24. Caden
Caden
Tony:
Her guests have left.
Dismissing the text, I checked the street again, ensuring the only ones lingering in the shadows were my men. She’d somehow managed to pit two of the city’s most powerful crime lords against each other … and still avoided sparking an all-out war. All to get protection.
Aeris was in deeper shit than she’d ever admit, and that meant I had something to use against her.
Using the key I’d copied, I unlocked her front door and disarmed the alarm. My boots crunched as I stepped inside, drawing my eyes down to the shattered glass and what appeared to be a broken lamp. The shards glistened against the streetlights leaking through the door, one I turned and locked.
Aeris’s home was exactly as I expected, all rich jewel tones and mismatched furniture that somehow worked together.
One chair had been badly repaired, and another was worn to the bone.
The kitchen was spotless, like she never cooked, but the living room told a different story.
Books, blankets, and shelves lined with the random, shiny shit she liked to collect.
Picking up a trinket, I turned it in my hands, not understanding her fascination.
Everything I owned had a purpose. The cushions and blanket I had draped over my sofa weren’t to make the room look softer, instead chosen for nothing more than simple comfort.
Honestly, the idea of decoration for decoration’s sake had always eluded me.
I didn’t find pleasure in such things, but Aeris clearly did. So I pocketed a strange green sea glass that looked like she’d simply found it at the beach before turning towards the stairs.
The carpet muffled my footsteps, my ears straining for any sound. I expected to find Aeris vulnerable, asleep in her bedroom. Instead, her bed was neatly made with no sign of her.
I knew she hadn’t left with her visitors. So where the fuck was she?
Moving silently, I entered the bathroom.
The lights were low, nothing other than the flickering of a candle on the windowsill illuminating the claw-footed bathtub.
It was filled right to the brim, and it took me a second to notice anything beneath the perfectly still water.
Aeris was lying at the bottom, her eyes closed and body still.
I didn’t think, reaching my arms into the bathtub to pull her out. Aeris’s eyes snapped open at my first touch, spluttering and splashing as I pulled her out and onto my lap. She let out a choked cough, her breathing laboured as she struggled to take in enough air.
“What … what are you doing?!” she gasped, her hair plastered across her face. She reached for the towel that had fallen when she’d flapped around like a dying fish, tugging it to drape across her naked body.
“Me? What are you doing?” I tucked the strands behind her ears, my other arm pulling her tighter against me despite the soaking wet towel. “Why the fuck were you drowning yourself?”
“I was meditating!”
“Underwater?”
“Oh my God …” she muttered, pushing weakly against me. “You can’t be here. Why does everyone think they have free access to my home?”
I held back a growl, my mind already racing on how I could secure her house. Letting her go, I allowed her to climb to her feet, the towel clutched like a life force to her chest. Which was amusing, considering only a few hours ago I’d had my face buried between her legs.
“If you’re caught, it ruins everything.”
I slowly rose to my full height, watching how her eyes widened a little. My shirt was sticking to my skin, sodden and uncomfortable.
“You’re going to tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into,” I said, demanding rather than asking.
Aeris’s nostrils flared, a flush of anger highlighting the fresh bruise blossoming on her cheekbone. “You do your job, and I’ll do mine.”
My eyes narrowed on the mark, my legs crossing the space in two steps. “What happened?” I asked, pinching her chin so I could angle her head better to the light.
She clenched her jaw, the seductress long gone. “Would you really care if I told you?”
“No,” I said quickly, even as rage burned through my veins.
The air between us vibrated, my pulse an insistent beat as I dragged my eyes slowly over her face. Her knuckles whitened on the towel, breath coming out in a rocky exhale that dragged my attention to her lips. The top one was slightly swollen, so I moved my thumb over it gently.
She flinched, and I frowned down at her. I hadn’t touched it hard, so why the fuck did she recoil?
“What are you doing?” she whispered, her voice a little strained as she tried to pull away. I didn’t let her. “Why are you here, Caden?”
“I’ve already told you—”
“No,” she growled, the sound cute. “I don’t belong to you.”
I smiled, only because it always seemed to catch her off guard. “Why didn’t you kill my father?”
Aeris jerked herself from my grip. “Get out, Caden.” Turning to the mirror, she began to wring her hair out over the sink. “You’re going to get us both killed.”
Moving in behind her, I planted my hands each side of the counter and met her eyes in the reflection. “You said yourself you usually kill them, so why spare him?”
“Would you have preferred if I’d killed him?” she snapped, clearly clinging to anger. “Maybe then I wouldn’t owe Selene.”
“Was she the one that hit you?” I asked her, watching her emotions carefully flash across her features.
“No—”
“Then answer the fucking question.”
Letting out a sigh of frustration, she spun, still trapped by the cage of my arms. “Because I believed him when he told me he didn’t know what Selene had planned. That he was just the money man.”
“So you’re working for the woman that killed your sister?”
Aeris flinched once more, as if me knowing was a surprise. “Mira isn’t dead.” Another break in her armour.
I wanted to push, but it was clear she wasn’t willing to say anything more. At least not yet.
“Were you sent to seduce me?” I asked, changing tactics. Still watching her every move like I could memorise every twitch of her lip and flutter of her lashes.
Aeris let out a laugh, the sound wrapping around me.
“Kissing you almost got me killed, and that was before that little stunt at Hex.” She tipped her head back, eyes flashing with anger.
“If they find out you’re here, they’ll figure out I’m double crossing them, then it won’t only be my life they take. ”
I leaned in closer, dipping my head until our faces were inches apart. “You really think I give a shit about you?” My voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
Sliding one hand up her throat, I pressed my thumb just hard enough against her racing pulse to make her gasp.
“I own you,” I murmured, the words rough with possession. “You sealed your fate the moment you decided to use me as a pawn. Now you’re mine to ruin.”
“Fuck you,” she hissed.
I laughed softly, the sound cold and hungry. “Careful … Keep talking like that and I might just take you up on it. I’ll shove you to your knees and silence that fucking tongue of yours with my cock.”
Her lips parted on a sharp inhale. Defiance warred with heat in her stormy gaze. “Is that why you’re here?”
Yes.
“No. I’m here for the information you promised.”
“You had to break in for this?” she sneered, insolence still burning in her voice.
“Just wanted to show you how easily I can get to you,” I murmured, my breath hot against her skin while my fingers flexed possessively around her neck. “That if you try to run, I’ll chase you down and have you beg at my feet.”
I tightened my grip on her throat just enough to cut her sneer short, feeling her pulse flutter wildly beneath my thumb. Her breath hitched, sharp and involuntary.
“Trust me, Tempest … I’m going to make you regret blackmailing me.”