No, I can’t let myself think about him dying. I can’t even entertain the idea.
“Rider,” I whisper, standing at the door. “I thought this room was soundproofed?”
He glances at me, his jaw tight. “So did I, princess. But if this is going the way I think it is, somebody lied to us… about the room, about how safe this so-called safe house is, about everything. I didn’t think the mob had ties in the FBI, but clearly, I was fucking wrong. Now get in there.”
Just as I’m about to walk inside, Uncle Aaron’s voice penetrates the air. He sounds shaky and unhinged, the way he does when he’s snorted too much, as though any second he could erupt into a rage.
“I know you’re in there, sweet niece. It’s time to end this silly game. Come out and nobody has to get hurt.”
Rider drifts to the edge of the door, and then reaches across and places the barrel of his gun against it, ready to fire.
“Did you kill the guards, you scumbag?” Rider growls.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Uncle Aaron snaps. “I injured one guard… the other two were on our side, but one decided to be a hero. I know what you’ve been doing in there, by the way, Rider. Soundproof, haha, you really are gullible.”
Rider glances at me, and for a second I think he’s angry at me. But then I look closer and I see that he’s imprisoned by fury, he can’t control it. It moves through him like waves of boiling lava, making his muscles throb and tense.
“Who fucking heard?” Rider snarls.
“The guards… the two who are on our side said you put in a very good performance, Rider, so don’t be ashamed.”
“You sick fuck,” Rider growls. “That’s your niece you’re talking about.”
“Yes, and she moaned real good, didn’t she?”
“Are you out there? You Fed fucks,” Rider snaps.
There’s some rustling on the other side of the door.
The thought of the guards hearing me causes worms to crawl all over my skin. Shame pricks me, and yet it’s buried beneath the aching need for my man to keep himself safe.
I can feel the rage moving through Rider like wildfire, impossible to put out as he tenses up near the door.
“Go on,” Uncle Aaron says. “Say hello.”
“We’re here,” a man says.
“Yes, Rider, we’re here,” another man follows soon after, his voice deeper.
“Jerry, Shaun.” Rider shakes his head. “You’re working for this piece of shit?”
“We…” The deep-voiced man trails off. “We do what we have to do. For our families.”
“So he’s paying you,” Rider states.
“Yes, yes, I’m paying them. Is that really such a surprise? You’ve made a lot of mistakes, Rider, but trusting the Feds was the stupidest of them all,” My uncle quips.
“Says the prick who sent all his guards to check on a safe’s alarm.”
“I never said I was perfect.”
Uncle Aaron titters in a deranged way, a way I recognize well from years spent under his imprisonment.
“Why lie about the room being soundproofed?” Rider snarls.
“Is that really what you’re caught up on?”
Uncle Aaron almost giggles. He sounds completely unhinged. I want to scream at Rider to get away from the door, to come and hide in the bathroom with me, because I know it’s only a matter of time before Aaron explodes.
“Yes,” Rider snarls. “You have no right to try and humiliate my woman, the future mother of my children. You have no fucking right. So why lie?”
“They lied because I told them to,” my uncle says, sounding pleased with himself. “Don’t you find it strange that they just mentioned it out of the blue? You see, my dear Federal informants told me that you and my niece seemed… rather close when you arrived. I wanted to see how close you’d gotten. So I told them to lie to see if you’d fuck like the horny things you so clearly are. And bingo, you did. It worked.”
“You’re sick,” I scream, finding my voice. “You’re fucking disgusting. You murderer. You lunatic. You animal.”
“There she is,” Aaron cries, clapping loudly. “The cause of all this fuss. You’ve had quite the eventful day, haven’t you, niece? First, you run away from the only family you’ve ever had, then you get my associate arrested, and then you decide to turn into a complete slut.”
“Enough,” Rider snaps. “I’m giving you a chance. One chance. Apologize to my lady and leave.”
“What?” Aaron says, in that same loving-the-situation tone. “Are you insane? Do you have any idea how many men I have out here?”
“No more than ten,” Rider snarls.
There’s a pause and then my uncle laughs, but he doesn’t sound as confident as before.
“How the fuck could you possibly know that?”
“Because you’re a bunch of loud morons,” Rider snarls. “And it doesn’t matter how many. I’ll stop at nothing to keep my woman safe. You could have a hundred men and I’d still never let you near her. So apologize and leave. Or you’ll force me to act.”