Page 47 of Betrayal (Corrupt Empire 1)

Chapter Ten

Aiden

I really felt like the world’s most fucked up piece of shit. I sat against the cell door with my head in my hands. I heard everything she said. Every word echoed around my skull. All of it shattered me. I knew she was hallucinating again when she screamed. And when she’d said, “I need him and he needs me,” it broke me further. I couldn’t fucking cope with it. My need for her.

She deserved far better than me. Too fucking innocent. When she said she wanted me, I just couldn’t do it. She didn’t know what she wanted. Not really. I’d made her need me and took away her choice. Her decisions weren’t made with clarity. So I couldn’t do it. I had to put her in the cell not because she deserved it, but to save myself from her.

It was wrong on so many levels. Putting her back in there only brought her more pain and misery. It was like she said, I was hurting her further. It wasn’t cruel to be kind. It was self-preservation. I was a fucking arsehole.

What am I doing to you, Avery? What the fuck am I doing?

The silence was worse than her screaming. I wanted to open the door. To make sure she hadn’t hurt herself. I didn’t go in. The thought of seeing her broken. Watching her deteriorate further, that fucking killed. Everything inside me had been dead for so long. Avery made me feel again. And the force of those feelings made everything so fucking complicated.

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She stroked my hair with such a delicate hand. I stared up into the grey eyes which mirrored mine. The only part of her I had in me. The rest, who knew. She never talked about him.

“I’m so proud of you, my little man. You’re doing so well at school and Tina says you’re making friends.”

“When are you coming home?” I asked.

“Soon, sweetheart. Mummy is getting us a new home. It’ll be just you and me. Would you like that?”

The bruise around her eye was stark, but she smiled down at me.

“Yes. Will I have my own room?”

“Of course, my darling angel.”

“Can I have green and blue walls?”

“I’ll paint them for you myself.”

I wrapped my hands around her legs, only just coming up to her stomach.

“Mummy, will we always be together?”

“I hope so, my angel.”

She pulled away and squatted down to my level, putting her hands on my shoulders.

“You be a good boy for Tina, okay? I promise I’ll see you soon. Mummy loves you so much.”

I could see tears welling in her eyes, but I didn’t know why she was crying. She gathered me up in her arms, kissing the top of my head.

“My beautiful boy.”

“I promise I’ll be good. I love you, Mummy.”

She held me for the longest time, stroking my hair and murmuring to me.

“My sweet boy. My angel.”

When she let go, she wiped her eyes, wincing as she touched her bruised face. She kissed my forehead one more time before she rose.

“Take care of him,” she said to Tina who was standing behind us.

“Of course, Miss Lockhart,” Tina replied.

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