“If we knew, we wouldn’t be asking you,” I tell Marcus pointedly.
“Who tried to take Addison?” Daniel speaks up with the only question he wants answered. I have so many I could drown in them, but he only has one.
I expect a single name. Or the denial of information entirely. Instead, Marcus continues to evade the answer, but he also surprises me.
I don’t like to be surprised, because it means I’m lacking in information, which means I’m lacking in control.
“The same man who hurt you years ago and started all this.” Years ago? His words repeat in my head. In the decade since we’ve taken power, no one has dared to hurt us until recently.
Marcus continues and this time, he places a small clue in his response. “She wouldn’t be yours if it hadn’t happened.”
“If what hadn’t happened?” Jase asks, speaking for the first time. And now I’m left wondering if Marcus is referring to Addison or Aria.
“The first hit your family took,” Marcus says, giving more information to solve a riddle rather than providing an answer that would be so easy to give.
“You talk in circles and riddles,” Daniel sneers and then slams his fist down before raising his voice to tell him, “I just want a name.”
“And I just want Aria,” Marcus answers, ever calm in a way that makes my blood turn to ice.
My brother looks at me, desperate for information, but before I can respond, Daniel narrows his eyes at the phone and tells Marcus, “If all you’re after is Aria, this conversation is useless. We will never give her to you.”
The line clicks dead and the moment it does, I stare at Daniel, who won’t take his gaze from the silent phone. With his jaw clenched and every emotion written on his face, I feel nothing but sorrow for him. Maybe shame as well. I’m ashamed I brought my brothers into this, and I don’t have a way to fix it.
“Years ago?” Sebastian repeats Marcus’s words and opens the door as Declan moves to leave, looking pissed off.
“Did it-”
Before Sebastian can even finish his question, Declan’s fist slams against the doorframe, splintering it with his rage.
He doesn’t speak; he doesn’t even slow his pace. Declan’s the first to leave and Daniel follows.
“Can I have a minute with Sebastian?” I ask Jase, letting go of my thoughts of figuring out what Marcus was hinting at. With a nod, Jase is gone, leaving only Sebastian and myself.
“Don’t let anyone close to this place and only trust us,” I tell Sebastian, not wasting a second as he stalks to where Jase was just sitting. With both hands wrapped around the back of the chair, he looks at me closely.
“Are you all right?” he asks me again and the sad smirk comes faster this time.
“No.”
“What has to happen?” he asks, and I’m grateful for that question rather than the obvious, why?
“She needs to be kept safe. Aria Talvery.”
“Because he wants her?” he guesses and I keep my expression still and unwavering, but after a short moment, I shake my head. “It has nothing to do with Marcus. She simply needs to be kept safe.”
His eyes search mine, and I hate his hesitation.
“You know what she means to me,” I speak with desperation and hate that I have to say it at all. It was his idea to give Stephan to Aria. Between my brothers and Sebastian, they know all my secrets. Loving Aria isn’t a secret anymore, and Sebastian knows it.
“I don’t care what happens, as long as you keep her safe. She can’t be hurt. In any way.”
“So you want me to … be her guard?” he offers and I hadn’t thought of it like that, but I nod, knowing I need someone to watch over Aria.
Sebastian nods and tells me we’ll talk more in detail soon before turning and leaving. And that’s the end of this very short meeting.
After he leaves, I wish he hadn’t. I’m alone in the room with the memories of last night, and riddles I don’t know how to begin to solve. The world feels like it’s closing in on me, and years of sin are mere seconds from destroying what’s left of me.
“I had a thought,” Jase speaks and I open my eyes, realizing that I didn’t even hear him come back in.
“I need to check on Aria,” I tell him, not wanting to deal with more shit. She has to meet Sebastian, and a strange sensation curdles the bit of bile in the pit of my stomach at the thought of what she’ll tell him about me.
“Just listen for a minute.”
“One minute,” I say. I focus on the phone, on the conversation that keeps repeating itself in the back of my mind as Jase tells me we should meet with Nikolai and let Aria see it all. Let her watch as Nikolai shows himself to be the man he is in front of her.