“Did he ever ask you about the warehouse my brothers and I talked about that day they came over? After the wedding. You were in the kitchen, so I know you could’ve heard us talking.”
I blink, shaking my head. “What are you talking about?”
“Did your father tell you to spy on us? Did he ask you to find out what we were planning and report back to him?”
“No.” I run a hand through my hair, tugging at the light strands as I gaze at Aiden with confusion. “Why would you think that? I know you’ve never liked him, but—”
“Why do I think it?” Aiden laughs harshly, his features contorting with anger. “I think it because your father has gone after my family before. Because hekilledmy father. Ambushed him like a fucking coward and burned his body afterward, trying to cover his tracks. Because he’s a liar and manipulator. That’s why.”
My jaw drops open, all the breath seeming to leave my lungs in a rush. I feel like I’ve been punched in the chest, as if the words Aiden just said have slammed into me like a physical force.
What the fuck is he talking about?
“No.” I shake my head again, letting out a breathless, disbelieving laugh. “No, that’s not true. He would never—”
“Of course it’s fucking true,” Aiden growls, his harsh voice rising over mine. “Goddammit. I shouldn’t have kept it from you. Shouldn’t have tried to spare you from learning what kind of man your father really is. He’s a fucking snake. He’s probably been trying to play you against me this whole time. Taking advantage of the fact that I’ve fallen in love with you. Using you like a goddamn pawn.”
Something about his words pierces my heart like a knife, and I stumble back a step, my throat going tight.
“I’m no one’s pawn,” I say, my voice shaking. “I’m my own person. And you’re wrong about my father.”
Aiden scoffs, anger turning his eyes ice cold. “You’re a fool if you think that.”
“I was a fool for thinking a lot of things,” I shoot back, clenching my hands.
My pulse is racing, my stomach twisting over and over around itself as if I swallowed live snakes. Something hot and acidic is burning up the back of my throat, and I feel like the walls are closing in around us.
I can’t be here.
I can’t be here right now, staring up into Aiden’s angry, cool eyes. I can’t breathe. I can’t think.
Get out. Get out, Rose.
A little voice in my head repeats those words over and over, rising above the cacophony of disordered, half-formed thoughts that bounce around my brain.
“Rose.”
Aiden’s voice still has that hard edge to it, and he takes a step toward me, but this time, I’m the one who holds up a hand.
“Fuck you,” I whisper. “You don’t know my father. And if you really think I would betray you after everything, then you don’t knowme.”
My voice breaks on the last word, and I duck around Aiden, walking blindly toward the door as I grab the keys to the car he gave me before our wedding. The same car I took to visit Willow all those weeks ago. It’s waiting outside, and I stride toward it quickly, not even bothering to see if Aiden is following me.
I don’t know if he’ll try to stop me, or what I’ll do if he does, but when he doesn’t emerge from the house, I climb into the car and start the engine, gunning it harder than I mean to as my churning emotions get the better of me.
Taking the car out of neutral, I back out of the garage and peel away from the house. My heart is pounding so hard in my chest that it physically aches, and I rub at my sternum with one hand, yanking the wheel to turn a corner with the other.
I try to stay focused, but there are tears in my eyes. I don’t want to break down now, but it feels like my whole world has been flipped upside down again.
Dragging in a shuddering breath, I turn again, heading down a larger street that leads away from Aiden’s neighborhood.
I have no destination in mind. All I know is that I needed to get away from Aiden’s accusatory stare, from the words he was saying that rocked me to my core.
Where am I going to go?
I don’t want to go to my dad. Even if Aiden’s clearly not thinking straight, he thinks my father killed his father before whatever happened tonight. It’s an old wound.
And what if… what if it’s true?
