Page 37 of Wicked Union

All the grief of the past several months is too much for me to control. My hands hammer against his firm body until he grabs my wrists and pins them against my chest.

"Stop it!" he shouts, but I'm relentless.

"You are a monster!" The accusation wells up, and I spit it at him, but I know it's meant for me. I am the monster. I am the one to blame, but I don't know how to express that.

"Aria, knock it off," he booms, and I try to wrestle away from him, but he shoves me hard and I land on the bed. "This is business and I had no clue who snitched on us until the hit was done. I sent my men to take care of a problem and they did as they were told, and?—"

"And you stole my brother from me," I sob.

The bed shakes again as he sits down and lays a hand on my hip. "I didn't know, Aria. I only found out when it was done. I had no way of knowing it was Jasper."

"Don't say his name!" I scream as I curl into a ball. "Don't you ever fucking say his name again." The pain I'm feeling is too deep, pushed so far into my gut I hoped I'd never feel it again. I know now what my mother has been feeling, my father too. I've compartmentalized it away so I could function, and it's all rising to the surface, threatening to drive me mad with anger.

For once Tito is silent, hand still resting on my hip. I know it wasn't personal, that he didn’t love me back then the way he does now. And I believe him when he says he didn't know who it was until it was too late. Things like this aren't supposed to happen, though. The agreement was meant to protect us both, but I breached it first. I leaked the information that got Jasper killed, and I can't blame my husband for his reaction. I knew what sort of game I was playing.

My phone rings, but I ignore it. I'm in no shape to speak to anyone right now. And if it's Peter, he will get the point and not call back again tonight. But Tito doesn't think like me. He reaches for my phone and answers.

"Hello… Yes…. Oh, hello… Is everything okay?" My heart claws at my rib cage, a wounded animal seeking refuge from the pain. "I understand. Yes, I agree. That's not good. We'll be there in twenty minutes."

"What?" I ask, sitting up. My naked body feels very exposed to him now, the vulnerability of our sex juxtaposed next to my ragefor the man seated in front of me. "Who was it?" I ask, now trembling.

"It was your parents' security team. There's been an attack." He doesn't explain much as he stands and walks to his dresser with determination.

"Attack? What attack?" I ask, the fear now overwhelming my anger. "What happened? Are they okay?" More tears come now, but not from rage. I rush to the dresser and pull out clean clothes, dressing in tandem next to the man I simultaneously loathe and love.

"I don't know," he growls as he steps into his boxers. "A bomb. We have to go there. I need time to get my men ready." And then Tito is gone, taking my phone with him. He carries his clothes as I scurry to dress. My mind is racing with terrifying images flashing through it.

My God, what have I started? Dear God… Protect my parents.

28

TITO

Tony drives us to Don Hector's house, but we can't even get onto the block. Smoke rises from the back of the house and the street is lined with firetrucks and first responder vehicles. Aria is frantic, trying to jump from the moving car, but I hold her down, pinning her against my side as she cries and pleads audibly with God to protect her family. She didn't even react like this when Jasper died. That was more of a silent, inward mourning that she couldn’t even speak of. This is loud and painful to watch.

"Hey, look, the security team would have told us if it was really bad. This is just a home and it can be repaired." I try to encourage her with the full knowledge that she's still angry with me and probably will be for a long time. She has reason to terminate our agreement now, proof that I harmed her family and in doing so broke one of the clauses that would permit her to leave me.

But she won’t.

With the way the Russians have moved in, she needs me. She needs to stay with me to continue to tap into the strength I canprovide, and tonight, I'm thankful for that. Just holding her as she cries and panics makes me want to erase suffering from the face of the planet just to help her feel better.

"What if they're dead? My God, Tito! How will I live?" Aria's words are barely intelligible. Her face is covered in tear streaks and snot. I offer her my handkerchief, and she mops up the mess, but it will return, as it has so many times. She emptied the glovebox of the restaurant napkins stored there for emergencies.

"I don't think they are, baby, but if they are, I won't rest until they are avenged." I pull her head into my chest, and she buries her face there, as if none of the previous argument had even happened. She clings to me, a shuddering leaf in a violent tornado, and I am her refuge.

I mean it, too. No one who harms the woman I love this much emotionally will live to tell about it. The crushing guilt of my part in this night's emotion tempers my anger toward her for lashing out. How can I blame her? We both understand this business and how things work. Jasper did something that crossed a line and my men dispatched him without a care in the world. All at my order.

"My God…" She sobs, and her hands claw my shirt into tight fists that don't let go until the car stops.

"We're as close as I can get." Tony's eyes look at me through the reflection in the rearview mirror, and I nod.

"Come on, baby…" I don’t have to tell her twice. She slides out the door with me, and still trembling, clings to my side as we walk around the police barricades. My men have been on this house for more than a month now for various purposes, but in the wake of the skirmishes with the Russians, I’ve hadto decrease security here to avoid wearing them out. It was a foolish move. I know that later on, Aria will learn of it and be even angrier.

"Sir, you can't go back there!" I hear, but I ignore it. My wife needs to get to her parents as quickly as possible. "Sir!" the officer shouts again.

"It's my wife's parents' home. She has to get to them, please." I continue walking even when I see him reaching for his radio to call for backup. I'll knock him out if I have to, but luckily, he only radios in that we're breaching the line. He doesn't attempt to stop us, likely because he has to stay by the barricades to stop others.

The neighbors are out in droves, staring at the flames shooting out the rear of the house. First responders bustle about in full fire gear. A few EMTs sit in the back of an ambulance treating someone, I can't see who, and one firefighter mans a long hose that snakes between houses toward the fire in back.

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