She wouldn’t go in without confirmation from me. Even if she thinks I’m there, she’d still wait for a response.
Friday, 8:05 P.M.
TheOne: I haven’t heard from you, but I know you’re here. You would’ve called in if you couldn’t make it. I’m going in. I have to save these girls.
Oh my God. Please let her be safe. Please.
There isn’t another text message from her, so I switch to voicemail.
“You have 30 new voicemails, and your mailbox is full.”
Friday, 8:15 P.M.
“Aiden? Why aren’t you picking up? Or texting? I think I was spotted. I have my ear comm on, and I’ll leave it in. Please patch yourself in. Please—“
I hear her phone clatter to the ground, but the voicemail is still recording. And I’m dying even more inside.
“Well, what have we here? You’re older than we usually go for, but I bet we could get a good price for you.”
“You’d have to kill me first.”
“Once we’re done with you, you’ll wish you were dead. And you won’t be needing your phone anymore.”
I hear a smashing sound, and then nothing. Whoever took her better hope she kills him first. I will find him if he’s alive, and he’ll be the one wishing he was dead.
I force myself to listen to the next messages, which have timestamps starting on Monday—of the next week.
“Aid, it’s Nate. Where the fuck are you? And why weren’t you with Ellie? I would’ve gone in your place, you know that. Shit went down man, and it’s bad. Call me.”
“Dammit Aiden, what the fuck were you thinking? I know you have your vigilante crap, but this was Ellie. She’s destroyed, man. What she went through. Just get your ass back here. Don’t go to the office, though. My wife has threatened to kill you on sight.”
“Aiden, this is Reina. Since you haven’t shown any of us the decency of coming in, I’m going to have to do this over the phone. You are no longer welcome at the Foundation, or as a friend of the Society. Matt will not allow you to be banned from the building, and he refuses to fire you, but I will not have you around anyone who works for me, especially Ellie. While you are not 100% to blame for what happened to her, your continued casual disregard for her is inexcusable. She is being disciplined for not following procedure, but if I see you, well, let’s just say I have a bullet with your name on it. And there are eight other women who feel exactly the same way. This is your only warning.”
“Shit man, I think Reina may have called you already. I tried to talk her down, but it’s not happening. I mean, I get it. Ellie’s pretty much destroyed right now, but you’re still my best friend. Call me if you can. Please.”
“I’m sure you know you can’t come back here now. And Jade would probably kill me in my sleep if she knew I was even calling you, but I need to know you’re okay. I know you, and I know you love Ellie. You wouldn’t have just left her there with no backup if everything was okay with you. Talk to me, man.”
I see that the next voicemail is from Ellie, and my heart is in my throat as I push play.
“Ai-Aiden, it’s umm, me. Oh, maybe you don’t know who “me” is. It’s umm, Ellie. I-I’m just calling to say that I’m sorry. For Reina banning you, I mean. I never meant to cause you any trouble. It’s my fault for going in alone, and for…for what happened after. Please don’t hate me. I’m not going to chase after you, or try and make you want me. But please, please don’t hate me.”
Hate her? How the fuck could I ever hate her? Tears are running down my cheeks as I imagine what might have happened to her. What happened because I fucked up my own situation, and then left her alone when she needed me. I have to fix this…fix her. There’s one person who can help me, and it’s time I finally asked for that help. I pull back onto the road, and start the drive.
“The Vice-President will be with you momentarily, Mr. Ford,” his secretary says as she ushers me into his office.
“Thank you.”
I’m only alone for a few minutes when the door opens again. He quickly closes it, and nods to let me know that the room is secure and no one’s listening. “Aiden, it’s always good to see you, but twice in less than a month is more than unusual for you. Is this about the news reports? I told you to ignore those men.”
“I couldn’t ignore them, and the bullshit they were saying about you. I didn’t kill them, though.”
“Someone wants to make it look like you did.”
“I know. I’ll deal with that. I need your help with something else.”
“Anything. You know that.”
“I know we talked about you using the Society, and I think it’s time you called them in.”
“A few homophobic idiots who don’t want a gay Vice-President aren’t going to scare me into calling the most elite group in the world for help.”
“How about your son asking you to do it for him?”
“You need me to hire them?”
“Not them. Her. I need you to ask for Elletra Gallagher to be assigned to you. Or mom. I don’t care.”
“Elletra? Is this your Ellie?”
“She’s not mine, but yes, she’s the girl I’ve talked to you about.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“No.”
“I don’t know what I could do with her here, but can she run a bar?”
“Oh yeah, she can do that. Her family own a bunch of pubs and bars.”
“Wait, she’s one of those Gallaghers?”
“Yep.”
“Then your mother could use her. She’s decided that since the divorce is final, she wants to open up a bar. Because, you know, we have such a shortage around here. It’s almost ready to open. But, you probably know that already.”
He smiles when he says it, and so do I. My parents love each other, but it’s been a long time since they were in love with each other. My dad met someone and fell in love, but refused to break his vow to my mom. When she found out, she immediately told him he was an idiot if he didn’t follow his heart, and she set about divorcing him. The President supported him, and now he’s out and happy with his boyfriend. The entire country may not be ready for it, but I’ve never been more proud of my parents, even though I do use my mom’s maiden name, and try to stay out of the limelight.
“That’s perfect. I hadn’t even thought of the bar. Will you call her?”
“Don’t want to be grilled, huh?”
“Not a chance. And you’ll call the Society to arrange it, right?”
“Yes. Your mother’s been getting threats because of me, so she really should have extra protection.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Anytime, and I really can’t wait to me this Ellie who’s finally gotten my son to admit that he’s human.”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but she is pretty amazing.”
“I have no doubt.”
This is good. It’s not great, because I still don’t know how I can get Ellie to trust me again. And I need her trust more than anything. Well, anything except for her. I need her more than every breath I take. She doesn’t know it, but her love for me is what’s stopped me from succumbing to the darkness inside of me once and for all. It’s the reason I only hurt those guys, and didn’t kill them. She makes me feel like I’m a better man. Or at least she did.
Nate and Matt said that she’s broken. It’s time for me to finally step up and be the man she needs. I have to put her back together—after all she’s been rebuilding me since the day we met.
Acknowledgements
Dominique was always my warrior girl, but Gabi was definitely a princess. Although I didn’t base Darcy off of them, I think she’s a nice combination or warrior and (future) princess, which they both ended up being as well.
I couldn’t do this without Helen Williams, Jesse Gordon, and Ally Murphy! They’re a great team to have behind me!
Thanks again to all of my readers. I love hearing from you, so please don’t hesitate to reach o
ut!
If you love my books and want to join the Friends of the Society private Facebook group, send me an email or FB message so I can add you! They’re my go to group of people for sneak peeks at covers, and bouncing ideas off of!
About the Author
Crystal Perkins has always been a big reader, but she never thought she would write her own book, until she did. She lives in Las Vegas, where you can find her running author events and selling books at conventions when she isn’t reading, buying too many Sherlock t-shirts online or finding a place to put all of her Pop! figurines. A mac and cheese connoisseur, she travels the country looking for the perfect version, while attending book conventions and signings as a cover for her research. The Griffin Brothers series and the Corrigan & Co. series are international best sellers, and she’s thankful to the readers who made those things happen!
Find her here:
www.crystalperkinsauthor.com
facebook.com/crystalperkinsauthor
@wondermomlv
[email protected]
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