Where was Darren sending him? What would he find there? He didn’t know, but it scared him. The fear enveloped his heart and his mind, waiting to overwhelm him, but even so, it was infinitely better than not knowing what had truly happened to Claudia. Who she really was and why she had had to die.
So, as much as Aiden wanted to get this over with, he only had one choice.
“Thought so,” Darren said and Aiden could hear the genuine smile in his voice. Could almost taste the relief init. “Go to Mars and see for yourself. You can always kill me when you are back.”
Aiden growled, his throat itching from the sound.Fuck Darren Howe and his treasure-hunting quest that Aiden had no choice but to entertain.“If those coordinates are where the truth is,” he spat out, not bothering to mask the venom in his voice, “and I know how to obtain them, there’s nothing stopping me from killing younow.”
Darren reclined back in his chair, the cuffs clinking against its backrest. “There isn’t. You hold all the cards, Aiden Kesley,” he said and dropped his façade.
His face fell. He looked so tired, soresigned,like he wished Aiden would go through with his plan and just end his suffering here. At the same time, his indigo eyes blazed, betraying something that took Aiden’s breath away. A will to live shrouded in the darkness of a soul which wasn’t afraid to die.
Aiden’s stomach flipped and twisted. He really had all the power, and it felt good. Yet he found it lacking. A shadow that paled in comparison to the sensation of pure pleasure that lit up his body at the sight in front of him. Because this Darren was genuine, unmistakably real in his vulnerability, in the rawness of the emotions his face and body betrayed. He was lost, he was ready to die, he was desperate to live. And he was scared yet hopeful, clinging to himself in that same way Aiden had done so many times.
Aiden trembled, fighting to stop the onslaught of desire to have Darren, to break him, to ruin him and then to put him back together and do it all over again. It hijacked each and every particle of who he was. It robbed him of thought, leaving behind just the ability to feel, to be here with Darren Howe, to simply exist alongside this man.
They stared at each other as if they were both enthralled, and it took Aiden a while to get himself under control so he wouldn’t act out on these sudden urges. He tilted his head up—the beam was there, ready and waiting for him to cut it loose. To fall and break Darren under its weight. To exact the revenge Claudia deserved regardless of why she’d died. It was calling to him, beckoning him to do what he’d set out to do so Darren Howe would meet his long-overdue end.
Slowly, Aiden approached the column. The mechanism keeping the board in place was attached to the wall behind it. All he needed to do was cut the stabilizing cord. Darren’s dark eyes followed him as he circled the table until he was out of their line of sight.
He took the knife out of his pocket, dragging it along the cord. “Darren Howe, Iwillkill you,” he vowed and tucked it back inside, grabbing his access card instead. He unlocked the cuffs with it, then took out the blue maintenance one, tossing it onto the table. “This will get you back into your cell. Make sure the guards don’t find it in the morning.”
He didn’t stay, didn’t escort Darren either. He left before he’d had the chance to change his mind.
Aiden just sat in the warden’s office, cradling his head in his hands as he tried and failed to process everything he’d learned tonight.
How much was true and how much had Darren made up?
Nothing fit in anymore, the pieces of the puzzle he’d painstakingly been arranging scrambled all over the place.And yet, he had another clue, a real direction to a real place where Claudia’s murderer had promised the truth awaited.
The craziest thing was that Aiden was going to do it. He’d already booked tomorrow and the day after off so he could go to Mars and find out the coordinates of this mysterious place.And probably get himself killed by whatever trap Darren had prepared.
Clearly, he’d lost it.
A knock at the door snapped Aiden out of his head. “You’re still here, boss? Headache?” Nigel asked, propping his shoulder against the frame.
“Yeah…” Aiden forced out a well-practiced professional smile and straightened up in his chair. “Something came up, so I’ll be taking time off. I’ve sorted out whatever was urgent. I’ll also prepare a list for you before I head out.”
“Sure thing, boss. Should we postpone the opening of the court and game area for when you are back?”
Aiden waved the concern off. “No, proceed as we discussed. Either you or one of the Team Leaders can do the announcement. As for the repairs inspection paperwork, I’ll leave that on my desk. If you have questions, just call me.”
“Will do.” Nigel turned to leave, but then paused, slowly angling his head Aiden’s way. “Um, boss?”
“Yes?”
“I went for a smoke earlier, during the break, and I saw the door to the courts was unlocked… Was that you?”
A chill ran down Aiden’s spine, but he willed his expression to remain neutral. “Yes. I… wanted to have one last look around.” He held up the form for tomorrow’s inspection. “I noticed a few small things, nothing major. I’ll note them down, so pass my comments overto Lin.”
“Gotcha.” Nigel grinned. “And I’ll do my best to hold the fort in your absence.”
“I’m certain it will be quiet. Just make sure they don’t break anything or Management will come for my head,” he offered, following up with a laugh. “We still have the prison inspection coming up next month.”
Nigel laughed too, then wished Aiden a good night. When the sound of his footsteps subsided, Aiden saw a shadow dart past his door. A faint clank from the direction of the prison block reached his ears as he turned the lights in his office off, and then it was quiet again.
Chapter 22
Even at this latehour, Europa’s spaceport was busy with families and businesspeople scattered around the departure area in wait for their respective flights. Arched metal columns supported the glass ceiling of the building, their smooth bodies reflecting the wall-mounted lights and the gleam of the gray tiles.
