Page 21

Chapter 21

Vito

One month later

One week turned into two, and that turned into a month. A month is up tomorrow.

I'm not letting Eden go.

We kept our promise of no risk-taking, keeping our distance and cool facades in public. We only met inside the tunnel. Eden had given my a key and the code, and we kept our promise… Mostly.

Sometimes, once a day isn't nearly enough. When my need for her—or hers for me—is the only thing we can focus on, we meet more.

I'm her drug, and she's mine.

We've done everything in that secret narrow passageway without furniture, a soft surface, or even a blanket.

I've fucked her hard against the wall, screwed her senseless bent over, and made love to her lying on the floor. We've done oral sex in all positions: she's knelt before me, I've knelt between her legs, she gone on all fours and pushed her ass in the air for me, she's rode my face, and we've sixty-nined.

We've perfected coded communications because Eden having a burner phone is too risky. If someone notices she has two phones, there'd be questions, and even speculation could be deadly to her.

If she texts me, saying she's reserved my table in the bar at a certain time, that means, meet me in the tunnel two hours before that time .

If I text, asking if she can order more of my preferred bourbon, that means, urgent; I can't wait any longer .

We've found a system that works out of necessity and need, making it work without questioning it because neither of us can resist the call of the other.

We're supposed to meet in the tunnel now, but Eden isn't here. A wave of fear washes over me.

Have we been discovered, and she's being hurt?

Is she finally satiated and decided she's gotten me out of her system?

I pace for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. I'm constantly checking my phone, but she hasn't texted.

If I text now, will she answer? Can she answer?

Impatience and fear drive my decision. I'm going to her office. I know the code to get in from the secret entrance; I know the codes to both her office doors.

But what if someone is in there with her?

They'll see me coming in through a secret entrance. There'll be questions that I can't answer.

So I'll kill whoever's there .

Okay, that plan has… a lot of flaws.

Even so, I can't wait. I take the stairs three at a time up to the top landing, where reason filters back in. It makes me pause before bursting in there.

I look at my phone, but there's still no text.

Taking a risk, I call her. I can't hear anything through the door because it and her entire office is soundproof. I don't even know if she's actually in her office. This is a stupid risk, but I don't hang up.

When the call connects, she doesn't speak. I listen intently, not speaking in case it's not Eden who has answered her phone.

Then I hear a soft noise, almost like she's choked my name.

Fuck caution. Eden needs me.

I have no idea why, but I know that she needs me. If someone is in there hurting her, I'll kill whoever it is on the spot.

I type in the code, pull my gun out of its holster from under my jacket, and slowly open the door. The office is quiet. I quickly scan around, but no one except for Eden is there. She sits behind her desk.

The mask she uses to keep everyone at a distance is gone. In private this past month, she let it fall and let me see behind her armor. Right now, she looks… shattered.

Her face is ghostly pale and tear-streaked. Her hands shake.

"Eden," I exhale, holstering my gun and pocketing my phone.

"Vito." There's so much pain in that one word that my chest feels like a hole is being drilled in it.

I go to her, sinking to my knees and cupping her face. "Tell me what's wrong."

Her hazel eyes are drowning in pain. Her hands shake more as she places hers over mine on her face. "I found…" She squeezes her eyes shut and bites her trembling lip.

"What did you find, baby?"

She opens her eyes and points at a small tablet on her desk.

I then notice a small section that's open in the intricate, interconnecting wooden pieces that Aiken had fashioned into an inlaid panel behind the desk. The opening would fit the tablet.

Dread coils in my chest.

I'm fairly certain I know what's on that tablet. A recording from a hidden camera that had captured Aiken being murdered.

Her broken gaze meets mine, and I know I'm right.

I stand and lift her from the chair in one movement. Turning, I sit, holding her on my lap. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, and you watched that alone."

Her body shakes as she chokes back a sob, and I hold her tightly.

If we had a normal relationship, she could have called me when she found this. She wouldn't have had to be alone. She wouldn't have had to watch the recording if she didn't want to—I would've done it for her and saved her that additional pain.

She sniffs, curled tightly into me. "Will you watch it? I can't… I can't watch it again. Not right now. But I need someone else's viewpoint."

She's so fucking strong.

I kiss the crown of her head. "Whatever you need."

I sit her gently back in the chair, take the tablet, and go to the sofa, wanting to give her some mental distance from what I'd be watching.

I rewind the recording to Aiken coming out of the cooler behind the bar. He looks ready to head home.

His head suddenly snaps over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen. Then, three people come in, all in black fatigues, balaclavas, and gloves. Aiken demands to know what they're doing, but they're silent as they attack him as a unit.

He's a good fighter, but there are three of them, and they're armed with knives. And they're trained and used to working together based on how they constantly corral him while slashing and stabbing him.

None of the knife wounds are fatal in themselves; they're meant to overpower, drag this out. Weaken him, make him bend to their will.

They want something from him. I suspect this when I watch the biggest one periodically speak into Aiken's ear. Each time, though, Aiken tells him to get fucked; except near the end, he just spits, or tries to spit, at him.

Whatever they want from Aiken, he's not breaking and giving it to them. This enrages them, and the knife wounds turn deeper and more fatal. The largest attacker hoists Aiken up and says something into his ear.

Aiken just smiles a bloody smile. "Go… Fuck… Yourself."

A bellow of rage is the only noise that one of the three-member team makes, and he smashes Aiken's head continuously into the wall, a little harder each time.

Until he lets go and Aiken slumps to the floor. The smallest of the three—I can't tell if it's a woman or a man—shoves a knife into his gut and twists, before yanking it free.

Then they leave.

Aiken lays there; his fading groans are audible, his movements slow and slight.

He's lying on his side and fumbling, trying to do something. I know what comes next.

Aiken pulls out his phone. "Vito… I need Vito… Protect… Tell…"

He's talking to himself, not making sense to me. I can see him fighting death, trying so fucking hard to do this one last thing.

He finally unlocks his phone. I close my eyes, feeling like I'm straddling the past and the present: receiving Aiken's phone call, hearing the words he spoke, and hearing them now on the recording.

"Vito…" He chokes on his blood, and I watch it spurt from his mouth. "Call Ed."

His hand collapses and the phone drops beside him. I can almost hear myself shouting over the line for Aiken to talk to me.

I've always felt Aiken wanted to say more.

From the angle of the hidden camera recording this, I can see his face clearly. His eyes are fighting not to close, and as I watch, I lean closer. His mouth moves, but there's no sound.

I rewind the section to be sure.

He mouthed , the box .

Aiken doesn't move again, and his shallow breaths soon stop altogether.

I'm a killer, a predator to my enemies. I've killed numerous men, tortured and played with them before I ended them.

This video was hard for me to watch. I can't fucking imagine Eden watching it. Alone.

I push that down for now because Eden needs Vito Santoro. The man her brother called with his dying last words.

Vito… I need Vito… Protect… Tell…

Vito… Call Ed.

The box.

What does it all mean?

I fast-forward the recording to see if anything else happens before Raf and I arrive and kick down the front door. Once that happens, I stop the video.

Eden watches me. Her tears have stopped, but her eyes glisten with more that she's holding back.

She wants an outside perspective—my perspective as a mafia man who wades in this dark, bloody world. I'll give her that, and then Vito—the man, her man—will give her what she needs emotionally.

"They were professionals, not some street thugs making a hit. Sealed up. Uniform execution of their task, efficient. Quick in, quick out."

We already knew they had a way of getting in and out undetected and bypassing the security system. We hadn't figured out how yet, and the video, unfortunately didn't provide the answers.

"The primary task was to kill Aiken." I think again of how the largest one kept speaking in his ear and Aiken telling him to get fucked. It could be that they were trying to get some information, or they possibly could've also been taunting and toying with him.

"This wasn't personal to these three. Someone sent them." My predator instinct is sure of that. "If Aiken was supposed to break and give them some kind of information, that was secondary. The kill orders were that the hit needed to occur at Gilly's," I guess, going with my gut again.

"This was a big fuck you to Gilly's as much as Aiken." Eden's voice is flat, and I hate that she's put up walls to shield her emotions. I know it's not to keep me out; it's her coping mechanism. "What else?"

"The biggest one was certainly a male. It's less clear if the smallest one is male or female. Their shoulders are broad for what you'd typically see on a female; they didn't have a glorious rack of tits like someone I know." Eden's lips quiver. I lean forward, needing to be closer to her, even if I don't touch her yet. "I'll take screenshots. Ohith and Axin might be able to help."

She nods, her eyes downcast. "Aiken… He called you on purpose."

We know this already, but the video made that more evident.

"He said, protect… tell…" I say, watching Eden. I wasn't sure if she had caught Aiken's mouthed words at the end—his last two words ever —but I don't bring it up now, because she feels… fragile.

This beautiful, strong woman feels like she'll shatter into a million pieces.

"He wanted us to come together," she whispers.

Maybe not like how Eden and I have come together, but Aiken definitely wanted me to play a role with Ed. He would've known that his successor's email to Eden would be triggered and that she'd likely heed his final request. He wanted me to protect her.

For what still remains to be seen.

But, honestly, it doesn't matter because this woman has my protection until my last breath.

I rise off the sofa and go to kneel in front of her again. "Are you okay?"

She cups my face and leans her forehead against mine. "Tonight is our last night."

"I think we both know it's not." I wrap my hand around her nape to hold her closer. "Two months will do it. Then we'll have each other out of our systems."

She half-laughs, half-cries. "Vito… What are we going to do?"

I have no fucking idea.

"We'll figure it out," I promise, even though I have no idea how. I need to distract us from that. "How did you find the tablet?"

"Gus commented tonight that Aiken had started working on his woodworking again before he died." She looks at the wall art-reno Aiken had inlaid. "When I came in here… I missed him." Her voice cracks. "All the years we lost because I couldn't face my demons."

Eden still refuses to talk about her parents, her dead sister Fenton, and why she had run away from home at fifteen. It burns me that she refuses to share that with me, but I haven't pushed it. Yet.

Pushing back in the chair, she stands and goes to the inlaid section of the wall, running her hand over it. "I wanted to touch what he had made. When I did, I felt the tiniest of blemishes on the piece. Aiken was a perfectionist when it came to his woodworking. Obsessive. I knew if this was here, it wasn't because he had missed it. Somehow, I got the panel to open."

I rise and stand beside her, looking into the little cubbyhole. "Did you charge the tablet?"

She shakes her head.

That's some battery to still have a charge after three months. The tablet doesn't look like anything I've seen before.

"Was there anything else on the tablet?" I ask.

"The recording started at six in the morning and captured the day and evening until Aiken was…" She looks away. "I didn't watch further."

I place my finger under her chin and turn her face back to me. "I'll watch the rest, okay?"

I sit in her chair and she sinks into my lap. Her eyes are steady and strong, and I know she's wordlessly telling me we'll watch it together. I hug her tight to my chest and start the recording again.

We watch as Raf and I are in the bar, and then my phone call with Massimo. I fast-forward after we leave until Gus, Massimo, and the other Chamber faction's seconds-in-command arrive with the CSI team. I fast-forward through that. When the clock hits six AM, the recording ends.

"The tablet only records one day at a time," I say. "He must have cleared the cache daily, then it would re-record."

"That means he watched them every day." Eden chews her thumbnail. "Or maybe uploaded them someplace."

"There's a reason he installed a hidden camera recording in the barroom that captured audio."

She pales, turning to me. "What if he was working with the authorities, trying to get intel for them on you guys?"

"Like how Agents Peel and Stought accused when they approached you?" I consider that, then shake my head. "It doesn't feel right. Aiken's not the kind. Plus, there are agreements with the higher-ups in law enforcement… And Aiken was the owner-operator of Gilly's for fifteen years; why would he turn now?"

"But he was trying to find out something or get some information."

That part is true. Otherwise, why the additional secret security camera and one that recorded audio?

"Gus said Aiken started on his woodworking a few months before he died… Was he more specific?" I ask.

"He said three months."

I drum my fingers on her thigh as I contemplate. "When I talked with Gus after Aiken died, he said your brother had told him a month before that if anything happened to him, Gus was to call a number. That's the number I called and got you."

"Aiken suspected he was in trouble." She asks the same question Gus had, "Then why did Aiken call you to tell you to call me?"

"To protect you."

She chews her thumbnail again, her brow furrowed. "Why didn't Aiken go to the Chamber if he thought he was being threatened?" She doesn't wait for me to answer. "Would Massimo know? Even though your father was still alive then, maybe he said something to him?"

"It's a possibility, but I feel Massimo would've at least alluded to that. According to him, the Chamber heads are as mystified as the rest of us of who killed Aiken and why."

Her eyes dart between mine. "Unless Aiken suspected it was a threat from one of the Chamber."

I've had that same thought. The predator and the protector in me raise their heads, sniffing the air for threats against Eden. I've always thought Aiken was murdered because of something he knew or saw.

But maybe it's solely because of what he was—Gilly's owner-operator.

However, I can't figure out how that would be the strategic play. With Aiken eliminated, his chosen successor would step in. No one knew who that was beforehand, and the Chamber would have no control of who it was.

However, the unsettling thought of Eden being at risk won't leave me. "We need to take extra precautions for your safety."

" We can't do anything, Vito."

I want to punch and stab something, or someone.

"You can't spend more time here than you already do." She pushes off me, then paces her office. "Or hang around while I close up; or make sure I get home safely. People will notice."

She's right, and I feel useless and worse than frustrated.

"Then get Ohith involved," I demand. "Get him to assign a team for you—someone who would be unknown to anyone around here. It's too risky for it to be Axin; he'd be recognized. However, he can be the behind-the-scenes protection, using tech to watch and protect you without anyone even being aware. I'll be on-call if they need more assistance."

Thankfully, she contemplates it and finally nods.

I stand, and she comes to me. My mouth seeks hers, and I wrap her in my arms. Fear and a variety of other emotions I don't dare name rage inside me.

I feel an urgency that isn't fueled by lust, but by something more potent.

I need to touch and feel her. I need to smell her, to see her over me, under me. I need to know she's here with me in my arms. I need to know she's safe.

We don't move into the tunnel this time.

Her office is locked up tight like Fort Knox and is soundproof. No one knows I'm in here.

It's still a risk because Gilly's is open, but I'm willing to take it because right now. I feel like I'm making a stand.

Fuck the line that is supposed to separate us.

Fuck the Chamber and all the criminals in this city.

Eden is mine. Mine to have and to hold. Mine to cherish and worship. Mine to protect.

I break away from her only as long as it takes to spread the soft, plush blanket on the floor and gently lay her down.

We don't speak; our hands, fingers, mouths, and tongues write out the words.

Our eyes lock as I slide deep into her tight channel, and she wraps around me. Tears glisten in her eyes as I move in her, tenderly, lovingly. As I reverently worship her, I kiss the tears away, whispering that she's mine.

When she comes for me, she arches her back and whispers my name over and over again. Her walls clutch me like they're trying to never let me leave.

As I empty into her, my soul comes, too. Reaching to intertwine hers with mine, and locks our fates and futures together with a finality that should scare me but only fills me with peace and happiness.

Afterward, lying together, I silently vow to protect her, just as I would any member of my family.

Maybe even more.

I'm not sure what I'd have to give up to do that, but I vow I will.