Page 68 of Revenge (Corrupt Empire 3)

Chapter Fourteen

Aiden

I knew I had to face the consequences of coming down here and showing her fucking family she was mine. I was just so fucking tired of everything. Tired of living a lifetime of lies and secrets. Tired of hiding in the shadows. After what went down with Tristan and Frazier, especially Avery’s reaction, I was fucking done. All of this had only brought us more misery. I couldn’t fucking stand her pain. So now, I was fucking well doing something about it.

I turned to Chuck and her cousin, Ed. Chuck looked like he’d seen a fucking ghost and Ed had a frown on his face.

“I wasn’t lying when I told you Avery is married to me,” was the first thing out of my mouth.

Chuck spluttered, put his hand on his mouth and sat down abruptly. Silence descended over the room. Avery’s hand in mine tightened. I could feel her trembling next to me.

I watched her cousin carefully. I had my fucking suspicions about him. There was curiosity in his expression as well as surprise.

“When?” Chuck asked, dropping his hand from his face.

“What, when did I start seeing your niece? Months ago. When did we get married? A week before her birthday.”

“And you kept this a fucking secret from me this entire time? What the fuck is going on in that head of yours?”

I shrugged. There were a lot of reasons why we hadn’t told Chuck. Mostly because I didn’t want him to suspect it was me who’d killed his brother.

He stood up, pacing away with his hand in his hair.

“Christ, Aiden. After every-fucking-thing I’ve done to try help you after all the shit with Mitch, this is what you do? You go behind my back and get married to my fucking niece. To his fucking daughter. Have you completely lost your fucking mind?”

He turned back to me, his eyes blazing with fury.

“Tell me right fucking now, when did this fucking happen and how? I will not tolerate any more shit from either of you. You’re going to tell me the fucking truth.”

Avery flinched at my side, her fingers digging into mine. I looked down at her. Her doe eyes were wide, almost as if she’d never seen her uncle so incensed before.

“The truth?” I asked.

“Yes, the fucking truth.”

Avery looked up at me, shaking her head. Her eyes pleading with me not to tell him anything. Not to reveal the one thing which could bring everything crashing down around us.

“It started the night Mitchell died.”

Avery almost caved in on herself. I turned to Chuck, who was about to open his mouth, but I put a hand up. The real truth of that night was going to remain between Avery and me.

“I had nothing to do with that shit. I was walking past the building when she ran out in tears. I was there because of that shit you asked me to do with those dealers. Anyway, she ran into me and I recognised her. I felt kind of shit about leaving her there in tears so I told her who I was and asked if she wanted to talk about it.”

I looked over at Avery. She regarded me with an almost neutral expression, but her doe eyes told me she hadn’t expected me to come up with some bullshit story about how we met. I’d become rather adept at thinking on my feet. I had to when dealing with the Daniels and their bullshit.

“I tried to take her home, but she didn’t want to go, so I did the only other thing I could. I brought her back to mine and let her tell me about her argument with Mitchell. So when you called me the next day, she was asleep on my sofa. That’s why the police couldn’t find her because when I told her about Mitchell and Kathleen, she was a fucking mess. She begged me not to tell anyone where she was. So yes, we lied to everyone including the police.”

“You’re telling me she was with you the entire time?”

I turned back to Chuck.

“Yes. And trust me, I didn’t mean for any of it to happen. It just did. I didn’t take advantage of your niece, so you can stop looking at me like I’m some fucking scumbag who started screwing a girl who was in clear emotional distress. I’m not that fucked up.”

Chuck’s expression cleared a little. He ran a hand through his hair.

“Why didn’t you tell me when she came back? Hmm?”

“She didn’t want to tell anyone because of how it would look.”

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