Page 75 of Vito

Fuck caution. Eden needs me.

I have no idea why, but I know that she needs me. If someone is in there hurting her, I'll kill whoever it is on the spot.

I type in the code, pull my gun out of its holster from under my jacket, and slowly open the door. The office is quiet. I quickly scan around, but no one except for Eden is there. She sits behind her desk.

The mask she uses to keep everyone at a distance is gone. In private this past month, she let it fall and let me see behind her armor. Right now, she looks… shattered.

Her face is ghostly pale and tear-streaked. Her hands shake.

"Eden," I exhale, holstering my gun and pocketing my phone.

"Vito." There's so much pain in that one word that my chest feels like a hole is being drilled in it.

I go to her, sinking to my knees and cupping her face. "Tell me what's wrong."

Her hazel eyes are drowning in pain. Her hands shake more as she places hers over mine on her face. "I found…" She squeezes her eyes shut and bites her trembling lip.

"What did you find, baby?"

She opens her eyes and points at a small tablet on her desk.

I then notice a small section that's open in the intricate, interconnecting wooden pieces that Aiken had fashioned into an inlaid panel behind the desk. The opening would fit the tablet.

Dread coils in my chest.

I'm fairly certain I know what's on that tablet. A recording from a hidden camera that had captured Aiken being murdered.

Her broken gaze meets mine, and I know I'm right.

I stand and lift her from the chair in one movement. Turning, I sit, holding her on my lap. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, and you watched that alone."

Her body shakes as she chokes back a sob, and I hold her tightly.

If we had a normal relationship, she could have called me when she found this. She wouldn't have had to be alone. She wouldn't have had to watch the recording if she didn't want to—I would've done it for her and saved her that additional pain.

She sniffs, curled tightly into me. "Will you watch it? I can't… I can't watch it again. Not right now. But I need someone else's viewpoint."

She's so fucking strong.

I kiss the crown of her head. "Whatever you need."

I sit her gently back in the chair, take the tablet, and go to the sofa, wanting to give her some mental distance from what I'd be watching.

I rewind the recording to Aiken coming out of the cooler behind the bar. He looks ready to head home.

His head suddenly snaps over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen. Then, three people come in, all in black fatigues, balaclavas, and gloves. Aiken demands to know what they're doing, but they're silent as they attack him as a unit.

He's a good fighter, but there are three of them, and they're armed with knives. And they're trained and used to workingtogether based on how they constantly corral him while slashing and stabbing him.

None of the knife wounds are fatal in themselves; they're meant to overpower, drag this out. Weaken him, make him bend to their will.

They want something from him. I suspect this when I watch the biggest one periodically speak into Aiken's ear. Each time, though, Aiken tells him to get fucked; except near the end, he just spits, or tries to spit, at him.

Whatever they want from Aiken, he's not breaking and giving it to them. This enrages them, and the knife wounds turn deeper and more fatal. The largest attacker hoists Aiken up and says something into his ear.

Aiken just smiles a bloody smile. "Go… Fuck… Yourself."

A bellow of rage is the only noise that one of the three-member team makes, and he smashes Aiken's head continuously into the wall, a little harder each time.

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