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Aldous

I f Aldous kept his tie on for a moment longer, the fucking thing was going to strangle him.

He wrenched it off, letting it fall to the floor on the hotel’s presidential suite. Panic surrounded him on all sides, closing in so tightly it was difficult to take a breath. He was doubting every decision he’d made since getting on the plane at Heathrow. Should he have gone to the police after all? Should he have fought back against Vivian’s demands?

The doors to the suite’s balcony were open, the salty breeze playing with the airy white curtains framing the French doors. Below, he could hear the distant sounds of the wedding party celebrating into the night, dancing amidst a sea of fairy lights.

Fuck them. Fuck them all.

Closing his eyes, he gripped the back of one of the dining chairs, letting the imposing ebony wood take his weight. His knuckles stood out as a stark white against the chair’s dark lustre. This was not where he wanted to be—or what he wanted to be doing.

He’d nearly lost control during the ceremony. Crowds would be the death of him. They were a one-way street into a full-on sweating, shaking panic attack. At the very least, he usually had his family to calm him down. Today had been his worst nightmare. A crowd of people he didn’t know, some of whom were stood behind him. The only thing keeping him at that godforsaken altar was the threat to his family.

Judging by his bride’s reaction, she hadn’t exactly enjoyed herself either.

Aldous supposed that was the one saving grace of today; surprisingly, he hadn’t been the only miserable one at the altar. Frowning, he moved out onto the wraparound balcony, sidestepping the outdoor dining area to glance over the edge.

A noise from deep in the suite snapped his head to the side, and Aldous stalked back through the French doors. He snatched a heavy silver vase off the nearest shelf, adorned with an abundance of musical motifs. If luck was on his side, it would only be a hotel employee coming to bring him dinner.

Luck was not on his side, but then wasn’t that the theme of the day?

Her voluminous tulle skirts were the first thing round the hallway, scraping against its edges, just as a strange, rhythmic tapping noise joined them. Aldous’s new wife followed, her eyes wide with fear and her black hair piled on top of her head in a tight plait, held together by three pale blue butterfly pins. She sucked in a gasp when she saw him—and a second when she saw the vase he clenched in his fist.

Reluctantly, Aldous put it down, still holding his suspicion aloft. “How did you get in here?”

“My bodyguard let me in,” she whispered, wrapping a pink strip of leather around her hand. Was that a dog lead? His question was answered a moment later when a dotted white shape darted out from behind her waterfall of skirts, slapping its tail against everything in reach.

“You have a dog,” he announced. A Dalmatian.

The dog immediately made a beeline for him, scrunching up its nose in the strangest grin he’d ever seen, her teeth bared, her eyes closed, and her head bowed. “Her name is Jasmine.” The dog pulled Brianna towards him—clearly against her will. “She’s not technically my dog. She’s my bodyguard’s. He promised me you wouldn’t hurt her and told me to say that she isn’t aggressive. That’s just how her face looks when she’s excited.”

Aldous nodded at the dog. She immediately swung her body around, rubbing against his knees. He wasn’t an expert in dog behaviour, but even he could tell her weird facial expression wasn’t aggression. “Did you say she’s your bodyguard’s dog?”

She nodded; her eyes still wide. “He’s outside.” The words came in a rapid whisper.

“Would this happen to be Roman?”

Another nod.

Of course it fucking was. Roman had sent in a canine icebreaker. “So you’re Roman’s dog, then?” he muttered to her, as her short nails pitter-pattered around on the tiles. “No wonder you’ve got that ridiculous look on your face.”

Jasmine simply swung her body round again, grinning up at him and signalling her rump was available for scratches.

Brianna piped up, looking less terrified the more he spoke to the dog. “He says it’s a thing with Dalmatians.”

He promised me you wouldn’t hurt her.

Was that what Brianna thought he would do? And if she thought he’d hurt a dog, then what did she think he’d do to her?

The sight of her tears during the ceremony came to mind.

Aldous glanced up at her, drinking her in for the first time. Before, he’d been too panicked to take in the details of his new wife. Too focused on not giving in to the urge to flee to peruse the woman in front of him.

Brianna. His new wife’s name was Brianna.

“Tell me,” he began, approaching her in a slow prowl that had her eyes widening. He wouldn’t touch her, but she didn’t need to know that. He simply wanted to scare the truth out of her. “Why did you cry during the ceremony, Brianna?”

A jolt went through her, and she stepped backwards. “I was happy.”

Aldous took another step closer to her, maintaining the distance between them until she backed herself into a wall. In his chest, his heart pumped furiously, unexpectedly firing into life during the chase. “Did you not vow to obey me today?”

“I did,” she whispered, her eyes owlishly wide in the darkened room.

“Then I order you to tell me the truth,” he snarled, eyeing the lines of her throat.

Beneath his gaze, her throat shifted. “I… I was scared you were going to hurt me.”

“Then why did you marry me?”

A hint of a frown marred her brow. “Because my mom arranged it. Because it was convenient for the Syndicate.”

“Tell me more about the Syndicate.”

The hint became a deluge. “What do you mean?”

“How many members does it have? How long has it been established? What does it do?” Roman had offered him some information, but Aldous wanted a second source.

Brianna pulled her bottom lip beneath her teeth. Fuck, her lips are perfection. “I don’t know how many exactly. I never wanted to join. As far as I know, it’s been around for decades, but Mom seized control of it about twenty years ago.”

They were close. Too close . In the course of their conversation, Aldous realised he’d leaned in so close that only inches separated them. He withdrew in subtle movements, consciously aware that she was one of the last people he wanted to get close to. “Why did you never want to join?”

The question took her by surprise. “No one’s ever asked me that before.” Her eyes found the horizon, through the balcony doors—next to where Jasmine was padding around in circles on a sun lounger, clearly about to make herself at home. It was a long while before she finally broke the silence. “I wanted—” For a brief moment, she looked as though she wanted to say more. “I wanted other things, I guess.”

Aldous said nothing, his thoughts racing one another around in his mind. Out of the corner of his eye, Jasmine abandoned the sun lounger, padding across the tiles towards the sofa, letting out the faintest of whines. Around them, the automatic lights flickered on. Did they do that at sunset, he wondered, or whenever the room reached a pre-determined level of darkness? Not that it mattered; he was only staying here for a single night.

He glanced back to the woman in front of him. His wife.

But then he blinked—for the first time since the ceremony, he saw her without the cover of the oncoming darkness.

The ceremony hadn’t been the only time she’d cried today. Both eyes had a faint red tinge to them, almost hidden beneath her long lashes. Good . They were equally happy about the marriage in that respect, then.

“You can leave now,” he told her, expecting her to be grateful. “Go back to your mother.”

Instead, there was yet more panic in her eyes, even as Jasmine circled them, letting out yet more whines. “You’re my husband. Mom said I was coming to live with you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Absolutely not.”

“But… where will I go?”

Aldous gestured towards the distant noise of the party downstairs—beneath Jasmine’s bark. “Back to your mother. And take the fucking dog out of here before she shits herself.”

Brianna followed his movement, letting out a long breath. Her eyes widened for a moment before darting around, her blinks coming rapidly.

He waited for a response, but there was nothing. It wasn’t until Jasmine gave another bark that he began to get the eerie feeling that something wasn’t right. He took a step towards her. “Brianna?”

Her head turned away from him, until her chin was tipped almost completely upwards, but she didn’t appear to be looking at anything, or even responding to Jasmine’s barks.

There was a knock at the door just as her shoulders began to twitch—and she fell backwards.

“Brianna!” Aldous dived forwards, encasing her within his grip as they tumbled onto the hard tile together, his knees taking the brunt of the impact. The vastness of her wedding dress cushioned her legs and hips, but it was down to him to envelop her torso and head with his body, cradling her against his chest.

By the time they hit the floor, she was shaking in earnest. Sharp rhythmic, repetitive movements, her muscles clenched so tight he wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. Amidst Jasmine’s barking, he heard the door to his room bang open, and a second later Roman was turning the corner.

“Fuck,” he whispered, locating them on the floor and skidding to his knees. He clicked a button on his earpiece, jaw clenched tight with tension. “Koa, I need your help. I think Brianna’s having a seizure.”

Aldous paled when he realised her lips were turning blue. “Roman, she can’t breathe,” he panicked, turning her onto her side between his legs, her upper body still cushioned against him. Jasmine was just as alarmed, alternating between soft barks and long whines.

Roman swore when he saw what Aldous had revealed—the long row of intricate ribbon lacing up the corset on the back of the dress. “Yep,” Roman said, pulling a knife out of a sheath on his ankle and slitting the corset up the middle. “She’s on her side, what next?”

Cupping her cheek, Aldous couldn’t stop to focus on how devastatingly soft her skin was, or how he was voluntarily touching someone other than his immediate family for the first time since he was a boy, all he could do was wait for the colour to return to her lips. His shirt was damp beneath her head, saliva pouring from her lips, but he didn’t care.

“Aldous,” Roman’s voice broke through his anxiety, “how long has the seizure been going on?”

He swallowed. The rate of her trembling might have been slowing down, but he couldn’t be sure. “I don’t know.” How long had it been since she’d last spoken. “A minute?”

Roman echoed his words to whoever he was speaking with, his eyes full of compassion as he stared down at Brianna. “All right.”

The rate of her trembling was definitely slowing, her limbs stilling until it looked like all she was doing was sleeping against his chest.

“Brianna?” he whispered to her, whilst Roman relayed what was happening over the radio. Some of the colour had returned to her lips, he was relieved to see.

Suddenly, she moved—her chest expanding to draw in a deep inhale, and another, and another, before her head lifted so gradually he was sure it had been intentional. Blinking, Brianna looked around, her eyes drooping heavily.

“Brianna,” Roman murmured, taking her hand with overwhelming tenderness. “Can you hear me?”

She nodded, letting her head fall against Aldous’s chest.

“You’ve had a seizu—” Roman cut himself off, clicking the button on his earpiece once more, his jaw unyieldingly tight. “Noted.”

Aldous picked up where Roman left off. “You’ve had a seizure, but you’re safe. We’ve got you.”

“Fuck sake,” Roman whispered, pulling out his earpiece.

“What now?” he asked. He’d never seen someone have a seizure before. It had been far more… violent than he’d expected. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”

Roman stroked Jasmine’s head as she came over to investigate, making a bed for herself in the mass of wedding skirts. “I don’t know. Koa said that Brianna had a seizure a month ago but Vivian let her sleep it off and she was fine in the morning.”

“Does she have them regularly?”

“No, that was her first one.”

Anxiety gave way to fury in his expression. He glanced at Brianna, nestled against his chest as though she didn’t even have the strength to hold herself up. His lips twisted in revulsion. “Is she on any medication for them?”

Roman’s scarred eyebrow quirked up. “I don’t think I need to even ask that question, do you?”

“No,” he said softly. With a decisive huff, he nodded towards the suite’s bedroom and got to his feet, ensuring Brianna remained safely cradled in his arms. “Go in there and get my suitcase.”

Roman nodded, the edges of his eyes crinkling with just the faintest hint of humour. “You’re going to bridal carry her into the hospital, aren’t you?”

Damn fucking right he was. And in that moment Aldous understood why Brianna had apparently agreed to marry a man she’d never met—because the alternative was having to live with her mother.