Page 66 of Cherished Union

Blood spurts from her chest as Jade drives the blade into her skin. I can no longer watch as Lila’s eyes find mine, pleading with me to do something.

There’s nothing for me to do. As much as I hate what’s happening, she’s the reason why my thirteen-year-old sister died.

My empathy died the day Vivi did.

CHAPTER25

HAYDEN

“Ithought you quit?” Hayes asks as he watches me take a pull from the cigarette. “What the hell is wrong with you anyway? You look like you’re about to kill someone.”

I ignore him. Right now, I’m close to doing just that, and this time, it’s going to be my sister that I kill.

Not only has Adelina missed her father being lowered into the ground, she’s also missing the fucking party that’s been thrown in his honor, something that makes my teeth clench as I listen to motherfuckers say how amazing he was. Bullshit. If they knew the true Aldo, they wouldn’t be saying this shit.

“Hayden, you know Jade better than anyone. She’ll never do anything to hurt Ade,” Annemarie says softly as she watches me. Unlike her husband, she’s not antagonizing me.

“Where the hell is your sister anyway?” Da asks as he joins us, a pint of Guinness in his hands. “People are questioning where your wife is, Hay.”

I take another pull from my cigarette, letting the nicotine hit me. Needing something to take the edge off.

“When you find out, let me know, yeah?” I respond dryly. I’m beyond pissed that neither my wife nor sister thought to tell me what the hell is going on and where they were going. I know she’ll not let any harm come to Addie, but that’s beside the point. My wife is pregnant and there are two assholes out there who would love to kill her.

“That’s the third one in less than an hour,” my ma says as she joins us a while later. “What’s going on, and where in the world are Adelina and Jade?” she shakes her head. “This is unseemly.”

Hayes chuckles, and Da tries to hide his grin.

“Ma,” I say dryly. “Wanna step into the twenty-first century?”

Annemarie ducks her head, her lips twitching and her shoulders shaking.

“Oh, Hayden,” she gasps. “Behave.”

I roll my eyes. I’m thirty years old. I do not need my mother telling me to behave.

“Will someone please tell me where my daughter is?” she asks, glancing around at us all.

“She’ll be back soon,” Rocco says, overhearing our conversation as he and Elio join us outside. “They’ve been gone a while. From what I know, they should be back within the hour.”

“And just where the hell has your wife taken mine?” I grunt, beyond pissed that I’ve been left in the dark about what’s going on. Just as the words leave my mouth, Jade’s car pulls into the parking lot.

Ade slides out of the car. I take her in, sweeping my gaze over her body, checking to see that she’s okay.

“She’s alive and well, as you can see,” Jade says, rolling her eyes.

“Where the fuck were you?” I snarl, my anger coming to the forefront now that I can see my wife is perfectly okay.

Addie’s eyes widen as she steps up to me, her hands pressing against my chest. “We’re fine,” she tells me, her voice a little shaky.

“Where the fuck were you?” I repeat.

She sighs as she takes my hand, and we move away from my family. “Don’t be mad, okay?” she begins hesitantly. It’s the fucking wrong thing to say. “Jade found Lila.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I realize what my wife is trying to say. “You went with her to fucking kill her?”

She bites her lip and nods.

“Are you fucking crazy?” I snarl. “What the hell was going through your mind?”

---