Page 75 of Revenge (Corrupt Empire 3)

“She doesn’t have to take care of you anymore now you have me.”

He snorted.

“As if I ever allowed her to really take care of me in the first place.”

I stroked the back of his hand with my thumb.

“You let me take care of you.”

His grin turned devious.

“You take care of me in ways no one else can.”

I gave him a wink, which made him laugh. Hell, I loved it when Aiden laughed. The deep, rich timbre of his voice always did things to me.

As much as I wanted to keep the conversation light and playful, today had brought about way too many problems for us to deal with.

“What are we going to do about my uncle?”

“Right now? Nothing. He needs to calm down. Besides, you heard what that detective said, Chuck is a person of interest. That means he’s got bigger problems than finding out we’re married.”

“I feel like we’re skating on very thin ice right now. Uncle Charlie, Rick and now the police, I mean… things were always going to come out sooner or later, but I don’t want us to get caught in the crossfire.”

He let go of my hand and cupped my face, running his thumb across my cheek.

“We’re going to be okay, princess. We’re in this together. You and me. We’ll make sure the right people are punished.”

I nodded. I hoped Aiden was right.

Because if he wasn’t...

I don’t think I could survive being separated from him again.

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Walking into the Ritz on Aiden’s arm, I felt a sense of dread. Seeing Rick earlier today had terrified me. It brought back the memories of my kidnapping and him forcing me to watch those videos. Those reminders were very unwelcome, but they also made me even more determined to see this through.

Aiden looked over at me, his grey eyes hard as steel. He wasn’t happy about this dinner with Rick. Neither was I, but if we didn’t go, he’d just make our lives hell. I knew he was capable of it.

The maître d’ showed us to a table. Rick was already seated, his dark eyes glinting as he saw us. He stood, coming around and pulling out my chair for me.

“Hello, little darlin’,” he said.

My skin crawled. Aiden stiffened but said nothing. I sat, letting him push my chair in for me. Aiden sat next to me, taking my hand under the table. Rick sat across from us.

“Thank you for coming.”

Both of us stared at him. I wasn’t sure what the hell to say. He’d basically given us no option but to meet him here. I didn’t trust him. Not one bit.

I dropped Aiden’s hand and picked up the menu, not wanting to look at the man who’d given life to my husband. I noticed Aiden did the same. If Rick was put out by us basically blanking him, he didn’t show it. Minutes ticked by without us saying anything. The waiter came over and took our orders. Then we had no choice but to either talk or stay silent.

“Why did you ask us here?” Aiden said.

Rick steepled his hands, reminding me of my father. I stiffened, trying not to allow panic to set in. I’d already seen his face in my mind today. Another reminder would just send me over the edge.

“Is a man not allowed to want to meet his daughter in law?”

“Let me make something very clear, you’re not my father and she is not your daughter in law. We are not family. Tell me why you insisted on this.”

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