Page 32 of Twisted Obsession

“Nothing, I swear.” I hold my hands up in a placating gesture, but I’m not sure he believes me.

I guess that makes the feeling mutual.

We’re at an impasse. Both of us eyeing each other with equal measures of trust and suspicion.

The shouting in the corridor grows louder and I can make out panicked voices and hurried footsteps. Kaiden and I exchange another tense glance before he moves to crack open the door, peering out into the hallway.

"It's chaos out there," he mutters, his expression carefully blank. "Everyone's running towards Vito's suite."

“I guess we should go and investigate then,” I tell him, pulling the door open and taking off at a run, leaving him to follow, glad we won’t be arriving at the same time.

I have my handgun at the ready, because that’s what would be expected in this situation, but as I jog down the hallway, someone calls me out.

“Dominic, stand down.”

The order is loud and succinct, and I immediately stow my weapon and walk towards Ares, Mika’s right-hand man and the guy widely expected to become his consigliere when he takes over.

“Hey…”

Before I can get anything else out, Kaiden comes barreling around the corner and Ares repeats the order.

“What the hell is going on?” Kaiden demands, clearly out of patience. He goes to barge past Ares, but the big man holds him back.

“I’m sorry, you can’t go in there.”

“Jesus!” Kaiden fists both hands into his hair and bows his head. “Vito’s fucking killed her, hasn’t he?” he declares, turning around and punching the wall behind him.

“Kaiden…” I touch my hand to his shoulder, but he shrugs me off and swings back to Ares.

“No. It’s not that,” Ares tells him, glancing between the two of us, but thankfully without any whiff of suspicion.

“So, she’s okay?” Kaiden asks, his tone ripe with disbelief.

Ares palms his bald head and grimaces. “I wouldn’t say that, exactly, but she’s still alive…”

He pauses while Kaiden takes that in, then drops his bomb. “But Vito isn’t.”

“Vito isn’t?” Kaiden asks dumbly, and I’m glad he’s none the wiser, that I have his honest response to hide behind.

I lay a hand on his shoulder and squeeze, playing like Vito was the father figure to Kaiden he was supposed to be. “I think what Ares is trying to say is Vito is dead,” I say quietly.

Kaiden's eyes widen in shock, his mouth falling open. "Dead? How... what happened?"

His shock is so real, he doesn’t even turn a suspicious eye my way, although I’m not stupid enough to believe he won’t call me on it when things have sunk in and he’s thinking more clearly.

Ares shakes his head grimly. "We're still piecing it together. Maricela's in bad shape, unconscious. The medics are working on stabilizing her now."

I keep my face carefully neutral, not wanting to reveal that I'd already seen the gruesome scene. "Any ideas on what went down?" I ask, trying to sound appropriately concerned yet curious.

"Too early to say for certain," Ares replies. "But it looks like things got out of hand between them. Maricela may have fought back in self-defense."

Kaiden runs a hand through his hair, looking distressed. "Jesus Christ. I knew he was rough with her, but I never thought..."

"None of us did," I lie smoothly, patting his shoulder. "This is going to cause a shitstorm."

Ares nods gravely. "That's putting it mildly. Mika's on his way here to deal with the fallout. In the meantime, we need to keep this contained until we know for certain what happened here. I don’t want unfounded rumors swirling around. This is going to have enough of an impact without that.”

Moments later, Mika arrives and he’s not alone. My uncle, Mika’s father, Don Salvatore himself, is with him. I shouldn’t be surprised. Vito was his brother, after all.

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