Aiden’s eyes widened, and his breath quickened when Mindy drove her car from the roads of the city to one of the richest neighborhoods lingering at the edge. She opened the gate to the neighborhood with a scan of her license plate. Her car turned several streets before circling into the expansive driveway of her front yard where a three-story house looked over them in the rising daylight. She parked the car in the garage, and Aiden found himself staring at an empty storage space almost as big as the rooms he grew up in.
He stepped out of the car as Mindy opened the door to the home and locked down the security. “Hurry up, boys. There is much to do still,” she said, entering the house with her boots clicking on the tile floor.
Aiden instinctively grabbed Brendan’s hand. His body remained hyper alert to the sense of danger that enveloped him. Upon realizing what he had done, he embarrassingly tried to pull his hand away. However, Brendan only squeezed his hand tighter. A desire to protect bloomed inside Aiden. He positioned himself to walk in front of Brendan and entered the house, a few steps away from Mindy.
The garage led them directly into the kitchen. Mindy turned on the incinerator by the sink and unceremoniously dropped her gloves into the fire. She stepped into a walk-in pantry and took out a makeup kit and a first-aid kit, leaving both on the counter. “Are you two going to just hover by the garage door all day?”
Brendan glanced at Aiden for permission. He nodded, and the two walked in and slowly lowered themselves onto the stools strategically placed around the kitchen’s island.I must look horrible,he thought, when Brendan’s mouth dropped at seeing his face under direct light.
The blinds remained closed. Mindy pulled at her blonde hair, revealing dark hair. Next, she removed colored contacts from her eyes, unveiling brown irises. She worked on scrubbing the makeup off, and before Aiden’s eyes, she transformed from Mindy into a woman he did not recognize.
A large bruise still covered her face where the guard had hit her. She wrapped a small pack of ice and placed it against her face, while Aiden’s own face began to swell. His lips were cracked and dry, bruises covered his entire body, and the wound on his head throbbed. Brendan reached over, but Aiden turned to look at him.
Brendan had remained uncharacteristically silent in the car while Aiden finally told him everything—about his family, about what happened to him and his brother, and why an assassin sent by the families went after him.
He needed to read Brendan’s face, and he braced himself for complete rejection from the boy who brought him joy and fun during days of torture.
Instead, Brendan reached over slowly and placed his hand lightly against the dried blood that caked Aiden's forehead. His eyes glazed over in pain at the sight, and with a start, turned his attention to the woman who slid them cups of water.
“My parents,” Brendan realized, grabbing his phone.
“Don’t bother,” the woman said. She drank her water and poured herself more. “They won’t go after someone as well protected as your father.”
“Are you certain?”
“Real cases of violence at night off campus are far less suspicious than a well-protected lawyer known for specifically going after dangerous cases.”
Brendan remained tense, and Aiden allowed an ounce of courage to put his hand on Brendan’s shoulder. He relaxed when Brendan heaved a sigh of resignation. Sipping at his water, he turned his attention back to the woman. “Do I still call you Mindy?”
“You can call me Celia.”
He eyed the necklace holding the ring steadfastly clasped around her neck. “What was your relationship to my brother? It seemed like you two were dating.”
Celia blinked a few times before bursting out in laughter, almost dropping her water in the process. Coughing, she put the cup down. “Isupposeyou could call it that, but that’s not exactly accurate. I did everything for him.”
Aiden stared. “He hired you?”
“Well,yes, of course money was involved, but it wasn’t some one-off mission.” She played with the ring. “Whatever he wished, I granted. Did he want someone dead? I killed them. Did he want to put someone in a compromising position to blackmail? I made it happen. Did he want someone to rescue his younger brother without having to dirty his hands directly? I shot and tortured the kidnapper.”
The sound of gunshots echoed in Aiden’s ears, and he jumped at remembering how the kidnapper collapsed in pain when the first bullet struck. Hands trembling, he traced the disaster starting from his last trip in Hong Kong. He lowered his eyes, chest burning in pain. “Thank you for saving me twice,” he whispered.
“Thank your brother.”
Her words lingered in the air.
Fury burned away the despair. He snapped his head up. His hands gripped the edge of the countertop till his skin turned white, and he gritted his teeth to keep himself from flying to the display of kitchen knives, grabbing one of them, and storming out the door to confront what he suspected.
“My stepmother is the one betraying Infinite. Not only did she kill my brother, but I am certain she is the one who’s leaking information to law enforcement,” he announced. His fingers dug harder into the countertop. “She was stalking him and taking pictures. No good person would do something like that. You were in them as well, but I don’t think she recognized you were all the women.”
“Yes, and it’s a good thing she didn’t. I wouldn’t have the ability to rescue you or Prince Charming over there." She gestured to Brendan, who drank his water.
I knew it.He knocked over the stool on which he sat. “What does she get out of this? That was the only question I couldn’t answer. She’s not separating her children from Infinite—if anything, she’s entangling them in it. Why would she even need to kill my brother if she’s betraying Infinite? His death set Infinite on edge, so she made things worse. Do you understand her at all?”
“Well…” Celia continued playing with the ring. “Your stepmother did manage to outsmart your brother and me. She did kill him. But…” The ring dropped from her hand. “She’s not Infinite’s traitor.”
Aiden blanched. “I don’t follow?”
Sensing some unspoken cue, Brendan moved from his seat and placed the knocked over stool back in position.
