AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“If they waited, they’d have known I was pushing Aine away. I was giving them everything they fucking wanted.” I tucked my fists against my thighs.
“You’ve yet to let yourself grieve, Fred.” He inched closer and took my fists in his hands. “Anger is consuming you and while warranted, it will get you nowhere.”
“It’s all I have.” I gritted my teeth.
“No, Fred, you have so much more than rage. You’re smart, smarter than all of them. Perhaps they are threatened by that. They’ve been disloyal and likely thought punishment was incoming. Who knows? But you will get ahead of this, spin on them, and eviscerate every single traitor.”
He cupped my cheek in his hand and the warmth pulled me in…God, was I so desperate for touch?
“Then, you will mourn the loss of your family and begin to heal.”
What was this man doing to me, and why didn’t I want him to ever stop? The fire in his eyes, the feel of his warmth on my cheek. Suddenly, I wasn’t thinking about ripping the heads off people or the sadness that threatened to drown me. No, right now, I wanted to strip Vincenzo Belini of every stitch of clothing and lick him from head to toe.
Damn…I was a broken box of crayons.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Vincenzo
Fred leaned in as if an invisible thread were pulling him to me and no force could stop us from the inevitable bliss of a searing kiss.
Well, until a loud knock made the skittish guy jump away from me. I was the kind of man who believed staying calm and collected brought forth organized finality to chaotic situations…but right now, I wanted to rip the door off the hinges and beat whoever was behind it to a bloody pulp.
Fred’s cheeks pinked, and he took a deep breath. The knocking started again.
“Fred, you in there?” Aiden’s tone was frantic.
With a sigh, Fred opened the door. “Sorry, Vincenzo and I were talking.”
Aiden regarded me briefly before focusing on Fred. “Oh, you ran out of the car. I was worried.”
“I’m fine.” Fred’s smile was shaky, and I wondered if it was because he was flustered and trying to tamp down the sexual energy or if he was upset over what had almost happened.
“Right. Well, did you want to sit and go over that list?” Aiden’s gaze went to the crumpled piece of paper on the floor.
“It’s useless, Aiden. No one on there is responsible. I’m sure it was in-house.”
“Fred, you can’t know that. We should at least check it out.”
I stepped forward. “I can get some of my people to look into every person on the list.” I bent and picked up the paper. “The funeral is in two days. Fred needs to concentrate on a strategy to lure out some of the bad seeds in your family or find out those who might have information.”
I met Aiden’s now-livid expression. He grabbed the list from my hand. “I’m not convinced your band of assassins isn’t behind this.”
“You can tear the world apart trying to find proof I had any part of this, and you’ll come up empty.”
He advanced on me, but I didn’t budge. “Because you hide it so well?”
“Because there’s nothing to hide. Now, if you don’t back up, I’ll show you why I lead the most dangerous assassin organization in the world.”
“Aiden, enough.” Fred pushed in between us, facing Aiden. “This isn’t Lex Talionis. If it were, someone from Haven Hart would have told me by now.”
“You don’t know that.”
Fred huffed. “Yes, I do, because it would affect them and after what happened here, you better believe they did a deep dive into the situation to discount or prove if Vincenzo was behind it.”
“Then why aren’t they doing more, hmm? Why aren’t they tearing apart the Brennan clan?” Aiden’s anger morphed into disgust. “They don’t give a damn about you unless it can damage them.”
Fred’s face fell. It was a low blow and uncalled for. Fred likely only saw Aiden trying to make him realize a false truth. What I was witnessing was the slip of the driver’s mask.
