Consummated (Aiden & Olivia Book 4)

by Stephanie Julian

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice has been reduced to a hissing rasp that reveals a deep-seated hatred. “You’re a gutter rat. Everyone knows that. You can put on a suit and a tie but you’re still trash.”

  His words don’t cut like they would have even six months ago. Instead, they only reinforce Olivia’s assertion that he’s responsible for my grandmother’s death.

  “I don’t know why I’ve never seen it. Or maybe I have and I made excuses for you.”

  “And maybe you’re just like me, Aiden.” Red mottles his cheeks and his eyes blaze with hatred. “Have you considered that?”

  I have to give it to the bastard. His brain’s still sharp after all these years. He knows exactly how to go for an opponent’s jugular.

  “Maybe I am. But then you should be worried. Because I know how you think. I know every move you can make. And I know how to take you down.”

  “One phone call.” He’s going hoarse, his voice raspy and thin. “That’s all it’ll take to have you thrown out on your ass.”

  “Are you so sure about that? Are you willing to bet your company on it? Because you haven’t been into the office for…what? Six months? A year? The board deals with me on a daily basis. Every manager knows me by name. When was the last time you talked to any of them?”

  I pause to let that sink in for several seconds, see the contemplation in his eyes. The realization that I’m right. Finally, I see a hint of fear in his eyes. I’ve got to hand it to the old bastard though. He covers it well as he leans back in his chair.

  His expression clears, as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. If I didn’t know him better, I’d think he might have something on me, something he could use against me.

  But I’ve watched him work for years, studied his tactics, and learned how he operates. This is the part where he breaks people. People who don’t know him, people who have secrets, they begin to sweat at this point.

  Because if you have something to hide, you live in fear of someone finding out your secret. You have to be really good at deception to cover.

  And my grandfather is good. He’s just not as good as he used to be.

  “I’m in no danger of losing my company, Aiden, no matter what you might think. But you need to tread carefully here. I’m willing to forgive you for thinking you could manipulate me in some way. I guess I should be proud of you. I’ve taught you well.”

  “You taught me how to be ruthless, yes. You just never expected me to use it on you, did you?”

  “You’ve got a long way to go before you can intimidate me, boy.”

  “I’m no longer a boy. I haven’t been for many years. And that will be your downfall. You thought you could keep me contained, didn’t you? Thought I’d always be under your thumb. And all this time, I never realized I was setting the groundwork for this, the night I’d tell you you’re done.”

  His sneer returns but it doesn’t hold the same power it has in the past. It makes me shake my head and wonder why I’ve let this go on for so long.

  “You used her death to control me, used my grief to keep me in line. And I let you. No more.”

  “You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. And you need to shut your mouth before you say another word about my wife.”

  “Is it because you got her killed that you don’t like to talk about her, or did you really just not care about her? Was she just someone you slept with—”

  “Shut your mouth!”

  I do, but only because I realize I’ve won this round. And tomorrow, when I go to the office, I’ll win the war.

  Time to go.

  I stand, already planning my strategy for tomorrow. For the past few minutes, I’ve forgotten that Olivia is doing my dirty work. Now, we need to leave but I don’t know if I’ve given her enough time to get back to where she’s supposed to be waiting.

  And at this point, I don’t care.

  I take out my phone and text her, telling her to get of there now. Behind me, I hear my grandfather rising from his chair.

  “You don’t want to cross me, Aiden. I still hold the power.”

  I spare him a glance over my shoulder. “Don’t bother to show me out. I know where the door is.”

  “You’re going to regret this, you ungrateful bastard. And I will bury you.”

  “No, you won’t. You can’t. You set me up perfectly for this and now I’m going to make you pay.”

  I head for the door while he struggles to keep up with me. He can’t. He’s old and weak and I’m more than able to outpace him.

  He’s still calling my name as I head for the front door. I’m stone-cold rational, thinking more clearly than I have in years.

  I see Olivia standing in the foyer. I can tell by the look on her face that she’s confused and the slight shake of her head tells me she’s found nothing.

  Doesn’t matter. I know all I need to.

  I don’t need her anymore. Our arrangement is over.

  Chapter Six

  Olivia

  I can see by the look on Aiden’s face that something’s happened.

  Something that’s changed the game.

  He looks straight at me but I can tell he doesn’t see me. I keep my mouth shut as he takes my arm and points me toward the front door.

  His text telling me to meet him now had surprised me. I’d been working on the safe and had two numbers cracked. The third had eluded me and I was starting to worry I wouldn’t get it.

  Then my phone in my pocket vibrated and I hustled out of the office to meet him in the hall. I can’t completely control the shock on my face because Aiden’s expression is furious. I’ve never seen him look as angry as he does now.

  His hand tightens around my arm and I feel the restraint he’s exercising. He doesn’t want to hurt me but he’s fighting against the fury I see on his face. If I were on the receiving end of that look, I’d be terrified.

  I keep my mouth shut as we hustle toward the door. Aiden has his hand on the knob when I hear his grandfather call out.

  “Aiden! Stop right there.”

  I glance over my shoulder and see Aiden’s grandfather stalking up the hallway behind him.

  Aiden ignores him, pulling open the door and urging me through it in front of him.

  “Don’t you walk away from me. I will destroy you. You’ll be out on your ass tomorrow morning. You’ll have nothing.”

  Aiden turns on his heel so fast, I gasp and my eyes widen as he takes two steps forward. Then he stops and his entire body stills. And when he speaks, his voice holds a deadly serious tone that makes my stomach clench.

  “No, you won’t. Because I’ll have everything you own.” His voice barely rises above a whisper but I can hear him perfectly. “I’ll take it all because I’m the one in charge. I have been for years. You were too stupid to realize what I was doing. You’re weak, old man. You’re the only one who doesn’t know it. No one will blink an eye when I tell them you’ve become too senile to be involved in running an empire. And if you try to cross me, I will tell everyone how you were the reason your wife was killed.”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Aiden’s grandfather’s voice cracks and I know Aiden’s hit a vulnerable spot.

  “Would you like to bet the rest of your life on that? Maybe a judge would go easy on you because of your age. Or maybe, when I present that second set of books you tried to cover up, he’ll just lock you up and throw away the key. You won’t be able to buy your way out of that. I’ll make sure of it. And if you don’t go to jail, I’ll make damn sure you suffer every day for the rest of your life, knowing I’ve taken everything you’ve built.”

  When Aiden finally goes silent, all I can hear is his grandfather’s raspy breath and the pounding of my heart.

  I’ve been fooling myself these past few days. Foolish to think I could handle Aiden. That I was, in any way, an equal in ruthlessness or cunning. I have no idea what happened while I was trying to crack the safe but
obviously something had. Something that made Aiden realize he has the upper hand on his grandfather and that he doesn’t need my help to crush the old man.

  He’s perfectly capable of doing that all by himself.

  When Aiden turns and begins to walk again, I go with him without complaint. I want out of here and I want out now.

  He doesn’t say a word as he helps me into the car and I’m too lost in thought to care.

  As far as I know, he doesn’t have the second set of books. But I’m not sure of anything anymore.

  He doesn’t speak until we’re well under way.

  “Did you find anything?”

  His question comes out of the blue and I blink out of the fugue I’ve been in.

  “What?”

  “Did you find anything in his office?”

  I swallow hard because I have no idea how he’s going to react. I’m not frightened of him. I guess I should be. I really know nothing about him. And everything I thought I knew has been blown away in the space of five minutes.

  “I didn’t have time to look.”

  He nods, as if that’s exactly what he expected to hear.

  And I take a deep breath. “I don’t think I’m up for a night out. I…want to go home.”

  His jaw clenches and I expect him to tell me no.

  Instead, he nods. “Probably for the best. I have work to do tonight.”

  I consider my next question carefully but I have to ask.

  “Are you going to call off Vincenzo?”

  He slides me a glance. “I already have.”

  Oh. Wow.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t keep my word?”

  His softly voiced question makes me think. Had I doubted him?

  No, I hadn’t. Until I heard him tell his grandfather he was going to crush him. Then, I saw a man I hadn’t seen before. A man completely capable of being ruthless.

  “No, I didn’t doubt you.”

  “But now you do. Are you frightened of me now, Olivia? Do you finally see the man I really am?”

  Confusion makes me shake my head but not in answer to his questions. I shouldn’t be having such a hard time reconciling this man with the man I’ve let fuck me over the past several days.

  Maybe I saw something in his personality that just isn’t there. Maybe I led myself to believe he was a different person so I could justify the sex. The sex I enjoyed.

  Maybe—

  No. No more maybes.

  I keep my mouth shut for the rest of the drive home. Thankfully it’s not far because I feel like my head’s about to explode. My temples throb and my lungs hurt as Aiden pulls up beside my car.

  There’s a pit in the bottom of my stomach that’s making it hard for me to breathe. I find myself staring at his profile, his jaw clenched tight. I want to run my fingers along that firm line, feel the scruff against my fingers.

  I sense his seething frustration and anger and want to ease it. Even though I know I can’t. That he probably doesn’t want me to. He’s done with me.

  When he turns to me, I quickly look away and reach for the door handle.

  His hand on my arm keeps me glued to my seat.

  “Nothing you heard tonight should be repeated.”

  I know he has to say it but it still puts me on edge.

  “I’m not stupid.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re also a thief and if the information is worth enough money, you may be tempted to sell it.”

  The urge to say something equally as hurtful makes my jaw ache but I bite my tongue because I know anything I say right now will be wrong. It’ll betray the hurt that’s tying my stomach in knots.

  God, I’m so stupid. He’s not allowed to hurt me. Not like this. How could I allow this to happen?

  I wait for him to say something else, though I have no idea what that would be.

  Is this it? Do I get out of the car and walk away and forget any of this ever happened? Can I forget? I don’t have a clue.

  When he stays silent, I turn and grab the door handle and slide out of the car.

  “Olivia.”

  With my feet on the ground, I feel a little more stable. But the minute my gaze meets his, I know I’m going to hate the next words out of his mouth.

  “Consider our arrangement fulfilled.”

  I bite back the harsh words on the tip of my tongue, the ones that would reveal much more about my feelings right now than I want him to know.

  Instead, I take a step away from the truck and shut the door. I expect him to pull away but the SUV doesn’t move. Turning, I head for my car.

  It takes me two tries to get the key in the ignition. When I finally do, I rev the engine and peel out of the driveway and I never look back.

  By the time I get to my building, I’m pissed off. Utterly and completely furious. And sick to my stomach.

  I take a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. I don’t want to be alone.

  Turning from my door, I walk back down a flight of stairs to Bryant’s apartment.

  He answers my knock with raised eyebrows, which immediately slam down when he sees my face.

  “What the hell happened and who do I need to beat?”

  I can’t even conjure a smile. I just shake my head and walk by him when he steps aside. Heading straight for his fridge, I pull out two beers and hold one over my shoulder for him as he comes up behind me.

  “Liv.”

  The tone of his voice makes tears sting the corners of my eyes. I twist the cap off the beer before I turn and take a swig. Bryant watches me like a hawk.

  “What’s wrong, little sister?”

  He says the one thing he knows will break through my silence. Reese and I may be closer, but Bryant takes his position as oldest as seriously as a heart attack.

  “We need to check with Vincenzo but I’m pretty sure Dad’s safe now.”

  Bryant doesn’t respond right away. He takes a long pull on his beer before he sets the bottle on the counter.

  “What’d you have to do to make that happen?”

  “Nothing I didn’t want to do.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better.” His voice has dropped into growl territory. “Talk to me, Liv.”

  “The guy I told you about, the one I was supposed to steal the file from, he’s the one behind everything. He set it all up. He blamed Dad for his grandmother’s death but he realized it wasn’t Dad’s fault.”

  Bryant takes another swallow of beer and I know he’s thinking this through. “So now he’s over it all? Just like that?”

  “He told me Dad doesn’t have anything more to worry about.”

  “But you’re not sure this guy will keep his word?”

  “No…I mean, yes, I think he’ll keep his word. I just…”

  I sigh and try to find the words I need, but they elude me. I don’t want to reveal too much but I need Bryant to understand. And to not ask too many questions because I really am afraid he’ll go after Aiden with a baseball bat.

  And if anyone’s going to smack Aiden, I want it to be me.

  “Just what? Come on, Liv, spit it out.”

  “I think…I fell for the mark.”

  I’m pretty sure I’ve stunned Bryant into silence. His lips part but he doesn’t say anything and he stares at me with his eyes wide.

  After a few seconds, his eyebrows lower and his mouth becomes a tight, straight line.

  “If he touched you—”

  “It’s not like that.” I hurry to cut him off. I don’t want him to think too hard about anything else. “This is a stupid girl thing and I needed someone to know and Reese would fly off the handle and Maylyn would tell me to pursue it and—”

  “And you know I’m going to tell you what you need to hear.” Bryant shakes his head. “You need to forget this guy and stay as far away from this as possible from here on out. If Dad’s clear, you don’t need to be involved anymore. I didn’t want you involved in this in the first place and now that it’s over, you need to get out. Do you
think this guy will come after you?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think he wants anything to do with me.”

  “Then that’s a good thing.”

  I should agree. I don’t want Bryant to freak out. But I don’t want to lie. I want to cry on my brother’s shoulder.

  And I know I can’t.

  So I nod and stare down at my beer, trying not to let the tears gathering at the corners of my eyes fall.

  We stand in silence for several long seconds. I can practically feel the restraint Bryant is using to keep from speaking.

  Finally, he sighs and I tense, expecting him to ask more questions.

  Instead, he puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Since you’re here, you wanna watch that show you keep telling me about? That one with all that freaky shit and all those characters who share a brain?”

  A laugh catches me off guard and I look up at my bad-ass brother, who’s just asked if I want to watch Sense8. My brother, who normally wouldn’t be caught dead watching any show that didn’t have bikers, gangsters, and at least two bloody killings per show.

  I nod and smile and take his hand when he reaches for mine and drags me toward his couch.

  And for the next four hours, we drink beer and watch TV as he sacrifices his bed and I fall asleep with my head on his thigh because I don’t want to go home.

  Chapter Seven

  Aiden

  “This has to get to the board members this morning. I need you to make sure it gets into their hands personally.”

  Lifting her gaze from the computer screen to meet mine, Jeannie swallows hard, her eyes wide.

  But she’s pure professionalism when she nods and says, “Of course. I’ll make sure they go to personal emails and immediately do a follow-up call.”

  “I’m sure there’re going to be questions so prioritize my morning schedule. Those calls are top of the list. I expect there’ll be a lot. Start funneling them through as soon as you get them. I want this handled as quickly as possible.”

  “Yes, sir. Of course.”

  She pauses and her expression is a study in indecision. She wants to say something but she’s not sure she should.