He takes my hand in his, threading our fingers together. “This.”
I get where he’s coming from, but the argument falls flat. “No. Dad loved Mom, for what it was worth. Javier loved Mom. Both of them are dead, but we’re still alive. We need to give ourselves credit for accomplishing that much.”
A chuckle rumbles in his chest. “So, we’re not soft because we’re not dead.”
“Exactly.”
Aron slides an arm around me, holding me to him, as he stretches to reach for his phone on the nightstand. “I guess I’ll be the one to call off the hits on Lucinda and Emily. It’s only fair.”
“What happened to conviction?”
“Good point.” He taps the phone against his lip. “Okay, so first thing’s first: Contact Enzo. No one else can carry out the hitwhile he’s got them captive, so there’s no sense in rousing the whole Syndicate right now.”
Before Aron can open the screen to start his message, both our phones buzz in unison.
“Odd hour for this,” I mutter, grabbing mine from my side of the bed. “It had better be a good reason.”
The message is from Enzo’s phone. Aron and I exchange worried glances before opening it.
My stomach churns at the image on the screen. Even blurry and pixelated as it is, there’s no mistaking our top enforcer’s mangled face.
Chapter 11
Aron
Jesus Christ in Heaven …
So much for texting Enzo. Whoever sent this message ensured that he won’t answer.
Before I can fully process what I’m seeing, my phone buzzes again. Incoming video call from Enzo.
Emily.
Somehow, Emily broke free. That’s the only explanation. Enzo wouldn’t be stupid enough to kidnap them when they’re surrounded by Empire goons, and with the gunshot wound I gave Lucinda, I doubt she’d be able to do this by herself. Enzo is—was—too tough for that.
Matt gets up and grabs a couple of t-shirts from the drawer, tossing one to me before donning his own. He moves over to the desk in the opposite corner and sits down, hooking his phone up to the laptop there. I follow suit, throwing on a pair of sweatpants before standing behind him.
Emily’s face is hopeful when Matt clicks to answer. Hopeful and bloody. “Hi, baby!” Her expression sours instantly.“Oh.He’swith you.”
“Good to see you, too, Emily,” Matt says. “I assume Enzo’s unavailable to speak with us?”
“Yeah … Sorry about that, baby.”She giggles, a manic, high-pitched sound.“He was very nice to us, but I couldn’t just let him live. He lied to us, Aron. He saidyouordered him to kidnap us.”
Interesting how Emily refuses to address Matt directly. I lean forward, putting my hand on Matt’s shoulder. “I did order the kidnapping. I also ordered our men to bring your heads on a silver platter.”
Emily pouts.“That’s not very nice of you. What happened to loving and cherishing?”
“What happened to honoring and obeying?” I counter. “We could throw marriage vows at each other all day, but it won’t change anything. That contract ended the moment I found out you lied about who you are.”
“Did I really lie, though? I admitted I was adopted.”
“You said you didn’t know your birth parents. Don’t tell me that wasn’t a lie.”
Her smile is all the more disturbing for the amount of blood on her teeth. I don’t see any obvious injuries on her face, which means Enzo didn’t hit her.
She bit him.
“I didn’t know both of my birth parents. That much is true. I never met Javier before he approached me on your behalf. He didn’t want to kill his daughter-in-law, so we made an agreement: I would disappear until the time was right, and he’d offer us protection.”She gestures to the background, turning the camera. I finally notice Lucinda lying on a cot in the fishing shack Enzo brought them to. Her chest rises and falls slowly, but her color is pale.“Mom never said he was my father until after he was gone, and since Javier was trying to keepMom a secret from you and Matt, he never brought her around me. I didn’t know until shortly before you found out.”
