Page 85 of Foxx
He sneers. “I have news for you. You really don’t know Aiden Foxx, and you won’t have him forever. He’ll spit you out just like he has every other woman.”
His words sting, and I falter.
“Or he’ll be dead from crossing the wrong man.” He leans in. “Don’t worry, little Hound, your secret is safe with me. We’re going to help each other out, you and I.” His eyes roam over the knife in my hand. “Little girls shouldn’t play with knives,especiallyunique ones like this.” He rips my knife frommy hand and closes it, tucking it into his pocket. “For safekeeping,” he adds as he pulls his gun from my head.
“I’ll be in touch, Mia.” He disappears through the back exit into the alley as I scramble into Aiden’s office and lock the door behind me, leaning against it.
I slump to the floor and begin to hyperventilate, every part of me shaking violently. I’m in way over my head. Dagger will either go to my brother or use that leverage to hurt me, or Aiden.He’ll be dead from crossing the wrong man.Who did he cross? I lose track of time as wave after wave of panic washes over me.
I’m still on the floor spiraling when Aiden finds me. He drops to his knees, his blue eyes ice cold and swimming with violent rage.
My eyes blur as tears fill them, because only now do I feel safe enough to break.
Aiden grips my face in his hands, his thumb catching the first tear I finally allow to stream down my face. The beast is in his eyes.
“Who the fuck am I killing, Mia?”
Chapter 47
Mia
I tell Aiden everything. He listens intently, but I know he’s also reaching out to someone, probably Archer, as he texts one-handed on his phone. I tell him how Dagger cornered me, that he knows I’m Mason’s sister, and that he wants my help.
He pulls me up and draws me into his chest. “He’s a fucking walking corpse, Mia.” Aiden is seething. “He’s been in hiding since I threatened to kill him at Grant’s farm. We’ve been looking for him everywhere, and I have no fucking clue how he got in here, or how he knew you were alone, but Iwill.”
I shiver as Aiden holds me close. He kisses the top of my head and breathes me in. “He isn’t gonna hurt you. This isn’t about you. It’s a message for me.” He pushes wisps of hair that have escaped my braids off my face, and I sense he’s still hesitant about telling me club business.
“I’m a vault, Aiden, and I’m in this now too,” I remind him.
He takes a deep breath. “Wretched Souls isn’t happy with us right now. They want us to distribute to someone that I’mnot interested in distributing to. They probably think that if I’m eliminated, they’ll be able to convince the next guy to do it.”
“Is that why he’s been in hiding?”
Aiden nods. “I think he’s trying to decide how to take me out.”
“The way he looks at me, Aiden, it’s like he knows me.” I look down but he tilts my chin back up.
“I’m gonna meet with my men. Dagger won’t survive the fucking week regardless. In the meantime, we’re leaving.” He grips my hand. “I want to show you something that might help you feel safer.”
I nod and sniff back tears. Had I left everything alone after Nic died, Dagger wouldn’t even know who I am, and Aiden wouldn’t be in danger.
The next worry rises quickly and settles deep in my blood as we leave the club. The one I have no idea how to handle. If that psychopath decides to go to my brother and tell him what he knows, Aiden’s biggest threat won’t be Dagger.
It will beMason.
* * *
“No offense, but I’m kind of afraid of bats and rat—”
The words die on my lips as the overhead door to Aiden’s dilapidated garage opens. From the outside, it looks like one large gust of wind could take the whole thing down. But inside…it isn’t a garage at all. It’s a safe room that looks like something out ofMission: Impossible.
The entire west wall is deep gray and lined with floor-to-ceiling shelving, stocked with bins of freeze-dried food, canned goods, and other supplies.
“How much food is here?” I ask, crossing the threshold.
Aiden presses a button to close the door behind us, and it locks with an ominous-sounding click, followed by a beep. Like it’s armed.
“Enough for a good six months.”
