When he plunged his tongue inside me and slid it over my clit, my mouth opened, but I couldn’t make any other sound except groan in pleasure. One more lick, and I was going to spontaneously combust.
“Aaron, stop.” I barely formed the words, and he lifted his head. “I want your cock inside me. You’re not running away from me this time.” Pushing myself up, I crawled behind him. After I untied his hand, I grabbed a condom from a drawer. Aaron’s pants were already unzipped, and I helped him get them off, along with his boxers. His thick length sprang free and I gently wrapped my fingers around it as I rolled the condom on. My mouth found his again, and I kissed him with everything I had, my lips fitting perfectly against his. Lying down on the bed, I pulled Aaron on top of me and guided his cock inside me. His first thrust was slow and careful, as if he was afraid he would hurt me.
“Faster,” I said, giving him a playful smack on the ass, and wrapped my legs around him, drawing him to me. He plunged into me, fast and hard, filling me completely, and I clutched at him, my nails digging into the tender skin of his back and leaving marks. A groan rumbled deep in his throat as I clenched around him, our bodies almost melting together and becoming one. Aaron held onto my hips, clutching my thighs and lifting my legs so he could dive as deep as possible inside me. Another one of Aaron’s powerful thrusts sent a ripple of electricity through every inch of my body, and I couldn’t take it any longer.
“Say my name,” I whispered.
“Octavia.” The word sounded like honey on his lips. My body seemed to break into thousands of little pieces and pull itself back together, creating a quake of ecstasy. I cried out, and a moment later, I felt him spasm inside me.
It took me a while to catch my breath, and a prickly sensation still danced all over my skin, but as Aaron pulled out, I caught him off guard and pushed him down on the bed, straddling him. His face was so beautiful as I gazed down at him, his eyes free of the shadows and demons that usually lurked behind. So peaceful.
“Octavia,” he breathed, raising his hand to touch my cheek, but I caught his wrists and pinned them down at the sides of his head. I lowered my head and gave him a long and gentle kiss. Then my gaze fell on the red marks on his wrists. I must have tied that belt tighter than I’d meant to. As I rubbed circles across the tender skin, a thick horizontal scar on his left wrist caught my attention.
“What happened?” I traced my finger across its rough surface. Aaron’s face turned ghostly pale. He ripped his arm out of my grasp, pushing me off him, and rolled over from under me.
“It’s nothing.” He got up so fast he nearly tripped, and started collecting his clothes.
“Don’t lie to me. It’s clearly something,” I said, sitting up. “Sorry if I brought up something I shouldn’t have. I won’t ask again. Promise. Just come back here.”
“I can’t.” His eyes were filled with anguish, but then the usual impassivity took over, and he patted his pocket for the flash drive.
“Why not? You can check that later. Just come here for a minute or two.”
“No.” The tone of his voice made it clear he wouldn’t be changing his mind. “I have work to do.”
“Right.” I got to my feet. “Then you take care of that and I’m going to take a shower.” Without another word, I turned on my heel and padded to the bathroom. What was it about that scar that had affected him so much? Had it reminded him that we were enemies and shouldn’t be having sex or liking each other? Possibly. God! I closed the door and banged my head lightly against it. Aaron’s scent was still all over me, and a part of me didn’t want to wash it off. Maybe Aaron had been quicker to realize this was all a mistake. A huge mistake. And no, I wasn’t ready to admit that I was falling for a Viteri.
Chapter 17
Every single file on Roberto’s computer was encrypted, which meant it had taken Aaron days to decrypt the files on the flash drive with some help from Marco and his friends. Aaron had to do the whole thing on his own, though, because he couldn’t afford anyone suspecting what he’d done. I was a bit surprised Aaron hadn’t killed me already—not that I was complaining—but he seemed to be doing everything to avoid talking to me or even being around me, even though that was hard with me being in his room all the time.
As I sat on the bed next to him, he didn’t lift his eyes from the laptop as he was furiously scrolling through some files. Checking out the files had become his main obsession, a very good distraction, and an excuse to stay away from me. Of course, all of that made me wonder even more about the scar on his wrist, which might be a constant reminder of an injury that probably could’ve killed him. I doubted I’d ever get to find out.
“Got anything?” I asked, unable to sit there in silence for a moment longer.
Aaron raked his hand through his hair. “A little, but there isn’t anything about the person or company that produces that damn drug.”
“Okay, so your father doesn’t want anyone to know who created the drug,” I said, wishing he would just peel his eyes off the screen and look at me for once. “What about anything else? Who’s going to deliver or distribute it? Your father’s usual sellers? The product will have to be stored somewhere, and if you know the locations of his stash houses...”
This time Aaron glanced at me, his lips pressed into a straight line. Eye contact. Progress. “It’s not that simple. I can’t just visit every single one, and there isn’t any info that indicates which one it could be.”
“What about your missing shipment? Can’t you just accuse some of your father’s men of stealing some of your product and selling it on their own? Then you could go check out the stash houses for any suspicious activity. You could insist on doing it personally because you can’t trust anyone else.” My brothers always went in person to check if anything was amiss. They thought that would show that they weren’t afraid of anyone and had their eyes on everything all the time.
Aaron snorted. “Yeah, as if my father would trust me with that.”
“Can I take a look?” I shuffled closer to him, and his body went rigid, but he didn’t move away. What the hell was wrong with him? I decided to ignore his reaction and leaned toward the laptop screen.
“Yeah, but all of this looks useless.” He clicked through a few files that looked like long lists of names, except I recognized one name and it belonged to a famous actress.
“That’s because he wrote it in code.” I rolled my eyes. When I was younger, I would come to visit my father and brothers and I’d find weird sticky notes with scrambled words all over the house. It had taken me a few months to figure out those were secret messages my brothers left for one another. They had taught me a few code words so I could contact them safely if I was in danger, but I never really cracked their code, and when I insisted they tell me, they’d make up stuff and laugh about it.
“But why? All the business transactions and the data about his accounts that would be far more dangerous in the hands of just about anyone are clearly visible, and this... it could be just about people he met or something. I don’t know.” Aaron stared at the screen and bit down on his finger, his brow creased. He was so damn adorable when he did that.
“Did you check the numbers of the accounts? What if they’re all fake?” It seemed that Roberto didn’t think encryption was enough protection, so if someone cracked it... and yeah, it was easy to do that if Aaron had managed it with a few programs and instructions from a friend, so it was to be expected that Roberto had another safeguard. Even if someone found this, it would take them ages to figure this out... if they wouldn’t give up too soon and conclude the whole drive was a joke.
“No, I didn’t bother. They looked real.”
“Then check them!”
He pulled out his phone and typed something as I stared intently at the names that were still in the corner of the screen. There had to be some kind of a clue or connection to them, but I couldn’t figure it out just yet.
“Shit. You were right.” He turned to me with wide eyes. �
��I checked the accounts to which I have access, and those definitely aren’t the real numbers.”
“Of course they’re not. Can you show me the real ones? We should be able to figure out if there’s a pattern.” I doubted his father spent hours using a decryption program. There had to be a way for him to be able to read everything with ease. Besides, if his computer was seized, he wouldn’t want anyone to find that program or a device too. The traces of its use would be present on this drive anyway, since it was a complete copy, but Aaron hadn’t found anything except for the regular encryption that he had already cracked to get to these files.
“It looks random.” He handed me the phone, and I compared the numbers, but I couldn’t see any obvious pattern.
“I’m afraid it’s going to take us a while to crack this. You should call Marco to help us.” My brothers would’ve figured this out. I was sure of it. If I ever got to see them again, I was going to yell at them for not teaching me enough about this kind of stuff.
“Yeah, but we don’t have much time. It’s a miracle my father hasn’t already made his move.” He held out his hand and I returned the phone to him, our fingers brushing briefly.
“Maybe the drug isn’t ready yet.”
“Maybe,” he said but didn’t look convinced in the least.
***
Marco, Aaron, and I were sitting on the plush carpet in Aaron’s room, and we were surrounded by papers and books. Under the pretext that he’d intercepted a note from the Viteris’ enemy, Marco had brought a few books his friends had recommended for decrypting coded messages. We knew the code had to be simple because firstly, Aaron’s father wasn’t that smart, and secondly, he didn’t have time to compare the data to something else or carry a decryption device around. It had to be something we weren’t quite seeing yet that was probably right under our noses.
“It’s not that.” Aaron tossed another book aside and pushed away the laptop with a sigh. “What else can we...?”
A knock on the door startled all of us, and I dropped the paper I’d been holding.
“Fuck!” Aaron quickly collected the papers and pressed a button on the laptop. “Lie down on his lap,” he told me, nodding toward Marco.
“What?” I gaped at him.
“Just do it.” Aaron jumped to his feet, and Marco pulled me into his arms as Aaron opened the door.
“I have a task for y...” Roberto entered the room and stopped, his eyebrows arching. “Marco, I didn’t know you were here.” He turned to Aaron. “Are you sharing your pet with your bodyguard now?” His voice was filled with disapproval.
“I’m getting tired of her,” Aaron simply said, his face giving nothing away. “Why are you here, Father?”
“I can go if...” Marco started to say, but Roberto raised his finger to shush him.
“There’s no need. In fact, I assume you’ll go with Aaron. He’ll need you at his side.”
“What is it?” Aaron asked.
“Raymond and Carl are late with their payments, and it isn’t their first time. I want you to pay them a visit and make sure they know we’re doing serious business and won’t tolerate this,” Roberto said.
“Me?” Aaron took a step forward, his nostrils flaring. “Raymond and Carl are just some lowlife scum. Send your men to deal with them! They don’t even deserve our attention.”
“Sometimes even the lowlife scum forget their place. It’s time to remind them, and who’s better at that than you, my son? Or are you not up to the task?” Roberto said dispassionately, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he saw the computer screen. Aaron had put on a game to hide what we’d been really doing.
There was a tic in Aaron’s jaw and I thought he would argue some more, but then he clenched and unclenched his fists and gave his father a perfectly calm look. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
“Good. I don’t care what you do with them, just bring me my money.” With a small smile, Roberto headed toward the door. “Oh, there’s one more thing...” His eyes went from Aaron to Marco. “The Ferraras are out there looking for some girl. We don’t know yet who, but if you hear something, let me know. She seems pretty important to them since they promised to raise hell to find her.” He strolled out of the room. Once the door was closed, Aaron punched it. My family was done waiting for me to come back and they were no longer quietly looking for me, and if they revealed what I looked like or who I was... I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath as I pushed myself up. Marco immediately went to Aaron, whispering something in his ear, but Aaron’s face was red with anger.
“He knows. He has to!” Aaron yelled. “Why would he send me away to deal with those insignificant assholes? They’re always late with their payment and he doesn’t give a fuck! He just doesn’t want me anywhere near his new drug and his plans. And...” His gaze fell on me, and he licked his lips. “...if he knows who she is...”
“Come on, man,” Marco said. “You always knew her family would start looking for her. It was just a matter of time. I can check with my father to see what they know about her.”
If the news was out that my family was looking for a girl, then that meant they weren’t any closer to finding me and were considering I was either dead or being tortured somewhere. They knew full well from whose apartment I’d gone missing, but they hadn’t yet contacted the Viteris to negotiate because I supposed they were still holding onto the hope that I was alive and that Aaron hadn’t realized who I was.
After all, no one was supposed to know my father had a daughter. The only problem was that they were getting desperate and were willing to take greater risks. I was certain Katya hadn’t seen me or at least couldn’t even remember seeing me, and if my family suspected I was being treated like her and other girls, they’d just attack as soon as they figured out where the Viteris held me.
“Let me leave,” I said, and Aaron blinked at me. “You promised you’d let me go after I got the files for you, and there they are.” I pointed at the laptop. “Let me go and your father won’t find out anything. Do you really think he’d simply send you on a trip if he believed you were working against him?”
“I can’t let you go,” he said quietly, his voice filled with regret, or maybe I was just imagining it. “You’d tell your family everything and be living proof to my father of what I did and still plan to... No, I can’t let you go now. Not yet. Not until my plan is complete and I have my hands on that drug. I told you you’d help me take over my father’s business and that’s not done yet.”
“Right.” I crossed my arms and twisted my lips into a grimace, although I would’ve done the same if I were in his position. It had been worth a try, though. “Then you’re looking at this whole thing entirely wrong. Can’t you see the opportunity here?”
“What are you talking about?” His eyebrows squished together.
“Your father wants you to leave so you’re not around him, but that also means he won’t be able to monitor you. Out there, we’re free and we can go check whatever the hell we want.” And maybe I could find an opportunity to slip away. “But there’s one thing you need to let me do first. I need to send a message to my family.”
Aaron shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”
I tilted my head. “Really? So you’re just going to let my family tell your father who I am?”
“They’re not going to do that. That would put your life in danger.”
“Not if they think you already know who I am.” I gave him a pointed look. “I’ve been gone for too long. They won’t just keep quiet and wait.”
Aaron worried his lip between his teeth. “Fine,” he finally said. “One message. And I’m going to check it before I send it, so don’t try anything funny.”
“Okay.” I knew exactly what I was going to say, and Aaron would never figure out the full meaning.
“Holy shit,” Marco suddenly said, and Aaron and I looked at him. For a moment, I thought he was actually playing that game Aaron had left on the screen, but that wasn’t
what Marco was grinning about. “I’ve cracked the code,” he said proudly. “Your father’s name is the key,” he said to Aaron.
“Wow,” I said. It didn’t surprise me the self-centered bastard would select his own name as the key.
“What you’ve got?” Aaron crouched next to Marco.
“The names of the guys who will deliver the new drug,” Marco said proudly. Hmm, it seemed like my message to my family would be a bit longer.
Chapter 18
“You’re staying in the car,” Aaron announced as we pulled over on a dark road in the middle of nowhere. A little house with well-lit windows was not far from us, and I supposed that was where Raymond and Carl were. Marco pulled out a pair of cuffs from a big duffle bag and I raised my hands up.
“Whoa, you can’t just tie me up in here and leave,” I said.
“We can’t take you with us and we don’t want you to get any ideas of escaping,” Aaron said as he tucked yet another gun inside his jacket. That jacket had to have at least six pockets, unless he was a magician.
“Where am I going to go?” I scowled. “We’re in deep, dark woods. If I walk out of here, I have more chance of running into a bear than finding help.”
“I don’t know what you really wrote in that message you sent to your family. I don’t trust you,” Aaron said.
“Really? I told you I couldn’t just send a clear message because my family would think it wasn’t me who wrote it, and I told you what it means, but if you don’t believe me... there’s nothing I can do about that.” I crossed my arms. “I could’ve escaped already if I’d wanted to.”
“Sure.” Marco snorted, the cuffs still in his hands.
“It’s fine.” Aaron waved his hand. “She’s right. There’s nowhere for her to go. And we’ll find her before she can contact anyone.”
“Are you kidding me?” Marco gaped at him.
“What? We could use some fun. We haven’t had a nice chase for months.” He shrugged.
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