Aria
* * *
Boredom had once again set in. When she’d refused to come to breakfast, Killian had sent food up again, this time with an ebook reader on the tray. She’d been intrigued enough to check it out, and she even downloaded a few mafia romances for ‘research’. Most likely, they weren’t the least bit realistic, but they could potentially give her some insight into the man whose child she was carrying.
Which was, apparently, a rather common theme in those mafia romances, so maybe they were more relevant to her current situation than she was willing to admit.
But after breakfast and a book, she was tired of being locked in her room. So she pulled her Queen of the Manor routine again and waltzed past her current guard—how many fucking cousins did Killian have, anyway?—and down the stairs to find herself some other entertainment.
Which she found in the form of a furious female voice reading Killian the riot act on the other side of his office door.
“Oh, you asshole.” Not just any female voice. Cordelia.
Get him, Delia!
Excitement, both at the prospect of hearing Killian get his ass handed to him by the fearsome Domme and at the idea of doing something ‘naughty’ by eavesdropping, coursed through Aria’s veins as she pressed her ear to the office door.
“I know. I’m sorry, Cordelia. I was trying to keep this from blowing up in all our faces and I fear I only made things worse.”
To Aria’s surprise, he actually did sound sorry. So he was capable of the emotion, he just wasn’t sorry for any of the shit he’d put her through.
Asshole.
“You did. You put my boy in the middle of all this and Braden is being an absolute fucking dick to him because of it. Jacob is devastated. He wants to be loyal to you, but he loves Braden, too. It's killing him to be caught in the middle.”
Guilt stabbed at her. No matter how her father felt about her and Killian, he shouldn’t be taking it out on innocent members of his club. Especially ones as sweet as Jacob.
“I’m surprised you haven’t ripped Braden a new one, yet.”
“I tried.” Instead of anger now, it was hurt in Cordelia’s voice. “He pulled the ‘I’m your boss and I’m the one who gives orders around here not you’ card.”
“He did that? To you?”
“Yes. Jacob and Ivy and I are refraining from taking any shifts at the club or even playing there until Braden calms down.”
Fuck. Swallowing hard against the emotion lodged in her throat, Aria stepped away from the door and pulled her phone from her pocket. Closing herself off in the parlor with her new guard stationed outside, she hit the button to call her father.
“Aria? What’s wrong? Are you okay, did something happen?”
“I’m safe, Dad. Really.” God, she didn’t want to say the words she knew she had to say, but she needed to do something to get her father calmed down. “Honestly, Killian and I talked after you left and… he’s right. This is the safest place for me. We didn’t take his warnings seriously and we’re lucky it was him who got to me first.”
Parroting Killian and Reagan’s talking points now, she realized a little tiny part of her actually believed them. It was a good thing Killian had been the one to snatch her off the street, and while she still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced his enemies were after her, she was grateful she wouldn’t have to find out.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Aria. You’d be just as safe here with me.”
“Would I, Dad? Yeah, Holden could put a team on us but Killian has an army. I’m beginning to think he’s building cousins in his basement like some kind of supervillain.”
“Fine. We’ll let him consult, provide extra guards, whatever he wants to do. I just want you to come home.”
Closing her eyes, she willed back the tears. “I know. But I really do think this is where I’m safest, at least for now. Please don’t be angry.”
“Oh, baby. I’m not mad at you. I never was.”
“Just everyone else in the general vicinity.” Try as she might, she couldn’t keep the bitter accusation out of her voice.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Cordelia is here, ripping Killian a new asshole because you’re being a dick to Jacob. That’s not right, Dad, and you know it. The members of Club BDE trust you to be fair and you are not being fair to Jacob by taking out your frustrations with Killian on him.”
