Page 39 of Betrayal (Corrupt Empire 1)

“He was always good at bullshitting.”

Chuck laughed.

“Mitch was the best at it. Shame really. Too many fucking enemies to count. Don’t suppose I’ll ever find out who took him out. Who the fuck cares anyway? The fuzz will spend a lifetime trying to work it out. Whoever it was knew what they were doing. The important thing is finding Avery even if she doesn’t want to be found.”

There was no love lost between the brothers. And Avery wouldn’t be found until I decided she would. Until I decided she was ready to do what I needed her to. Plans began to form in the back of my mind. How to fix this mess.

“Are you going to tell me what you need from me or not?”

“Well, you can’t go and beat up a pig, but you can go and lean on his boyfriend for me.”

“Now I know you’ve lost your mind. I told you I won’t deal with police or anyone related to them.”

“I didn’t tell you to hurt him.”

Chuck was really fucking pushing his luck here.

“Get someone else to do it.”

“As if I can trust anyone else with this information.”

I almost smiled. He still really had no idea. I didn’t have much of a choice but to go deal with this for him. If I continued to say no, he’d get suspicious. I couldn’t have that.

“Just fucking text me the details. You owe me for this.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be well compensated.”

He hung up. I almost threw my phone against the wall. Everything about that conversation had thrown me one curveball after another.

I didn’t look at Avery as I got up and stalked over to my cupboards. I didn’t have time for this. All I fucking wanted was to lie next to that damn girl and hold her close. Last night was the first time in fuck knows how long I didn’t dream.

“Aiden?”

“What?” I snapped. I shouldn’t have but my temper was frayed.

“Are you leaving?”

“I have to go do something. You need to go to sleep.”

Pulling out what I needed, I turned to her. She looked so small and scared huddled under the covers. The sight of it broke something deep inside me. I was such a fucking arsehole. I’d made her need me. I was fucking with her head. I had to do it, but it didn’t make me feel any less of a fucked up piece of shit for dragging her into all of this.

“Okay,” she whispered.

“Avery…”

“It’s okay.”

It wasn’t fucking okay. I dumped my stuff on the bed and crawled over her. She stared up at me with those doe eyes which haunted my every waking moment.

“We need to talk about some things, but it can wait until morning. I need you to go to sleep for me,” I said, trying to keep my tone soft.

We needed to talk about a lot of shit, not least of all why she’d kept the fact that she had a boyfriend from me. If she cared so much about him, why the fuck did she let me touch her?

“I can try.”

“Good.”

I brushed her hair from her face. Fuck, she was beautiful. I leant down, pressing my forehead to hers for a moment. I wanted to kiss her. So fucking much. And I never wanted to kiss anyone. She wasn’t just anyone. Avery was mine.

---