing in my life with your father. The only person who saw me, who wanted me, who made me feel like I mattered.”
My mind is racing. Silas and Aria. While I was in California raising Noah and Liam. While he thought I was gone forever.
“And then you came back,” Aria says, turning to face me.
Tears in her eyes now. Actual tears. “And suddenly I was nothing. Suddenly Silas wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t touch me, wouldn’t acknowledge I existed.
You remember the day you arrived? When you grabbed my hair and threw me out of your house? ”
I remember. The guest house. Finding Aria there when I thought it would be empty. My visceral reaction, my need to protect the space for my children.
“Silas was there,” Aria continues. “When you let go of my hair, when you told me to leave, I looked at him. Looked at the man I’d spent four years with.
And he shoved me away. Pushed me aside, let me fall to the ground like I was nothing.
Like I meant nothing. Like those four years didn’t matter because you were back. ”
Understanding crashes through me. This isn’t about the organization. This isn’t about Charles or power or respect.
“So this is about jealousy,” I say, my voice flat. “You’re in love with Silas.”
“I love Silas,” Aria says fiercely. “I’ve loved him for years. I accepted him, all of him, the violence and the darkness and the parts everyone else is terrified of. And he chose you. Completely. Without hesitation.”
“He’s not a possession,” I say. “He’s a person who makes his own choices.”
“He’s a man who can’t even give you children!” Aria’s voice cracks. “Did you know that? Did he tell you he had a vasectomy when he was eighteen? That his parents forced it because they decided he was too damaged, too violent, too much like his father to be allowed to reproduce?”
The words hit like a sledgehammer.
No.
No, that can’t be real.
“You’re lying,” I say, but my voice sounds hollow.
“I’m not.” Aria’s smile is cruel now, vicious. “Silas Vale is sterile. Has been since he was eighteen years old. His parents took him to a clinic and made sure he could never have children. It’s in his medical records. Records I accessed because unlike everyone else, I actually paid attention.”
The DNA results. The email sitting unopened. If Silas can’t have children, then the results will only show Jace and Cal.
“Those precious boys of yours?” Aria continues, watching my face. “They’re not his. They’re Jace’s and Cal’s. And Silas knows it. He’s known it all along.”
My mind is spinning. Silas knew. This whole time, he’s known he couldn’t biologically be their father. And he loved them anyway. Claimed them anyway. Called them his sons knowing the DNA would never confirm it.
“He would have told me,” I say, but even as I say it I’m not sure.
Would he? Would Silas tell me something like this?
“Would he?” Aria asks. “The man who can’t give you what you want but is so obsessed with you. The man who’s been living with this knowledge while you plan to open DNA results he already knows won’t include him while you’ve been blissfully assuming all three men are in the running.”
Pain lances through my chest. If this is true, if Silas has been carrying this alone, if he’s been loving Noah and Liam knowing he can’t claim them biologically...
“That’s why I thought he could come back to me,” Aria says quietly. “Because without biological children tying him to you, without that bond, maybe he’d remember what we had. Something real. Maybe he’d see that I’m the one who accepted him as he is. Broken and incapable of love.”
“He’s not incapable of love, you idiot,” I snap, fury cutting through the shock. “He’s loved those boys from the moment he met them. He’s loved me since we were kids. Biology doesn’t define family. Choice does. And Silas chose us.”
“Because you gave him no choice!” Aria’s voice rises. “You came back, you seduced him again, you made him fall back into old patterns. But without you, he’d see clearly. He’d come back to me.”
“He wouldn’t,” I say with absolute certainty, even through my own pain. “Even if you killed me right now, even if I disappeared completely, Silas wouldn’t choose you. Because you fundamentally misunderstand who he is.”
“I know exactly who he is!”
“No.” I shake my head. “You know what he’s been through.
You know the violence, the damage, the walls he’s built.
But you don’t actually know him. Because if you did, you’d understand that Silas Vale loves with everything he is.
It’s not that he can’t love. It’s that when he loves, it consumes him completely.
So he’s carefully who he chooses to let in.
And he chose to love me. He chose to love Noah and Liam.
Those aren’t old patterns. That’s who he actually is when he stops running from it. ”
“You think you’re so special,” Aria hisses. “You think you deserve them. Deserve everything.”
“I don’t think I deserve anything,” I say honestly. “But I know I love them. All three of them. And they love me. And you can be as bitter as you want about it, but using me as some twisted revenge fantasy won’t change the fact that Silas doesn’t want you.”
“We’ll see about that when they find you dead.”
“You won’t kill me,” I say, reading her. “You need me alive for leverage. Because deep down you know that even if I’m gone, Silas won’t come running back. He’ll just hate you for taking me away. And that’s worse than him choosing me, isn’t it? The thought that he might hate you?”
Aria’s face goes white, then red. Her hand moves fast, cracking across my face. The slap echoes in the room, my head snapping to the side, pain blooming across my cheek.
I work my jaw, taste copper, and then I laugh. Actually laugh, the sound rough and probably slightly unhinged.
“Did I hit a nerve?” I ask, turning back to look at her with a grin that I know makes me look slightly feral.
“Because that’s what this whole thing is about, isn’t it?
You can’t stand that he chose me. That even when he was with you, even during those four years, he was thinking about me.
You were a rebound, Aria. A long term rebound. ”
The words are cruel but they land like I meant them to. Aria’s expression crumbles.
“At least I had him,” she says, her voice shaking. “What did you have? A kinky gangbang with your brother’s best friends and then you just ran and hid for six years like he meant nothing.”
“Don’t tell me how I feel about him or Jace or Cal.
I left, but they weren’t nothing. They weren’t ever nothing and bearing their children was what I was tasked with.
Protecting our family even if none of them would ever know, but that’s what I did.
I was protecting our children from people like you,” I correct.
“Six years of building a life where they could be safe. Six years of being their mother. And you know what? I’d do it again.
Because that’s what love actually is, Aria.
It’s not possession or control or desperate attempts to make someone choose you.
It’s sacrifice. It’s protection. It’s putting someone else first.”
“Don’t lecture me about love,” Aria spits.
“Why not?” I ask. “You clearly need the lesson. You think loving Silas means keeping him, controlling him, making sure no one else can have him. But that’s not love. That’s obsession. And Silas knows the difference.”
Before Aria can respond, the door opens.
Ryan Matthews walks in, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
“Ladies,” he says pleasantly. “Having a productive chat?”
“Ryan.” I keep my voice neutral, trying to assess where he fits in all this. Is he Aria’s partner or her puppet? “Nice to see you’re involved in kidnapping now. Really expanding your skill set.”
“I prefer to think of it as strategic asset acquisition,” he says, pulling up another chair. “And you’re quite the asset, Parker. Three men would do anything for you. Charles would burn the organization down to get you back. You’re valuable leverage.”
“Is that what Aria told you?” I ask. “That I’m leverage? Or did she mention she’s mostly doing this because she’s jealous that Silas chose me over her?”
Ryan’s smile falters slightly. He glances at Aria.
“Oh, he doesn’t know,” I realize. “Ryan, buddy, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the woman you’re clearly in cooperation with has been pining over Silas Vale for years.
This whole operation? It’s not about power or the organization.
It’s about her trying to get back the man who dumped her when I came home. ”
“That’s not true,” Aria says quickly.
“Isn’t it?” I look at Ryan. “Tell me something, Ryan. When did you and Aria become partners? Was it at Ohio State, before my father forced her to marry him? Or after, when you came back and she needed someone to help her plot revenge against the organization that dismissed her?”
Ryan’s expression shifts. Something uncomfortable crossing his face.
“We met freshman year,” he confirms slowly. “Became friends. And when Aria married Dominic, we stayed in touch. I looked out for her.”
“Because you love her,” I say. It’s not a question.
“We’re partners,” Ryan says, but there’s something defensive in his tone now.
“Right. Partners.” I laugh, the sound bitter. “Except she’s in love with someone else. Someone who doesn’t want her. And you’re helping her try to get him back by eliminating me. That must feel great, Ryan. Really good for your self-esteem.”
“Shut up,” Aria hisses.
“Why?” I ask. “It’s the truth, isn’t it? Ryan’s been in love with you for years. Probably since college. And you’ve been using him to get back at Silas for choosing me. That’s some twisted shit, Aria. Even for this family.”
“You don’t know anything,” Aria says, but her voice lacks conviction.
“I know enough.” I look between them. “I know you’re both so focused on what you think you deserve that you can’t see you’re destroying yourselves.
Ryan, you’re never going to have her. Aria, you’re never going to have Silas.
And no amount of kidnapping or revenge or elaborate schemes is going to change that. ”
“We’ll see,” Ryan says, but I can see doubt creeping into his expression now. “When your men get here, when they have to choose between their lives and yours, we’ll see how much they actually love you.”
“They’ll choose me,” I say with certainty. “Every single time. Because that’s what love is. And neither of you understand that because you’ve spent so long focused on what you want that you’ve forgotten what it means to actually put someone else first.”
A knock on the door interrupts us. Sharp, urgent.
“What?” Ryan calls out, irritation in his voice.
One of the guards opens the door. “Sir, we have a problem. Communications are down. All of them. Cell service, radio, internet. Everything.”
Ryan’s expression shifts instantly from irritated to alert. “Since when?”
“Just now. Complete blackout. Someone’s jamming us.”
Ryan looks at Aria. She’s already moving to a laptop on the kitchen counter, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
“He’s right,” she says, and there’s tension in her voice now. “Professional-grade jamming. Military equipment. Someone knows exactly what they’re doing.”
“Can you break through it?” Ryan demands.
“Not quickly enough.” Aria’s still typing, but I can see frustration building. “Whoever’s doing this is good. Really good.”
“Cal,” I say, and I can’t keep the satisfaction out of my voice. “That’s Cal. He found me.”
Ryan pulls out a gun, checking it with practiced efficiency. Then he walks over to me, pressing the barrel against my temple.
Cold metal against skin. The threat suddenly very real.
“Then I guess your baby daddies are here,” Ryan says, his voice cold.
He looks at Aria, then back at me, and smiles.
And through the window, I see movement in the trees.
They’re here.
I can’t believe we spent so much time trying to hide our quad, I think, hysteria bubbling up. I wonder what sorts of relationship problems normal couples have.