Hers to Save

by Talia Ellison

  I bit down on my lip so hard I drew blood. Just across from the bar was a building with a fire escape stairs. I found a hole in the wire fence, squeezed through it, careful not to rip my jeans or jacket, and dashed toward the stairs. They creaked slightly as I stepped on them, but even though they were rusty, they seemed safe.

  I climbed up until I had a good view of the bar but was still hidden from view. Crouching low, I observed the guards who were leaning against the wall, talking to each other, or watching a black SUV. I counted six guys, and none of them looked familiar. Was Marco with Aaron too? He had to be inside then. I waited, rubbing my hands together to chase away the chill of the night air. Come on, Aaron. What the fuck are you doing in there?

  After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened and Aaron came out, two unknown men in black close behind him. I let out a sigh of relief. It was really him. He was alive and looked just as fine as ever. Marco wasn’t anywhere in sight. A shiver ran down my spine. Had something happened to him? Was that why Aaron hadn’t come to meet me? What if Marco had been carrying a message from him and had been intercepted? No. I had to stop my mind from jumping to conclusions, because the possibilities were endless.

  Aaron snapped his fingers and pointed at the bar. Three of his guards strode back inside while Aaron waited in the middle of the street, leaning against the SUV. Aaron’s eyes flitted around his surroundings, and for a second, I wondered if he’d be able to sense me sitting here in the dark and watching him, but I was well-hidden behind a flight of stairs.

  The guards returned, dragging a man with them. The guy was struggling and kicking as he yelled at them to let him go.

  “This is a free zone! Get back into the hole you crawled from, you son of a bitch! You have no authority here! I’ll report you,” the man yelled as Roberto’s men—or were they Aaron’s now?—forced him down to his knees in front of Aaron, who was lounging against the SUV as if he couldn’t be bothered to deal with the whole thing.

  There wasn’t a single person passing on the street, but I supposed that wasn’t surprising considering what area this was and the time of night. The street was closed for traffic, though. I’d seen the signs as I made my way here, but I hadn’t figured out why they’d done that. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron had had the street and the bar closed just for him after he got here. It was something a Viteri would do. The only question was if Aaron was just pretending or his father had finally gotten him to embrace the Viteri lifestyle. Somehow I didn’t believe the latter.

  Aaron finally pushed himself off the SUV, and before anyone could do anything, he pulled out a gun and fired. The shot resonated like thunder, or maybe it was just my heart that was ringing in my head. The guy toppled to the ground and one of the guards approached Aaron, saying something that I couldn’t hear. Aaron grabbed the guard by the shirt, getting in his face.

  “You will obey me without question!” Aaron’s voice was loud and cold as icicles. “Clean up that mess, and if I hear one more word about this, I’ll shut you up like I did with him, got it?” He shoved the guard away, then simply opened the door of the SUV and got into the back seat. Three of his guards quickly got in too, one of them getting in the driver’s seat, while the remaining ones surrounded the body.

  After the SUV sped away and the remaining guards dragged the body away, I realized I had covered my mouth with my hand. Who was the dead guy? And why hadn’t Aaron taken him into the Viteris’ zone? He shouldn’t have killed anyone in the free zone, especially not if it had to do with the Viteris’ business. It could cause a lot of trouble for the Viteris if the deals weren’t respected... unless that was exactly what Aaron wanted. Maybe Aaron’s plan was progressing just how he’d planned, and the multiple guards around him were what was preventing him from contacting me.

  Yeah, it had to be that. He was probably just waiting for the right moment. The only problem was, I wasn’t that patient. I had to find out if something had happened to Marco and why he wasn’t with Aaron. If he was fine and Roberto just didn’t want him to guard Aaron anymore because Aaron had gotten shot on his watch, then maybe I could meet with him instead and send a message to Aaron through him, provided that Marco could still see him. All I needed was a confirmation that everything was going well. Nothing more.

  I pushed myself to my feet, careful not to disturb anything. I had a new plan, and hopefully it would work.

  Chapter 8

  I had nearly toppled down from relief when Tony had told me Marco was fine and well, but that he hadn’t been seen around Aaron, which turned out to be a good thing for me. I needed to talk to Marco alone anyway, since getting to Aaron would be difficult, especially if Aaron was afraid to reach out to me. Maybe his father had figured something out about us, so I needed to be extra careful. Meeting in disguise with Marco at a bar full of people wouldn’t raise too much suspicion, and that was exactly what I’d decided to do.

  I moved around the bar Marco had been seen in multiple times. Since it had taken Tony so little time to figure out where to find him, I figured Tony had been following him too, but Marco hadn’t been too careful and was visiting areas with a lot of easily reachable cameras. It was a bit weird that Marco was coming alone to this bar and not going with Aaron. Maybe he and Aaron were hoping I’d reach out to him, or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part. There was no need to panic, though, because I was sure Aaron had a perfectly good explanation for why he couldn’t have come to see me.

  I spotted Marco just as he went past a woman who was dancing in between two tables. Making sure no one was paying any attention to me, I zigzagged around the tables and found myself in the corner where three men were playing darts. Marco held a beer bottle in his hand and was leaning against the wall while he watched the men play. He hadn’t talked to them, it didn’t look like he knew them, and they were completely ignoring him. Was he waiting for someone or just really interested in the game? Or was he spying on them for Aaron?

  I closed the distance between us and stopped next to him. My wig was dark red this time, my eyes blue, and I was wearing black jeans and a dark green turtleneck sweater. Marco’s gaze moved to me, but he didn’t seem to recognize me and just pushed himself off the wall. Before he could get away from me, I placed my hand on his wrist and he turned to me, his eyebrows arching.

  “Do I know you?” He narrowed his eyes at me, as if I was familiar to him somehow, but he couldn’t quite place me.

  “Yeah, you do,” I said. The music wasn’t so loud here, so I was sure he could recognize my voice. His eyes went wide, his lips parting, and then he quickly glanced around us, pulling me with him behind one of the ornamental shelves with drinks so not many people could see us.

  “What are you doing here? How did you find me?” Marco hissed.

  “Oh, come on. You didn’t make it hard to locate you. And you have to know why I’m here.”

  His lips twitched. “I didn’t think I’d be interesting to anyone now that I’m no longer Aaron’s bodyguard.” His eyes filled with sadness.

  “What do you mean you’re not his bodyguard anymore?” I leaned closer to him, lowering my voice as a man passed nearby.

  “He kind of... fired me, I guess. He doesn’t want me anywhere near him.” Marco lowered his gaze. “Why are you here? This is the Viteris’ area! Just because your father made a deal with Roberto doesn’t mean someone won’t recognize you, follow you out of here, and hurt you. It might be someone unconnected to the Viteris. They could just claim it was your own fault because you were disguised and doing who knows what in their area!”

  “I needed to talk to you. Don’t worry about me. Not even you recognized me at first.” My voice might give me away, but not many people had heard me speak, and if they had, they hadn’t been around me as long as Marco to be able to immediately place it. “But what’s going on with Aaron? Why on earth would he fire you? You’re his best friend.”

  “I don’t know. He refuses to speak with me, and when he does, he’s just...
” He shrugged. “He’s... detached, like he doesn’t care about anything anymore. When I asked him about his plans and about what I should do, he just sent me away and said I didn’t have to worry about his affairs anymore.”

  “I don’t understand.” I blinked at him in confusion. “What happened after my family left Aaron and you with Roberto?”

  “Nothing much.” Marco took a swig of his beer, pressing his lips together as if he’d swallowed something sour. “I was with Aaron and Roberto while we drove to Roberto’s new secret lair. Roberto went on and on about how Aaron wasn’t careful enough and how stupid he was for falling for your game. He didn’t pay any attention to me, but maybe he said something to Aaron about me when they were alone. Roberto’s keeping a close eye on him, but I don’t know why Aaron didn’t just tell me the truth. It wasn’t like there wasn’t an opportunity for that.”

  “Wait, so Roberto thinks it was all my fault?”

  “Yeah. At least that’s what he said in front of me. He thinks your family kept your identity secret all those years so they could use you as a spy.”

  I snorted. “Wow. Does he also think my parents conceived me just to raise a perfect little spy so I could ruin him?” It didn’t surprise me Roberto would think such a thing, especially because he didn’t seem to care about anyone other than himself. Maybe he was annoyed for not having come up with that plan himself.

  “No idea,” Marco said. “But he seems to believe your family realized Aaron was looking for a pet, so you showed up pretending to be exactly what he wanted. Roberto noticed your family sent people to seduce Aaron, so he concluded they were just testing the waters and figuring out what he wanted so your plan wouldn’t fail.”

  “Huh.” I was okay with Roberto’s logic as long as that meant he didn’t know anything about Aaron’s betrayal. “But he doesn’t know anything about...” My voice was low enough so that no one could overhear me, although with all the noise, not even a device would have a clear recording despite being right next to us. I doubted the Viteris had had every bar in their area wired. They could get the camera footage, but listening devices were probably just in offices to ensure people in their area didn’t start dealing with my family or anyone else.

  “No. Roberto didn’t look tense or upset. If he knew the truth, he wouldn’t have been able to hide that. He just thinks Aaron’s an incompetent fool.”

  “Those are his words?”

  Marco nodded, curling his lip in disgust. “He’s the one who’s a fool, but...”

  “Okay, so everything’s fine. Why would Aaron want you away from him?” Marco was probably Aaron’s only true and loyal friend, and also the only person who could help him with his plan, so why the hell would he push him away? “Do you think his father wanted you away because Aaron got shot on your watch? How did he even explain being around my house? Or he didn’t have to?”

  Hurt flashed in Marco’s eyes and I bit my tongue. I shouldn’t have made it sound as if it had been Marco’s fault Aaron had gotten shot. There hadn’t been anything Marco could’ve done, but clearly he didn’t feel that way. “No, I don’t know. Maybe. I just don’t understand why Aaron wouldn’t tell me that.”

  “I saw him the other day,” I said, and Marco’s head jerked back.

  “When? Where?”

  “In the free zone... when he killed a guy. I stayed hidden and he didn’t see me, but there were a lot of guards around him. Who are they? Roberto’s men? Maybe Aaron can’t tell you anything because he’s being watched all the time. What if he knows his father placed a bug on him or something and can listen to his every word?”

  “No, it’s not that,” Marco said with certainty. “We mentioned things that Aaron wouldn’t want anyone to know, especially not his father, so it’s not that. The new guards are the men Roberto recommended, so yeah, he’s monitored all the time. His father doesn’t want him to make a mistake again.”

  “Did you insist on speaking with him then? Even if he can’t take you with him or shouldn’t be seen talking to you too much, you’re still his friend, and he has to have at least five minutes to explain things.”

  “He’ll tell me eventually, I guess.” Marco traced his finger over the top of the bottle. “He’s in his jerk phase. Acts like some...”

  “Ice prince?” I offered.

  “You could say that. I don’t blame him, though. The shit he has to listen to every day from his father...”

  I supposed Aaron had to shut off his emotions as much as possible if he wanted his plan to work. If I were in his place, I would’ve already snapped and told Roberto everything I hated about him. Except I hadn’t grown up with a father like Roberto, so I’d have probably gotten myself in trouble. Roberto was surrounded with men loyal to him, and Aaron... without Marco’s help, he was alone against his father. But if Aaron believed Marco was in danger and didn’t want to see him hurt... “Maybe he’s trying to protect you.”

  “I wish he’d just talk to me. He used to tell me everything and he trusted me at his back at all times. I don’t know what happened. If Roberto pitted him against me somehow...” Marco ran a hand through his ruffled hair. “My father doesn’t know anything either, and Roberto doesn’t keep him close anymore, so I don’t know... I guess it could be all Roberto’s fault.”

  Except, why would Aaron trust his father about anything? Why wouldn’t he confront Marco about it if Roberto had presented solid proof that Marco wasn’t to be trusted? None of that made any sense because Marco already knew too much and could ruin Aaron if he wanted to, so Aaron wouldn’t just let him leave, best friend or not. “I need to talk to him.”

  “You can’t. The guards are with him all the time and don’t let anyone near.”

  “But he needs me!” I gave Marco a pleading look. “You know he can’t do this all alone, even if he thinks he can. He refuses to let you in, so maybe I can find a way to get through to him and figure out what he’s planning. Can you ask him when you see him?” I was sure the two of them could find a way to talk about me without letting anyone figure out what they were really discussing. Aaron would understand. “Maybe I can help him, even if it’s just to give him strength to keep on fighting or hope that everything will be fine.”

  “I can try, but it might not be such a good idea.”

  “I know it’s dangerous, but I feel... I feel that I need to do something. I get it why he couldn’t come to meet me, but if I can manage to get to a public place disguised, his guards won’t notice a thing. They can’t stop him from having fun with some girl, right?”

  Marco was quiet for a moment. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thank you.” I placed my hand on his arm and squeezed lightly, offering him a small smile.

  “I want something in return, though,” Marco said, his eyes hard. “If you get to talk to him, please ask him why he won’t talk to me like a friend anymore. If I’ve done something, I’d like to know, even if he doesn’t want to tell me.”

  “Sure. Just get him to meet me somewhere we won’t be overheard easily.”

  Marco nodded. “Meet me here next week. Same time.”

  I winked at him and turned to leave. Hopefully Aaron would want to see me.

  Chapter 9

  Marco was at the bar just as he’d promised, but his face was serious. There were dark bags under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept. Before I could ask anything, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into a secluded corner.

  “He refused,” Marco said, and I gaped at him like a fish, unable to comprehend those two small words.

  “What?”

  “He doesn’t want to meet with you. In fact, he said you should get on with your life and forget about him.” Marco let go of me.

  I rolled my eyes. “So he wants to protect me too or what?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t want to explain anything. Just told me not to bother him anymore.” Marco’s jaw clenched. “I think Roberto got to him somehow.”

  “But how? If your life was in d
anger, Aaron would’ve sent you far away from here, not let you stay. And Roberto doesn’t know about me, so what is it then? You know Aaron and Roberto better than me. Is there anything Roberto could use to threaten Aaron with?”

  Marco didn’t say anything, his brow creased. Maybe there was something, but Marco wasn’t about to reveal any of Aaron’s secrets.

  “Nothing?” I insisted.

  “I don’t know.” Marco crossed his arms.

  “Fine. Then we’ll find out,” I said determinedly.

  “How?” He tilted his head at me.

  “Do you know a bar or a party Aaron’s planning to go to?” It didn’t matter that he didn’t want to see me. He’d change his mind once I was in front of him and he couldn’t run.

  “Why? What are you planning to do?” Marco’s brow wrinkled.

  “If I show up there, I can convince him to talk to me. That’s all I need. An opportunity to speak with him.” And let him know there was no need to protect me, and if he was in trouble with his father somehow and his father had threatened him, then I’d help him find a way to deal with that.

  “I don’t know if I should...”

  “Look, if you don’t tell me, I’ll just ask my brother to track Aaron down, and then I might pick the wrong bar or go somewhere I’m not supposed to. Please, just tell me. Aaron will never know it was you who told me.”

  Marco’s jaw was tense as he looked at me. “He’ll know it was me, but...” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Okay. I’ll tell you. There’s a party one of Roberto’s associates is throwing in the Viteris’ area. A nightclub called Star. I expect Aaron to go there.”

  “I know that nightclub. It’s one of the biggest in the city.” And since it was in the Viteris’ area, I’d never been there, but I’d heard stories about it at college.