Page 66 of Revenge (Corrupt Empire 3)

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Good.”

He hung up on me. I raised my head, my hand dropping to my side. What the hell? I had no idea what had gotten into Aiden.

There was a knock at the bathroom door, followed by a muffled, “Avery, are you still in there?”

I got to my feet, slipping my phone in my pocket. I looked at my face in the mirror. I looked like a fucking ghost. Shit. I had twenty minutes to work out what I was going to say when Aiden got here. How I was going to explain this?

I pinched my cheeks, trying to bring back colour into them, but it was useless. Trudging towards the door, I opened it. John was waiting there, a concerned look on his face.

“Are you okay?”

I shook my head, coming out of the room and standing with him in the hallway.

“What’s wrong?”

I rubbed my head, looking down at the floor.

“I think I had a panic attack and now Aiden is on his way here and I don’t know what to do.”

“Well shit.”

I couldn’t bring myself to laugh at that. This had turned into an absolute mess.

“He said he doesn’t care if they find out we’re married.”

He put a hand on my arm, giving it a squeeze.

“I can’t leave, he’ll get really mad,” I continued. “I have to deal with Ed and Uncle Charlie. I don’t know what to say to them. They want to talk to me about something, but I don’t know what it is. What do I do? If Aiden turns up here, he’ll completely ruin everything we’ve worked so hard for.”

He released my arm and gave me a sympathetic look.

“You can’t stop him, you know.”

I nodded. When Aiden decided on a course of action, he just did it. The consequences be damned. He wasn’t thinking straight because I was involved. The ramifications of them discovering we were together were potentially huge

Was he doing this because I’d retreated into myself for over two weeks? Did he think I was going to go back into that state? Or was he worried I’d completely fall apart like I did last time I hallucinated my parents?

Either way, I’d worried him enough for him to say fuck it to everything else. I felt like kicking myself, but there was no point. I’d needed Aiden. No one else would’ve got me to calm down. I knew that.

“I suppose I better go face the music.”

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

“No, but I don’t have a choice. When Aiden gets here, everything’s going to hell anyway.”

He shrugged.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

“You know Uncle Charlie isn’t that stupid. He’s going to put two and two together and then where will we be? He’ll know what…”

I stopped. John didn’t know about my parents. Didn’t know Aiden had taken me captive. I couldn’t reveal that no matter what. Even if John knew about what we did to Frazier and Tristan, it didn’t matter. No one could know how Aiden and I met. No one.

John cocked his head to the side as if urging me to go on.

“It’s just not going to end well.”

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