Page 79 of Dirty Heirs

Chapter Thirty-Six

AIDEN

That morning, I woke up dreaming about Ella. Sometimes, I went months without thinking about her. Others I spent ruminating about the past and wishing there was something I could have done differently to change the outcome.

Now, she was here.

In Devil’s Creek.

As no time had passed, she looked the same but with more ink and curves. I loved the new shape of her body and that round ass I wanted to fuck. Her blonde hair was longer, midway down her back, and grimy. She’d spent the past two weeks in a shipping container, trapped like an animal in a cage.

How did she survive?

Why was she here?

And she was engaged.

Fuck.

I’d imagined reuniting with Ella hundreds of times, wondering what we would say and if we would still have the same connection from high school. My dreams disappeared the second she stated she had a fiancé.

Sonny went into attack mode and caged Ella against the couch. “You’re engaged to Jimmy Walsh, you lying little bitch? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I wish it was a joke.” She trembled beneath him, her top lip quivering when he curled his long fingers around her throat. “It’s not by choice. Please, Sonny. Just let me explain.”

I grabbed his wrist and yanked him off her. “Stop it. Let her speak before you accuse her of stealing from your uncle.”

“I didn’t do anything,” she stammered. “I promise. It’s not what you think.”

In the past year, I had become a member of The Devil’s Knights, almost died on Skull Island during initiation, and got myself kidnapped by an Italian Mafia boss along with my sister.

My life was not simple.

Never a dull moment.

Once Alex and I became Wellingtons, our lives changed for the better and worse. We had money and access to anything we could ever desire. But we had a constant target on our backs, always having to look over our shoulders.

“Drake was kidnapped on the same day she shows up instead of my uncle’s AK-47s. I don’t believe in coincidences.” Sonny glanced at me, his body relaxing as our eyes met. “Do you believe her?”

We still had a connection, one we tried to ignore. The instant spark between us would never go away. We were perfect for each other but incomplete without Ella.

I nodded. “Let her go.”

With his eyes on me, Sonny released his grip on Ella’s throat. He did whatever made me happy—anything for me to give him another chance.

Over the years, we rarely saw each other. He lived in Cambridge while attending Harvard University, and I was over an hour away in Providence at RISD. Our paths occasionally crossed, but it was nothing more than a few drunken kisses. The two of us didn’t work without Ella.

“Then start fucking talking,” Sonny snapped at Ella as he sat on the coffee table, legs spread.

Ella sat up, arms wrapped around her middle and shivering. Dressed in ripped jean shorts and a dirty white tank top with a black bra underneath, her tits practically fell out of the top. Her legs were long and thicker than I remembered but toned. Fuck, she looked incredible, even with grime on almost every inch of her beautiful body.

I missed her so much.

“My dad arranged our marriage,” Ella said, her gaze shifting between us nervously as if awaiting an adverse reaction.

She wouldn’t get one from me or Sonny. We both understood how marriages in our world worked. It was par for the course to have our families find us the perfect match. But in Ella’s case, her dad chose poorly.

“I don’t want to marry Jimmy,” she continued. “He’s abusive and horrible and…” Ella raised her leg onto the coffee table between us and pointed at several scars. “He did this to me with a knife because I wouldn’t have sex with him.”

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