Page 203 of A Second Dawn

Claudette sidles up to me, threading her arm through mine. She studies me. I can feel her inquisitive gaze, even though I’m still watching Ella.

I bet she can read where my thoughts are at. She’s creepy like that.

“Do you sense it too?” she asks.

I glance at her before letting my gaze wander back to Ella. Even in her distress, she’s the most beautiful woman to me. “Sense what?”

Her next words have goosebumps prickling all over my skin.

“You’ve reached a fork in the road, Aiden. You have a decision to make. And it’s not a small one.”

Her choice of words startles me, my eyes shooting to hers. She gives me a tight smile.

Listen to her when you reach a fork in the road.

Sachinanda’s words echo in my mind.

I don’t want them there!

Yet, just as unwavering and resolute as the man himself, Sachinanda’s premonition from years ago continues to resonate with a quiet persistence.

Argh!

A sense of foreboding chills me to the bone. Whatever Claudette is about to ask of me, I won’t like it.

My defenses go up, annoyance creeping in.

“What decision? Stop speaking in riddles,” I say through clenched teeth.

Her face turns serious. All the humor I’ve grown accustomed to seeing in her eyes is wiped away.

“Your plan saves Ella and the baby… but it doesn’t save him.” She looks pointedly at the man lying in the hospital bed fighting for his life. “It’s in your power to save him too.”

She studies me with an intensity that has shivers run up my spine.

“The question is, do you want to?”

I laugh humorlessly. Of course I don’t want to save him. He stole my girl.

The day things between Ella and I finally moved forward, he had to reappear in her life. For that alone, I’d be happy to pull the plugs from the machines that keep him alive.

On top of that, he’s a criminal—plain and simple. He perpetuates violence and suffering. The world at large is better off without him.

But then my gaze zeros in on Ella’s face, on the despair and utter sadness, on the anguish in her red-rimmed, puffy, swollen eyes.Herworld wouldn’t be better off.

“There’s a good chance Gualtiero’s enemies are going to finish the job, even if you plant someone in here to keep an eye on him. And it could cost that person their life too.”

I don’t answer. I’m well aware of what’s likely going to happen.

Gualtiero is vulnerable and unable to defend himself. With not just one, but two enemies after him, keeping him alive would be a monumental task. Especially if the vultures closing in are from within his own ranks.

Could I let him die?

“His life is in your hands, Aiden,” Claudette puts it plainly.

Fuck, she really can read minds. How does she do it?

“It’s a tough choice. The toughest one you’ll ever have to make.” She sighs, rubbing my back to ease the tension that’s made my body go rigid.

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