28. CHAPTER 28
SEBASTIAN
T urning off the engine, I sat there, staring out the window at the Organisation’s HQ.
As peaceful as it was having Aria wrapped up in my arms, I couldn’t sleep, replaying finding her with Nicholas in the bar over and over, then circling back to the big question of whether Aria was working for Jason and Callum.
My mind was going a hundred miles an hour, and I couldn’t stop it. I needed to find Hayden. I needed that information now . I didn’t care if he was still working on it—nothing else mattered, only the truth.
“Sebastian.” The guard nodded as I approached the door.
I just gave him a curt nod; I didn’t have time for small talk.
“Is everything ok?”
“Everything’s fine,” I snapped.
He hesitated, his eyes lingering on my face before he nodded and opened the door. Finally. I marched through the building, making my way to where I knew Hayden would be. I flung open the door—there he was, sitting with Matt, laughing and drinking.
“Hayden,” I called as I approached them.
Hayden’s laugh trailed off as he glanced up at me, taking a sip of his drink. Did he not realise this was urgent?
“Join us for a drink, Sebastian,” Matt said.
“No,” I replied bluntly.
Hayden looked at me, raising his brow, as he rose from his seat.
I clenched my fists as he stood there like everything was normal.
His laughter pierced every part of my body, reminding me that he was not taking this seriously.
The anger started to surge in my chest again as I thought about Aria, about what she might be hiding from me.
“Don’t bring your issues in here,” he warned.
“Is this what you’ve been doing instead of getting the information I need? Having a laugh?”
Hayden took a step closer to me. “I don’t answer to you. I never have, and I never will. So do not come in here, making demands like you own the place. Because you don’t.”
That was all it took.
I saw red.
I swung for Hayden. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I didn’t care anymore. He stumbled back from the force of the punch, but before I could do anything else, Matt grabbed hold of my arms from behind, forcing me to give up. “Calm down, Sebastian.”
I pulled my arms free as I breathed heavily, starting to pace and then running my hand through my hair. I glanced over to Hayden as he wiped the spot of blood from his lip, which forced me to stop pacing and turn to face him.
“You’re falling back into bad habits, Sebastian.”
“I don’t have time for your shit right now,” I said.
He snorted, unfazed. “And I don’t have time for your issues.”
He said his goodbyes to Matt and started to walk towards the door. I inhaled a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down.
“Hayden,” I called after him.
He ignored me. I knew I shouldn’t have hit him, but I wasn’t in the mood for his games tonight. All I had on my mind was finding out what Aria was hiding from me.
“Hayden, I’m sorry.”
He paused at the door. “Don’t ever bring your shit in here again, Sebastian,” he warned me, then pushed through to the back, Matt quickly following.
I shook my head, running my hands through my hair.
My mind was foggy, and rage pulsed through my veins.
I grabbed the bottle of whisky on the table, smashing it against the door before kicking the chair over and violently pushing the papers on the table into the air.
My breath heaved, taking in as much oxygen as I could between the primal sounds I didn’t recognise.
The table was next. I flipped it over, then stamped on it until the legs broke off. I picked one up, swinging for the cabinet, smashing the glasses, and raised it again, ready to smash the picture on the wall, when I caught my reflection in the mirror.
I paused. My shoulders were rapidly rising and falling, and my hair was wild, unrecognisable. My grip around the table leg loosened as it hit the floor with a thud. I looked around at the carnage I had just caused, my pulse throbbing through my knuckles from where I’d hit Hayden .
I slumped onto the floor, my shoulders hunched, chin tucked to my chest, my hands trembling.
I knew that man was still fully in there, clawing at his cage to get out, and I’d seen glimpses of him recently, but I’d always managed not to jump over that edge again.
This felt different.
I’d lost control.
I stood at Hayden’s front door, ashamed. I took a deep, steadying breath, getting ready to knock, but before I could, the door swung open, Serfina standing there with her arms crossed as her eyes burned into me.
She knew what I had done, and there was no way she’d let it slide.
“You’ve got some nerve coming here,” she said sharply.
She was right. I probably shouldn’t be here, but I couldn’t leave it like this with Hayden. It wasn’t the first time I had lashed out, but this felt different. The thought of Aria and everything I didn’t know about her had tipped me over the edge, but I needed to stay calm right now.
“Is Hayden here?”
She stood there, throwing daggers at me with her eyes. I wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but eventually, Hayden pulled the door open a touch more, revealing himself. The silence was heavy between us.
“Let me talk to Sebastian alone,” Hayden said to Serfina.
She looked up at him before throwing another glare my way, then storming off. Hayden took a step outside the door and placed his hands in his pockets.
“Are you done?” he asked.
“Look, Hayden, I’m sorry I took my anger out on you. I’ve just got this sinking feeling … I saw her with Nicholas—”
“Nicholas was with Aria?” he questioned, taking a step closer to me, confusion on his face.
“I was just as surprised. I found her in one of his bars. Something isn’t sitting right,” I said, trying to keep my anger down. “Something is going on, and I need that information.”
Hayden hesitated. “Maybe there’s a reason she’s not telling you.”
I crossed my arms, standing in silence as he glared at me for a moment. He soon sighed, accepting defeat, and strolled back into the house for a moment before returning with the file.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
What was Aria hiding? I grabbed the file tightly as I nodded at him.
It was heavy, like it held the weight of the world.