“Didn’t anybody ever tell you that guns and booze don’t mix?” Aiden grouched, walking Ryann past the dining room, careful to keep himself between her and Nikko. “You shoot me and I’m going to be pissed.”
Nikko chuckled, or at least that’s what she thought it was intended to be, but it came out sounding more like a dark, angry snarl that sent a shiver of goose bumps prickling up her arms. This was the side of Nikko she’d sensed when she’d first met him, the side that put her on guard and made her wary. As they got closer, she noticed the smattering of scars down the side of his chest. Wow, he wasn’t kidding when he’d told her he was damaged. This man who watched her with the silvery eyes of a predator made her feel like prey caught in the hunter’s snare. Had she really just today been joking with him?—teasing him about avocados? Well, she’d been wrong about one thing: those demons that tormented Nikko were a lot closer to the surface than she ever realized.
She stopped when they entered the living room, and she placed her hand on Aiden’s arm. “Why don’t you talk to him? Something is obviously wrong. It’s late and I’ve had a horrible night. I think I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”
Aiden frowned, possibly sensing her dismissal for what it truly was. She wanted to be alone. She needed some time to herself to process everything that had happened. He cradled her face in his hands and tipped it up to search her eyes. What was he looking for? The strain of the day was etched in the fine lines of his handsome face. The draw of his brows seemed to be in a perpetual state of tension these past few days. Not that she blamed him. The man was under an incredible amount of stress. Under the circumstances, he was holding up remarkably well.
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right?”
She nodded. “I’ll be fine. Please tell Nikko I said thank you—for everything.”
He bent down and kissed her before letting her go. She headed down the hallway and ducked into his office to retrieve her laptop before going into their bedroom. After a quick shower, she changed into one of Aiden’s superhero T-shirts. Tonight it was Green Lantern. A small smile touched her lips at the sight of her reflection. She brushed her fingers over the lantern symbol printed in the center of the bright green shirt and thought of the fallen heroes in her life—first her father and now Henry. When would it end?
All these years her dad had been her Superman, and that kind of worship didn’t just go away. Gambling had been his kryptonite and ultimately it had destroyed him. It didn’t matter what mistakes he’d made, she would never love him any less. She just wished she knew the truth so she could finally find closure and claim justice for her father—and now for Henry, too.
Turning from the mirror, she piled pillows against the headboard and climbed into bed. She dragged her computer onto her lap, opened the lid, and turned it on. While she waited for it to power up, she uncapped the flash drive and plugged it into the USB port. A menu popped up in the center of the screen, and the first document she saw was titled Ryann. At the sight of her name, her heart began to pound with anticipation. This was it. Whatever was in this file was important enough to kill for. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself against her mounting anxiety and opened the document. At the sight of the letter, she uttered a little gasp, her hand rising to her lips as she read the last words her father would ever say to her.
My Dearest Ryann,
If you are reading this letter, then that means I am no longer with you. I am so sorry for the way things have turned out. I had hoped for a different outcome. By now you probably know the truth, the truth I’ve worked very hard to shelter you from, and I want to start by telling you how deeply I regret the decisions I have made. My only hope is that it’s not too late to correct my wrongs, and my old friend Henry has agreed to help me do that.
I want you to know how much I love you and how very proud I am of the woman you’ve become. You are the only light in the darkness that surrounds me. I have made mistakes, and in trying to undo them, I’ve made far greater ones. I fear my demons are about to catch up with me. Were I to do it all over again, I would have taken you someplace far away from here and started over somewhere simpler—someplace safer. It is my hope and my desire that you do that now. Leave New York, Ryann. You’re not safe here. Please, Ryann, I beg you, begin a new life far away from here and the evils that pollute our city.
I’ve set up an account in your name. All the bank information is in an attached file. It’s your mother’s life insurance money, and I want you to use it to start over. It was never my wish to drag you into this, but I fear the ramifications of my actions have made that inevitable. But you must leave, Ryann, before it’s too late.
Again, I want to tell you how sorry I am and how very much I love you.
All My Love,
Daddy
As Ryann read the letter, sadness and regret overwhelmed her, grief wrapping around her chest like an invisible band, tightening until her heart ached from the pressure. If she’d only known . . . if he’d only confided in her, they could have left and started over together and he would still be alive. Now she was alone. No, she reminded herself, resisting the temptation to give into self-pity. She wasn’t alone. She had Aiden. Unbidden, Henry’s warning returned to haunt her. Don’t trust anyone . . .
This was crazy. She could trust Aiden—couldn’t she? He loved her. And he promised they’d get through this together. She would take her father’s advice. She would leave New York. But she had to see this through first. She had to see Vincent Moralli get the punishment he deserved. When it was over, then she’d decide where to go, where to begin her new life, because truthfully, it was just too painful to stay here anymore—safe or not.
Ryann exited the file and opened the one below it. Hope bloomed in her chest, her pulse quickening with excitement when she realized what she was reading. This was it!—the file that would put Moralli behind bars for the rest of his life. But as she read on, her joy was short lived, like a shooting star streaking through the night. After reading through the first few pages, Ryann’s optimism began to sink like the mighty Titanic.
“Oh, no . . .” she whispered as she read on. Each page was more damning than the last. “Oh, Daddy, how could you do this?” By the time she read through the end of the document, despair gripped her heart. What was she going to do? How was she going to tell Aiden the truth? She didn’t have long to think, because a moment later the bedroom door opened.
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Ryann startled, slamming the lid shut on her computer. He didn’t blame her for being jumpy, especially after tonight, but something told him it was more than that. Guilt was written all over her gorgeous face. He’d seen that look before, been on the receiving end of it more than once, and Aiden got the feeling he wasn’t going to like it any more now than he had then.
“I thought you were going to sleep,” he commented offhandedly as he closed the door behind him and tugged off his shirt.
“I’d planned to, but . . . I guess I’m too restless to sleep.”
She moved the computer off her lap and set it on the nightstand beside the bed.
“What are you doing?” He stripped off his jeans, leaving his boxers on as he crossed to his side of the bed. Funny how they’d gravitated to his and her sides already, how easily they’d settled into a relationship more seamlessly than he’d ever expected. Aiden wasn’t used to sharing his space with someone. Hell, he wasn’t used to sharing his life with someone, yet now he couldn’t imagine spending it without her. He needed this thing with Moralli to be over—like yesterday. And he needed to be free before he could talk with Ryann about their future, about their next step—which they would hopefully take together. How would she feel about leaving New York? Because there was no way in hell he was staying here. With any luck, Ike would get him that immunity plea bargain, and he could get back to Vegas and resume his fighting career before he los
t his position as the top contender for the middleweight title.
“I was reading some files. How is Nikko?”
She was trying to change the subject, clever girl. But he was a lawyer, and a damn good one, too. He was trained to read people. It was what made him so effective in the courtroom, and Ryann was keeping something from him. He shifted tactics, attempting to lower her guard by allowing her to believe her diversion worked.
“Nikko’s fine. A little caught up in his head, but he gets that way sometimes.”
“Do you know why?”
Aiden climbed under the covers and stretched out beside her. “Not really. He doesn’t talk about it and I don’t ask. It’s why we get along so well, when we’re not beating the shit out of each other in the cage. I know he’s ex-marine recon and ended his career in Afghanistan. I can only assume it has something to do with that.”
“Do you think what happened tonight with Henry might have triggered some memories?”
“It’s likely. Again, I don’t ask and he doesn’t tell.” He rolled to his side and faced her, propping his head up with his hand. “I like your shirt.”
She smiled and stretched it out, looking down at it. “This old thing? It’s not mine. It belongs to my boyfriend.”
Yeah . . . he liked seeing her in his clothes. It was sexy as hell, especially when she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. “Well, he must have impeccable taste in clothing.”
She shrugged. “Or perhaps a superhero fetish. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Come here,” Aiden growled and grabbed her waist, dragging her across the sheets and rolling her beneath him. He kissed her softly, a gentle brush of his lips, wooing her to lower the last of her defenses. It didn’t take long for Ryann to melt in his arms. Her hands slipped down his back as her lips parted, encouraging him to deepen the kiss, but he knew once he got started, he wasn’t going to be able to stop. And this was too important to ignore. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to become the one distracted. “You scared the hell out of me tonight,” he whispered against her lips, growing serious and steering their conversation back on topic. “When those shots rang out and you tried to run toward that guy . . .”
She grew still beneath him. He could feel the tension edging back into her.
Still he pressed her. “Ryann, I’ve lived my whole life embroiled in lies and secrets. I don’t want there to be any between us.”
When her gaze reconnected with his, it was full of uncertainty and regret, making something in his chest tighten with an unfamiliar emotion—dread.
“Aiden, I have something to tell you.”
He thought so . . . “What is it, Ryann?”
“Can I get up, please?”
Aiden rolled to the side and raised his arm, allowing her to rise. He sat as she crawled across the bed to the nightstand, grabbed something, and then came back over to him. “When Henry died, I was holding his hand and this was in it.” She opened her palm and presented him with the flash drive. “I didn’t tell you because I wanted to see what was on it first, if what was on this stick was worth dying for.”
He ignored the fact that she’d essentially lied to him for the last ten hours. How easy would it be to let those seeds of doubt begin to take root? If she’d keep something as important as this from him, what else could she be hiding from him? “And is it?” Aiden asked, mindful of his tone and careful to guard his expression.
She nodded.
“What’s on the stick, Ryann?”
“Moralli’s hit list.”
“Fuuuck . . .” Aiden roughly dragged his hands though his hair, locking his eyes on her. “Are you sure?”
Ryann was looking more anxious by the second. “Positive. It’s a list of all the men Moralli has hired my father to investigate and all the dates they were killed. There are fifteen names here that go back as far as four years.”
“Ryann, that’s great news. It’s exactly what we’re looking for. This evidence, combined with what we currently have, should be enough to put Moralli away for life.”
So why was she looking at him like his favorite dog just died?
“That’s not all that’s on this stick, Aiden.”
The knot of dread fisting in his gut tightened, making him want to puke, though he wouldn’t let it prevent him from asking the question he feared would derail his life, confirming the thoughts that had already been knocking around in his head for the last couple of days. “Why . . . ?”
She hesitated, and for a moment, he thought she wasn’t going to tell him. “Before he died, my dad was investigating your dad. It’s all in here—his connection to Moralli and all the illegal activities he’s been involved in. Not only will this evidence ruin him politically, but if you hand this flash drive over to the DA, there’s a good chance you’re going to be sending your father to prison. And if you don’t do it, then Moralli’s going to get away with murder—including my father’s . . .”
Ryann wasn’t sure what she was expecting from Aiden, but his thoughtful silence was not it. Was he angry at her for not telling him about the flash drive right away? Was he upset to learn the truth about his father? No doubt the answer was yes to both.
Either way, Ryann didn’t feel like it was her place to hand over the flash drive to the DA. As much as she wanted her father’s killer to pay, as much as Moralli’s victims deserved their justice, she wouldn’t take it at Aiden’s expense. She would not be responsible for sentencing his father to prison. There were just some things a relationship could not survive, and ruining one’s parent was one of them. She couldn’t handle the guilt, couldn’t be responsible for hurting Aiden, even if it was the solution to all their problems.
“Here.” Ryann held out the stick. “Take it.”
Aiden frowned. Again, not the reaction she was expecting. “Why are you giving this to me, Ryann?”
“Because what’s on this stick could destroy your family, and I don’t want to be responsible for that, Aiden. I love you too much to let that come between us. And you might not think that it would, but blood is thicker than water, and I know what it’s like to have a father taken from you. I won’t be the one to do that to you—even if it means Moralli goes free. Whatever you decide to do with the information is up to you. It’s yours now.”
When she placed the flash drive in his hand, a surprising amount of peace came over her. The closure she felt in knowing the truth was an unexpected burden lifted from her shoulders. She honestly had no idea what Aiden was going to do with the condemning evidence, but she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that whatever he decided, she would support him. She wouldn’t sacrifice her future for her past.
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Aiden stormed into his father’s office and slammed the door, the wall-rattling bang resonating throughout the entire fourth floor. His father looked up from the pile of papers on his desk. The placid expression on the man’s face fueled Aiden’s fire.
“Aiden, what a surprise.”
He strode over to the chair across from his father’s desk and plopped down.
“Please, have a seat,” his father grumbled, droll sarcasm thick on his tongue. “I assume this impromptu visit is not for pleasure, so it must be business. What do you want?”
“How about the truth? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
His father exhaled an impatient sigh and slammed his pen on the desk with a sharp rap. “And what injustice, pray tell, have I wrought upon you this time?”
“Cut the shit, Dad. I know . . .”
His father let out a derisive snort, full of contempt. “You don’t know anything,” he growled.
“I know you had Ryann’s father killed.”
His expression was completely unreadable, except for the fury sparking in his slate-gray eyes. The seconds ticked by as they sat there in a wordless standoff. After a moment that felt et
ernal, his father’s top lip curled into a sneer. “What you know and what you can prove are two different things. I thought you were a lawyer. You should know that.”
So the arrogant bastard wasn’t even going to try to deny it. This man actually thought himself so far above the law that he could sit here in this office and admit to murder. Aiden’s stomach twisted, and he realized a part of him had been hanging on to the slim hope that he was wrong. He’d been struggling with this for days. Guilt had him avoiding Ryann whenever possible for fear she’d see the truth in his eyes. He’d prayed he was wrong. God, how he’d prayed . . . But after carefully reading the files Ryann had lovingly entrusted into his care, and knowing his father like he did, he could no longer deny the man was responsible for Axel Andrews’s death.
Aiden wasn’t sure how much longer he could do it. He’d been avoiding Ryann since she gave him the evidence, and the distance growing between them was killing him. He knew how bad it looked. God only knew what she was thinking, but he couldn’t tell her, not yet. Fuck, he was trying like hell not to lie to her. If she would give him the flash drive for fear that ruining his father would be too great a strain for their relationship to bear, what did he think was going to happen when she found out his father had hers killed?
The what-ifs haunted him, robbing him of sleep at night and torturing him mercilessly during the day. When at home, Aiden sequestered himself in the gym, claiming he needed to train to justify his distance. It was the truth—sort of—but even Nikko was starting to ask questions, pointing out that he hadn’t even trained this hard for his fight with Mallenger. His next fight was in two days. With any luck, this problem with Moralli and his father would be over before then, but if not, he needed to be prepared to step into that cage and win.
Every man had his breaking point, and today, Aiden had hit his when he’d slipped out of bed and snuck from his room, avoiding Ryann like a coward. This wasn’t him, dammit. Aiden Kruze faced life’s challenges head-on. He couldn’t do this anymore. For days he’d pondered his course of action, but the bottom line was he could no longer turn a blind eye to the truth to protect his father—a man who was loyal to nothing but the lure of power. It didn’t matter who he hurt or who he betrayed to get it.
Passing His Guard (Against the Cage #2) Page 31