“How do you know that?”
He grins, a sadism so deep ignites in his cloudy eyes. “I know my kind when I meet one.”
“Your… kind?”
“Agnus and I are the same. We don’t mind creating anarchy if it gets us what we want.”
“So he’s planning anarchy?”
“He already did with that fire.”
“This only means he’s unstoppable.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Am I unstoppable, sweetheart?”
“You are.”
“How about when it comes to you?”
“You still are… sometimes. I mean, I know you care about me, but that doesn’t mean you’re politically correct.”
“And I’ll never be.” He dismisses ever so casually. “In your mind, do I want to hurt or protect you?”
“Protect me.” I don’t even think about it.
Aiden might’ve wanted to hurt me at the beginning, but that’s changed. He doesn’t want to inflict pain on me anymore — except during sex sometimes, but that’s part of our foreplay.
Aiden is my number one protector now, and I can admit it out loud.
“Agnus is like me,” he emphasises every word. “He’s just like me.”
The realisation hits me like an eruption of a volcano. “He wants to protect my dad.”
“Exactly.”
I gasp. “Do you think he has feelings for him? Is he... gay?”
“Could be. Could be not.”
“I mean I didn’t notice anything between him and Dad, but…” I trail off, raking my head for any suspicious moments but come up with nothing — at least from the outside looking in.
“He could only care about being his right hand and best friend,” Aiden says. “With people like Agnus, you’ll never know unless he says it out loud.”
I ponder on his words. Now that I think about it, Agnus took Knox and Teal in because Dad asked him to. He saved and watched me from afar because he knows how much I mean to Dad.
All his actions lead back to my father’s well-being.
Well, all except for locking me in a basement with no way out.
That reality of things hits me hard when Aiden pulls and pushes the door with no result.
We’re trapped.
34
Ethan
When I think back on my life, I’m left with the bitter feeling that I accomplished nothing.