Page 71 of Restitution

“Are you insane?” Archie asks at the same time Aria yells, “No!”

Tobias doesn’t hesitate to shoot him again, making us jump and him howl in pain and hop on one foot. “You motherfucker! Why are you allowing this?”

Bernadette doesn’t care. I don’t think she really cares about anything but herself. She tilts her head. “Are you done, Tobias?”

“That’s nothing compared to what the fuck I’m going to do to you both,” Tobias spits as Archie hops towards the door. “I’ll kill your husband in front of you, then I’ll make it slow and painful for you.”

“Do we have a deal?” Bernadette asks, annoyed now.

Tobias caresses Aria’s hand with his thumb and nods once, his eyes blazing, shoulders tense, jaw tight. His gaze is darkening, and I know he’s going to close himself off as soon as he leaves with them.

He gestures to the computers. “Delete all evidence you have on my son now, then I’ll go. I want him to be able to walk free and have a normal life.”

Bernadette sighs. “I knew you all had a foot in my system still. Whatever happened to respecting people’s privacy?”

I fist my hand. “We can find another way, Tobias.”

“Please,” Aria pleads.

Once she removes everything, and Barry checks to confirm, she smiles at Tobias. “When we leave, I want you to fuck me in the back of the car. I wonder if there really is a “like father, like son” thing.”

Tobias just stares at her.

Aria’s eyes flash with anger. “You’re disgusting.”

She sucks on her teeth. “Kade didn’t think so.”

Without giving it a second thought, I lunge for Bernadette, ignoring all the guns surrounding us. But someone grabs me by the throat before I can reach her and shoves me back, so I fall into Tobias.

I try to run at her again, but Tobias and Jason are in front of me now, and we stay frozen in place, guns pointing at us from every angle.

“Lower your fucking aim. I said I’d swap with Kade,” Tobias says, reaching back and taking Aria’s hand, squeezing it. “You leave my family alone from now on.”

“Put your dog on a fucking leash then. I’m sick of her dramatics.” She raises her brow at me. “You, missy, need to move on. He doesn’t love you. He loves my daughter.”

“And you need to die just like your daughter,” I retort. “And I hope it’s slow and painful.”

“As I said,” Bernadette says, gesturing to her men to get Tobias, not caring about my comment. “Dramatic.”

He shrugs away from them and turns to Aria, who’s sobbing and begging him to stay, to find another way, but all he does is smile at her, take her face and kiss her on the lips.

It’s more than just a kiss. It’s everything he wants. Everything he had. And everything he’ll lose. It’s a goodbye. A see you later. An eternity of wonderingwhat if.

I know what he’s going to do.

He’s going to raze her empire from the inside, and he’s going to take himself out in the process. Because he loves his family, and he’d do anything to save them.

Kade is free, but Tobias never was. He’s been a prisoner for over twenty years.

When he pulls back from the kiss, he presses his lips to her forehead. “I love you. Every broken part of me has loved you from the moment I met you.”

“I love you too,” she sobs. “I need you to come back to me. Please. Please, Tobias.”

“It was never going to be an easy road. At least now I can do something good for my family. Live your life the way you were supposed to without me, Doctor.”

She breaks down completely. “Please don’t. Please.”

He steps back from her, nods to Jason and Barry, and looks at me. “You take care of yourself and my kids.” He hugs me to him, and I sink into his hold and shake in his arms.