“I’ll be eighteen next month,” he provided, and her heart twisted in her chest. Maybe it was the pregnancy, or maybe it was just having her entire worldview shattered in the space of a few short weeks, but even those few years felt like a lifetime.
“What do you want to do with your life, Sean?” she asked as they drove, both to distract herself from the nerves churning in her stomach with every passing mile and because she did actually want to know.
“Not sure, yet.” He jerked a shoulder in a shrug that was clearly meant to be nonchalant but came off defiant and a bit sulky instead. Because he was still a teenager, trying to find his place in a world that didn’t make a bit of goddamn sense.
“College?”
“Killian wants me to go. But there’s nothing I’m really that interested in studying.”
“Then just study a bit of everything. Half of what you learn in college isn’t even in the classrooms.”
Interest lit his eyes at that. “What do you mean?”
“It’s about the people. Getting to know people from different backgrounds, hearing different opinions. That’s the real magic of higher education.”
“I guess I hadn’t really thought of it that way.”
“Trust me. You won’t regret it. And if you get there and decide it’s really not for you, then you can always come home. There’s nothing that says once you pick a path you have to stick with it forever.”
The truth of her own words settled in her stomach as the car slid silently to a stop at the base of the steps up to her father’s house and Sean rushed to let her out. If someone had told her three months ago she’d have tossed aside everything she’d thought she believed to fall in love with a mob boss, she wouldn’t have just laughed in their faces, she probably would have slapped them for good measure.
And yet, here she was. About to go face down her father in defense of a man she should, by all rights, despise.
Funny how the world worked sometimes.
She didn’t bother to wait for anyone to open the front door. Shoving her way inside, she headed straight for her father’s office, her heels clicking on the marble floor with every step, an echoing sound that made her feel oddly powerful.
By the time she threw open the office door, she barely even blinked at being met not just by her father, but all three of her uncles, as well.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Three sets of stunned eyes locked on her, while Uncle Damian simply settled back in his chair with a quiet laugh. “Oh, this is gonna be good.”
Ignoring him, she met her father’s gaze and strode straight for his desk. “Call off the dogs, Braden.”
Shock gave way to narrow-eyed annoyance. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Pick up the phone, call whoever you need to call, and tell them to release my husband from jail. Now.”
The phrase “you could have heard a pin drop” was never more accurate than in that moment. Her father’s eyes went round once more, but it wasn’t just with shock this time. In those blue depths so like her own she saw a grief so deep it made her own chest ache with the echo of it.
“Aria. You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t.”
“What choice did you leave me?” Now it was her own grief, bitter with resentment, rising up to choke her. “I told you I would stand with him. You forced my hand. As far as the state of South Carolina is concerned, Killian O’Rourke and I have been married for a little over three weeks.”
Behind her, Uncle Desmond swore loudly, and was almost immediately shushed by Uncle Bastian. She ignored both of them for the time being, focusing instead on the calculation in her father’s eyes.
“You forged paperwork to make it look like this was all an overreaction on my part.” Accusation dripped from every word.
Well aware she was in a room with two ex-cops who would think nothing of dragging her back to the police station to try and force a confession from her, she chose her next words carefully. “I did what I had to do in order to protect my family.”
“We are your family!” The words exploded out of him as he shoved to his feet, desperate fury blazing in his eyes. “You belong here, with me, Aria.”
“I know you think that. And I’m sorry I let you down.” That was the one apology she could issue with all sincerity. The one true regret she had in all of this was that she hadn’t been able to be the daughter either of her parents had wanted.
Something in her words must have finally pierced through his stubborn anger, because his expression immediately softened. “Oh, baby. You aren’t letting me down. I’m just so fucking scared for you.”
“I understand that. But I’ve made my choice. If you want to protect me, then give me my husband back. He will do whatever it takes to keep me safe.”
