Page 9 of Endurance
Stefan had also slept with Monica the maid during one of their break ups. After Monica had flaunted the fact that she had slept with Stefan one too many times in front of Brody, Brody had beaten her over the head with a burning hot pan that Jeana had been in the middle of using. Jeana had burst into Stefan’s study, where he and I had been having a meeting, and yelled for us to come to the kitchen quickly. When Stefan and I had arrived, Brody had been standing in front of the kitchen sink washing blood off his hands. Once done and drying his hands with a dish towel, he had calmly stepped over the dead woman on the floor and walked toward us, eyes locked on Stefan.
“Maura will be home from school soon. Clean this trash up, will you?” he had said. It hadn’t been a request and then he had left us—or more specifically me—to deal with the bloody mess.
Over the years my uncle had more than flaunted his past sexcapades with Stefan in Brody’s face. I had a feeling he got off on getting under Brody’s skin. And unlike Monica, Brody couldn’t kill my uncle.
“Aiden, thank you for coming so quickly,” Stefan greeted as he walked over to his desk.
Aiden didn’t stop smirking. “I wanted to give Brody extra time to stare at my ass.”
Brody’s expression turned from annoyed to a full-on glare.
Stefan sighed as he took a seat. I cringed, praying this reunion didn’t turn into a fight like it had the last time my uncle had visited, and shut the door behind me. “Don’t start, Aiden,” I warned as I walked over to him.
He stood with a smile and threw his arm around my back, hugging me. “I can’t help it. He makes it so easy,” he whispered. My uncle and I had the same build and eyes, but that was where our similarities ended. Aiden had sandy blonde hair, with wisps of gray woven in. I returned his hug with a pat on his back. When he pulled away, he moved his hand to my good shoulder and his expression turned serious. “I’m sorry about Maura and the baby.”
I gave him a tight nod and we both took a seat on the couch. Stefan glanced at Brody, who hadn’t moved. “Are you staying?”
Brody didn’t typically attend meetings or have much to do with thebusinessside of things. That didn’t mean he was ignorant of everything. He just normally had his own responsibilities to take care of. But this meeting wasn’t a typical meeting. Brody had helped raise Maura and she'd always considered Brody as one of her parents. “I was thinking about it,” Brody replied.
“He wants to make sure I behave,” Aiden said.
Brody pushed off Stefan’s desk. “I’m here to make sure you take this seriously and not dick around when you should be helping us find Maura.”
Aiden’s smirk returned. “I’m sure her father is capable of keeping me in line.”
Irritated, I pinched the bridge of my nose. I loved my uncle, but he was an asshole.
“That’s enough, Aiden,” Stefan said, voice full of warning. Not that it did any good, because Brody lost it.
“Fuck you, Aiden. I raised her. I was there for the dirty diapers, the runny noses, and the scraped knees. I was there for every milestone in Maura’s life,” Brody snarled and pointed a finger at Aiden. “Don’t you dare come into my home and cast me aside as no one. Especially when you have no idea what it’s like to be a parent. You gave up that opportunity. Or did you forget that I helped raised Jameson too?”
My uncle’s smirk fell only to be replaced with a threatening look.
“I said that’s enough,” Stefan snapped in a low and eerie voice. It drew everyone’s attention. “Brody, let me handle this and we’ll talk later.”
Brody whipped around to face Stefan, ready to argue.
“I know,” Stefan bit out before Brody could say anything. “I know,” he repeated in a softer tone and they exchanged a look that felt private. “We will find her,” he assured.
Brody nodded before leaving the study. As soon as the door clicked shut, Stefan turned to Aiden.
“It’s not my fault he riles—”
“I don’t want to hear it, Aiden,” Stefan snapped. “My daughter is missing. That is why I called you here—to help us find her—not for you to antagonize Brody.”
Aiden smartly kept his mouth shut.
“That being said, the feud between you and Brody ends right now,” Stefan said, eyes locked with my uncle’s. The entire situation was uncomfortable as fuck. As Stefan’s enforcer, it came with my position to constantly have a front row seat to his drama.
Aiden gave Stefan a single curt nod. “I’m here to help.”
Stefan immediately switched to the problem at hand and explained all that we knew.
Even though my uncle knew everything because I had told him over the phone, he still listened intently. “Jameson told me that Asher is with her. At the firm we require those who work in the field to check in every forty-eight hours when they are on assignment. Asher has always been good about this. However, he was due to check in this morning and he didn’t. I tried contacting him without any luck. Then I had my team try to track him through any of his electronic devices such as his phone, computer, or tablet. They were also unsuccessful. Either this Vincent kid is as good as you say he is or Asher has gone rogue on me.”
“My money is on both,” I said.
Stefan grumbled in agreement. “Don’t be surprised if Maura steals Asher away from you.”