“Drop the gun, Father!” Aaron yelled as he pointed his gun at Roberto, who stood there, frozen on the spot, the guards dead at his feet.
I had my gun trained on Roberto too, who let his gun slip to the ground with a thud. “Hands up!” He just glared at me.
“Do it!” Aaron said, and Roberto finally put his hands up.
“You don’t have to do this,” Roberto said, turning toward Aaron. “I was wrong. Maybe there’s still hope for you.” Shots rang out outside, and I hoped Marco and Michael were the ones firing them. “Point your gun at her. She’s the source of all of your troubles. You were doing just fine before you met her. Tell me, did you plan to take over my business before or after she came? If it’s your idea and not hers, then why don’t you simply get rid of her and then we can talk like reasonable men? You want a bigger part of the business? I can give it to you. But this...” He glanced at me. “This bitch needs to die.”
“I’m sorry, Father,” Aaron said, but his hand with the gun wasn’t steady. “After everything you’ve done to me and to others... I just... I can’t let you get away with that.”
“Son, think about this.” Roberto made a few steps forward, and my finger twitched, but I couldn’t pull the trigger just yet, no matter how much I wanted it.
Aaron took a shuddery breath. “No,” he said, gripping the gun tighter.
“If you shoot me, you’ll never find out who your mother is,” Roberto blurted out, and my jaw clenched. “She’s not dead.”
“You’re lying,” Aaron said.
“I’m not. You can see it for yourself. I know where you can find her, and I’m the only one who knows,” Roberto said.
“I don’t believe you. You probably knocked up one of the slave girls and you don’t even remember which one it was. The last thing you’d do is let her go.”
“A slave I would’ve killed even before she gave birth.” Roberto’s lips quirked up, because now he had our attention. Damn it. “No, Aaron. She was never a slave. You’re a product of the deal she and I made.”
“What?” Aaron’s grip on the gun wavered. “What are you talking about?”
“We made a deal that she’d give you to me after you were born and never ask about you. Her bloodline was the only one decent enough to mix with mine. All it took was a handsome sum of money. You were nothing more than a business transaction to her. That was why I never told you anything about her. Wouldn’t you want to see her face? Find out what her name is? There are no records of it anywhere. I made sure of it.”
A movement caught my eye, and I noticed Roberto had lowered his hands without us even noticing. He was reaching for something just under his suit jacket. Something black. Shit. I squeezed the trigger. Roberto’s body jerked back as his eyes went wide. I fired again. And again. And again. The gun Roberto had been reaching for clattered to the ground, and he dropped to his knees, staring at me, blood bubbling from his mouth. He fell face down on the floor, just as Marco and Michael ran inside.
“What took you so long?” I asked, breathing hard.
“More guards came out. There was another exit from the tunnel,” Michael said, his eyes on Roberto as if he couldn’t believe he was dead. I let my gun drop to the ground and turned toward Aaron, who was standing there, unmoving, his face pale.
“Aaron, hey.” I wrapped my arms around him, rubbing his back. “It’s okay.”
“He was distracting us, right?” he asked softly. “Anything he said... it wasn’t true. He was just trying to get to the gun.”
And he almost had. Damn it. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. With Roberto, it was hard to say, but it was very likely he’d been simply trying to save himself or at least to kill Aaron or me before one of us could shoot him.
“We need to spread the news,” Michael said, eyeing Aaron and me. “This changes everything.”
“Let’s go outside.” I took Aaron’s hand and led him out of there, away from Roberto’s body. Michael followed us. Aaron sat down on the grass, burying his head into his hands.
“You should call Dad,” I said to Michael. “Tell him that we’re all fine and that... Well, you know.”
“Is he...?” Michael nodded toward Aaron.
“We’ll talk about business later,” I said. Taking over Roberto’s men and his assets was probably the last thing on Aaron’s mind right now. “Did you make sure there aren’t more men in the tunnel?” We didn’t want any surprises now, or anyone jumping out at us and trying to get revenge on us for killing their boss.
“There shouldn’t be. We went inside through that other exit and didn’t see anyone, but I can seal the trapdoor so they can’t get out easily even if someone did manage to hide from us.”
“Marco,” I called.
“Yeah?” He came over to me.
“Make sure to spread the news to everyone that Roberto’s dead, including to bounty hunters. Maybe you know how to reach all of his associates that my family doesn’t know about.” We needed to make sure there would be no more war and fighting. I was sure those who were most loyal to Roberto and weren’t dead already would try to flee and wouldn’t accept Aaron as their leader. “Find out what Roberto’s men are planning to do now and if they’re going to support Aaron. Maybe someone knows something about Roberto’s half-brother. He’s probably the only Viteri who could challenge Aaron.”
Marco nodded. “I’ll see if I can find Roberto’s phone. His contacts should be in there.”
“You do that.” I turned to Aaron and settled down on the ground next to him, then just wound my arm around him. He lowered his head to my shoulder, and we just sat there. Roberto was finally gone, and the world seemed just a bit more beautiful.
Chapter 24
“You okay?” I asked as Aaron sighed. We’d just returned from Roberto’s funeral, and surprisingly enough, no one had tried to shoot us there. Roberto’s half-brother hadn’t shown up, but we’d heard rumors that he might be planning to come very soon. Even though most of Roberto’s men had decided to stay and see what would happen because working for Aaron was still their best option, some had simply refused to obey Aaron and had gone into hiding. We’d spread the evidence of what Roberto had done, but to some his actions seemed justified since they saw Aaron being with me as an act of betrayal to the Viteri name. They weren’t fond of me either.
“Yeah.” He rubbed his face and took a seat on the bed. We’d found a safe place just for him, Marco, and me. It was a small one-story house close to one of my family’s tunnels so we could easily escape or reach my family if we needed to.
I settled on the bed against the soft light blue pillows. Our whole room was in blue tones, from pale blue walls to dark blue carpet and dark blue furniture. “Come here.”
Aaron climbed on the bed and placed his head on my lap. I gently ran my fingers through his hair.
“You know, it’s okay to mourn him. He was still your father. A terrible one, but...” I said.
“I don’t know how I feel. I should be glad it’s all finally over, but... I just wish things had gone differently,” he said, turning so he could look at me, his blue eyes churning with emotion. “Not in the end, but... before.”
“Do you want to share any good memories of him?” I only knew Roberto as a monster, but I was sure there had to be at least one good moment he and Aaron had shared.
“I...”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to. I was just thinking you might like to talk about it. That’s all.” I traced my fingers up and down his arm.
“When I was six... my father got me my first gun.” A smile tugged on Aaron’s lips. “I was so happy, because I kept seeing guns all over the house, but I was never allowed to touch them. Then he took me for my first shooting lesson. He had Marco’s father line up some bottles, and for my first two shots, he crouched next to me and held my hand, so we pulled the trigger together. I remember my excitement when he finally said I could try on my own. I don’t know how I did it, but I hit a bottle on the first try. He
was so proud of me he lifted me in his arms, twirled me around, and kissed my cheek. He said I had a natural talent.”
“That’s nice,” I said. “It took me a billion times to hit the target when my family was trying to teach me how to do it. Jason thought they should give up trying and even told me that if I wanted to hit the target, I should just aim for something else. I figured it out eventually, though.”
“What are we going to do now?” Aaron’s eyes bored into mine. “I don’t know what will happen. My father never told me if we had any other family somewhere. The only Viteri who might want to take over would be my father’s half-brother, Sebastian. I don’t want more people to die for nothing.”
“Do you know where Sebastian is?” I asked.
“No. He left after he had a disagreement with my father. I don’t know if my father ever spoke to him after that.”
“Wait, did Sebastian use to live with you?” If he had left not that long ago, he might still have supporters here.
“Yeah, but he left some twelve years ago.”
“What was their disagreement about?” It had to be something serious if Sebastian was willing to cut all contact with Roberto.
“Sebastian prefers men, and my father just couldn’t accept that,” Aaron said. “Sebastian didn’t care about my father’s protests, but then my father had one of Sebastian’s lovers killed, and that was something Sebastian couldn’t forgive.”
I had a feeling Roberto had been bothered by other people’s happiness and had tried everything to crush it. “Do you think Sebastian might be interested in returning?”
“I don’t know. If he’s as ambitious as my father, maybe he created his own small empire somewhere. Marco’s trying to figure that out. Sebastian is only ten years older than me, so he still has plenty of time to plan how to take over if that’s what he wants.”
“Your grandfather was killed soon after Sebastian was born, right? Who is his mother and where is she?” He might’ve gone to her if she was still alive.
“I don’t know,” Aaron said. “I think she was some random woman my grandfather slept with. I heard he just brought baby Sebastian one day and said he was his son.”
“Your father must’ve been shocked.” I couldn’t imagine Roberto being happy about having competition for the leadership once his father died.
“He probably was, but my grandfather made sure my father was the only heir. There were some other details in my grandfather’s will that ensured my father and Sebastian wouldn’t act against each other, and I think my father eventually grew to like Sebastian. At least until he found out who his brother bedded.”
“Does that also mean only you can inherit everything? Or can Sebastian still challenge you?”
“I don’t know. Depends on what my father wrote in his will. I haven’t had time to deal with that yet.”
“If there isn’t a clause stopping your uncle from inheriting everything, then he could come after you.” I pressed my lips together. Great. We really needed more assassins coming for us.
“It’s so weird when you call him my uncle.” Aaron’s brow furrowed. “I never really called him that. He seemed way too young for that. But yeah, we’ll have to be ready for everything. Will you stay with your family for a while? It might be safer until all of this is over.”
“Nuh uh,” I said. “I’m not parting with you again, but I’ll have to go talk to my family. Just because the war’s over doesn’t mean there still aren’t tensions, and there’s even fear you’ll take over the Ferraras through me.”
“Wow. People got our world domination plan all figured out before we did.” Aaron took hold of my hand and squeezed my fingers. “Maybe we should just leave all this behind.”
“I’d like that, but we can’t. Not yet.”
“That plan people think we have... it might not be a bad idea. We could merge the Ferraras and Viteris, and you and I could leave. I’m sure your family wouldn’t mind.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah, but somehow I don’t think that would work out, unless we want a war among ourselves, which could destroy everything we fought to stop.”
“You’re right.” Aaron chewed on his bottom lip. “It’ll take some time to calm down the tensions. We could sign a peace treaty. At least take things to where they were before; to us tolerating each other and not getting into conflicts.”
“Yeah, just make sure your men know you’ll do what’s best for them, and convince them they should be glad my family hasn’t wiped them out. Well, don’t say it like that, but make sure they come to that conclusion. We don’t want anyone to think you’re acting under my family’s orders or doing something that could get them to rebel against your leadership.”
“I’ll try.”
I intertwined my fingers with his. “Good.”
“But they may be right. It looks like I am acting under your orders,” he teased.
“It was a suggestion.” I grinned.
“A suggestion?” His eyebrows shot up. “Make sure. Don’t say. Sounds quite imperative to me, don’t you think?”
I shook my head at him and tapped his nose with my finger. “I bet you’ve already come to the same conclusion and agree with me.”
He just flashed me a smile. A knock sounded at the door. “Come in,” Aaron said. Marco strode in, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw us.
“I can come another time if you...” he started to say.
“No, it’s fine.” Aaron turned his head to look at him. “What is it?”
“I found something strange on one of your father’s private phones,” Marco said.
Aaron pushed himself up. “Define strange.”
“The messages have all been deleted and I don’t know if anyone can restore them. I’ll see if I can find someone. But there have been multiple calls made to a specific number.”
“Did you check whose number it is?” Aaron ran a hand through his messy hair, trying to tame it.
“Yeah. It belongs to Sebastian Viteri.” Marco’s face was grave.
“You’re saying my father contacted Sebastian?” Aaron asked incredulously. “When was that?”
“I don’t know if all the records are there, but it seems their contact started a little before your father sent assassins after Octavia and continued up to the last day your father was alive.”
Aaron swore.
“Do you think that’s a coincidence?” I asked. “Was Roberto the first one to reach out or was it Sebastian?”
“Sebastian seems to have called first,” Marco said. “I don’t know what that means, but it’s possible Roberto planned to enlist Sebastian’s help for the war. Maybe they ironed out their differences. Sebastian must have heard Roberto was looking for allies, so he used the opportunity.”
“Which means Sebastian could be planning his next move so he can take over.” I groaned. “It feels like this will never end. There’ll always be someone who’ll want to take over, or attack, or I don’t know.”
“If Aaron can get the support of everyone who works for the Viteris, it won’t matter. He’ll be strong enough to fight off any attackers and no one will dare to make a move against him,” Marco said.
“I’ll need to convince everyone my father was crazy and that I’m a suitable leader,” Aaron said, his shoulders drooping. “Maybe I should say that I sought the help of the Ferraras before my father could destroy everything. Who knows what my father told them about Octavia and me? We found out some things, but I’m sure that’s not all of it.”
“You’ll figure something out,” Marco said. “I’ll go see if I can pin down Sebastian’s location based on those calls.”
“Do it and let me know immediately. We need to find out if he’s nearby,” Aaron said. Marco headed for the door. If Sebastian had contacted Roberto, that meant he’d had something Roberto had needed.
“This doesn’t have to mean Sebastian has forces that were supposed to join Roberto’s war,” I said, although if he had them, then it was very likely
we’d end up in another war. The only question was who’d allow him to pass through their territory. If Roberto had made a deal with someone and convinced them that Sebastian was a Viteri and not some foreigner, then we had a huge problem if Sebastian decided to proceed with the plan for his own gain.
“No, but what else could’ve Sebastian offered to my father? To replace me?”
“Your father didn’t plan on dying anytime soon. I don’t think he could’ve promised him that.” I caught Aaron’s arm and pulled him into a hug.
“Maybe he did. I don’t know.”
“Even if he did, that changes nothing. You have to convince everyone your father went insane and couldn’t have made the right decisions. Surely everyone would prefer to have you as their leader. At least they know you.” Well, not everyone, but I wanted to encourage Aaron not to give up on this.
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.” I placed a soft kiss on his forehead.
Chapter 25
“Did you miss me?” I asked as I leaned against the door of the living room in my family’s house. My mom and dad immediately looked up at me with smiles on their faces, but my mom’s smile seemed strained somehow and her shoulders tense. Dylan and Michael were with them too and barely looked up from a video game there were playing, their headphones on.
“Of course we missed you, honey,” my mom said. “You should be staying here with us. Your boyfriend can come too.”
My dad looked at her. “I don’t think that would be a good idea, but you can always come to us while he’s gone. He will be spending a lot of time trying to fix everything.”
“I know.” I made my way across the room and took a seat on the couch behind my brothers, who were sitting on the floor and didn’t even seem to care. At least they were playing a racing game, not a shooting one. We’d had way too much shooting lately, so I was glad they could find something to unwind. “Where are Tony and Jason?”
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