Page 77 of Vito

She nods, her eyes downcast. "Aiken… He called you on purpose."

We know this already, but the video made that more evident.

"He said, protect… tell…" I say, watching Eden. I wasn't sure if she had caught Aiken's mouthed words at the end—his lasttwo wordsever—but I don't bring it up now, because she feels… fragile.

This beautiful, strong woman feels like she'll shatter into a million pieces.

"He wanted us to come together," she whispers.

Maybe not like how Eden and I have come together, but Aiken definitely wanted me to play a role with Ed. He would've known that his successor's email to Eden would be triggered and that she'd likely heed his final request. He wanted me to protect her.

For what still remains to be seen.

But, honestly, it doesn't matter because this woman has my protection until my last breath.

I rise off the sofa and go to kneel in front of her again. "Are you okay?"

She cups my face and leans her forehead against mine. "Tonight is our last night."

"I think we both know it's not." I wrap my hand around her nape to hold her closer. "Two months will do it. Then we'll have each other out of our systems."

She half-laughs, half-cries. "Vito… What are we going to do?"

I have no fucking idea.

"We'll figure it out," I promise, even though I have no idea how. I need to distract us from that. "How did you find the tablet?"

"Gus commented tonight that Aiken had started working on his woodworking again before he died." She looks at the wall art-reno Aiken had inlaid. "When I came in here… I missed him." Her voice cracks. "All the years we lost because I couldn't face my demons."

Eden still refuses to talk about her parents, her dead sister Fenton, and why she had run away from home at fifteen. It burns me that she refuses to share that with me, but I haven't pushed it. Yet.

Pushing back in the chair, she stands and goes to the inlaid section of the wall, running her hand over it. "I wanted to touch what he had made. When I did, I felt the tiniest of blemishes on the piece. Aiken was a perfectionist when it came to his woodworking. Obsessive. I knew if this was here, it wasn't because he had missed it. Somehow, I got the panel to open."

I rise and stand beside her, looking into the little cubbyhole. "Did you charge the tablet?"

She shakes her head.

That's some battery to still have a charge after three months. The tablet doesn't look like anything I've seen before.

"Was there anything else on the tablet?" I ask.

"The recording started at six in the morning and captured the day and evening until Aiken was…" She looks away. "I didn't watch further."

I place my finger under her chin and turn her face back to me. "I'll watch the rest, okay?"

I sit in her chair and she sinks into my lap. Her eyes are steady and strong, and I know she's wordlessly telling me we'll watch it together. I hug her tight to my chest and start the recording again.

We watch as Raf and I are in the bar, and then my phone call with Massimo. I fast-forward after we leave until Gus, Massimo, and the other Chamber faction's seconds-in-command arrive with the CSI team. I fast-forward through that. When the clock hits six AM, the recording ends.

"The tablet only records one day at a time," I say. "He must have cleared the cache daily, then it would re-record."

"That means he watched them every day." Eden chews her thumbnail. "Or maybe uploaded them someplace."

"There's a reason he installed a hidden camera recording in the barroom that captured audio."

She pales, turning to me. "What if he was working with the authorities, trying to get intel for them on you guys?"

"Like how Agents Peel and Stought accused when they approached you?" I consider that, then shake my head. "It doesn't feel right. Aiken's not the kind. Plus, there are agreements with the higher-ups in law enforcement… And Aiken was the owner-operator of Gilly's for fifteen years; why would he turn now?"

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