Page 67 of Beautiful Revenge

He eventually does.

And he doesn’t have Elena with him, I notice. Must have put her in one of the safe houses he owns. He’s really paranoid I’d kill her. Granted, I did threaten her life before they were married, so I can’t fully blame Aiden for being worried. But itdoes sting that he’d think I’d hurt her now, especially since she’s pregnant.

Aiden is inside of his apartment for quite some time before he leaves in his car. Perfect. I follow. The downfall of Aiden is that he knows all of my tricks. He’ll know if he’s being followed so I have to drive as far back from him as I can get. It’s dark out now and that helps hide me.

Aiden eventually pulls up to a swanky lounge and goes inside. He must be meeting someone – Dante hopefully. Or Erik. I don’t really care. I just need to kill one of them.

I force myself to be patient and wait for the men to leave. If I go inside now and attack, it could cause more harm than good. Normally, I would do exactly that but with my bullet wound, I have to be careful right now.

After a few minutes, Aiden leaves… and right behind him is Dante. He has three guards behind him.

But this is my chance to attack.

I dive out of my car and start firing at them. Dante’s guards shove him behind them and fire back at me. I manage to kill two of them but Dante gets into his car and drives away, leaving behind his last guard, who I shoot, because I fucking can.

Aiden gives me a furious look before he drives away next.

Damn it. Dante never used to walk around with so many guards. Well, Aiden and I acted as guards of sorts for him for the longest time. I have to get him alone without all the guards and I don’t know how to do that. Dante is not going to risk dying now that he knows I’m after him.

And now I just played my fucking hand. He’ll be expecting me again. Fuck. Viktor is not going to be happy. Well, fuck him. I’m only trying to work with him again to gain power, not because I want to be fucking friends.

With a growl, I go back to the cottage. I need to rest and recoup.

But when I go inside, I can immediately tell that something is wrong. It just feels too quiet and empty inside. I rush up the stairs only to find the bedroom door wide open. I locked it. I know I did. So how did it get open?

Slowly, I step inside.

And instead of Aria’s pretty face staring back at me, it’s a man. An ugly, disgusting man.

Aria is nowhere to be seen.

“Who are you?” I demand.

“I was sent here by Jack Williams to finish the job.” He raises his gun and I dive out of the way right as he shoots. The bullet hits the wall instead of me. I start firing my own bullets but the man dives behind the bed. I keep firing until I run out of bullets. Fuck. I used up most of them in my shootout earlier. I have more bullets downstairs.

I rush to the bottom floor and find my stash of bullets in one of the kitchen sinks. Heavy footsteps follow after me.

The hitman enters the kitchen and tries shooting me again but I duck behind the counter just in time. Fuck. Who is this guy? Jack Williams sent him obviously but I’ve never met this man. I don’t know his strengths or weaknesses.

And I still don’t know where Aria is.

If this man has her, I can’t just kill him. I need answers.

There’s a moment of quiet when he runs out of bullets. I shove another chamber into my gun and fire at him. The bullet hits his arm, knocking his gun out of his hand.

“Who are you?” I ask again as he clutches his bleeding arm. Good. I don’t like this fucker and I want him to hurt.

“Who I am doesn’t matter. You should just be concerned with the fact that I stole your little prisoner. Or should I say wife? Isn’t that interesting. I made her scream, you should know.”

A cold chill settles itself in my gut. It’s fear, I realize. Honest to god fear. It’s not something I ever really feel.

Except now I feel it for Aria.

“You’re out of bullets,” I remind him. “Whereas I have a whole arsenal back here.”

“So? If you want to see my little plaything again, then you can’t kill me. You’ll never find her. I’ll be back, Finn. That’s a promise.” He walks out of the house like he’s on a Sunday stroll to church.

Fuck. He’s right. I can’t kill him. I need to know what he knows.

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