The Absolution of Aidan (The Syndicate Series Book 3) (24 page)

I reach for my phone to try and call Aidan and my dad. I look up at Matthew before I do, his expression grim and dark.

Discomfort surges through me by the way he is glaring at me, his eyes bobbing between my face and my hand. My hands move back to my lap. My brain is consumed with thoughts as to how or why his sudden presence creates an uneasiness inside of me I cannot explain.

“I’m really beginning to worry.” My mom stands up, her hands fidgeting at her sides.

“So am I. You don’t think he has them, do you?” Grace speaks softly, tears of worry developing in her eyes.

“Deidre. Did you call Roan?” Mom asks. Before I can answer her, my phone rings. I reach for it quickly, not even checking to see who it is, before the superior feeling in my gut tells me Matthew is about to do something.

“Hello,” I answer with a timorous tone to my voice, hoping that whoever it is will hear the fear.

“Don’t say a word, Deidre, just listen,” Cain speaks softly. “We have every reason to believe that Matthew is working for Junior. You need to get out of there now. I’m on my way.” He hangs up.

I feign my ignorance like he’s still there. “No, Alina, they haven’t showed up yet. Roan said they were going to go looking.”

“They can look all they want, they should all be dead by now anyway.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal that he’s standing here telling us that the people we love are dead.

He reaches for my mom, grabs her by the back of her neck, shoveling her face first onto the floor. His booted foot hovers just above her shaking body.

“Hang up the phone.” Matthew uprights himself and pulls two guns from behind his back, pointing them right at my mom and Grace. My mom lies face down on the floor, her eyes overflowing with tears. Grace begins to uncontrollably scream and cry, while me, I stand there motionless, unable to speak, to think, to grasp hold of the reality this sick man is trying to sway me to believe.

“You’re a liar. I would know if he were dead. Unlike you, I have a heart and I would feel it here.” I stab myself with my finger in my chest. “Oh, god.” This is coming from the listless body lying on the floor. “Mom, he’s lying. I know he is. Get up. Don’t let him win.” He kicks her then, making her figure quaver from the injury conflicted to her side.

“Yes, Beth, get up.” Matthew doesn’t release the hold he has on Grace. He stuffs one of his guns into the back of his jeans and drags her fragile, little body, which is choking and gasping for air, right down to the hall with him. He lifts my mom by her hair, shoving her forward, forcing me to watch in utter astonishment at the way he carelessly abuses these two women.

All the while my son is crying. He rarely cries. He’s always so happy. My heart is breaking as I listen to him wail.

“You. Get in there and make him shut his fucking mouth.” I follow, my eyes trained to the gun sticking out of his pants. My hands reach for it, only to be caught in mid-air by his firm grip. “Nice try, bitch.” The burn from him twisting my wrist, his callous and rough hands digging into my skin, only angers me more. I hold tight to my son, thankful he is too young to acknowledge any of this as Matthew tugs me hard behind him. Shoving me down into the chair once we hit the living room.

My phone rings, so does my mom’s over and over as we sit stoic and wait. Diesel calmed down the minute I brought him into my arms, Thank you, god.

It feels like hours, but I know it’s only been minutes when we all jump to the unfamiliar shrieking of a phone ringing, blaring out some dreadful, dooming music.

“You got it,” Matthew answers sharply, then commands for us to leave.

One brief tiny second he takes his eyes off from me. That’s when I grab the screwdriver sitting on the table next to me, shoving it inside of my pants.

I remember asking Aidan to please take care of it after he put a few toys together for the baby. Now all I want to do is kiss him for leaving it there. I swipe it, then stand as if I’m doing what I was told.

“You won’t get away with this. There’s security downstairs.” Mom juts her chin out. Her backbone is back in place. Thank Christ, because unlike her tough daughter, who no one knows is dead or alive, Grace has completely fallen apart. Her sobs spear through my chest. She needs to get it together. “Grace, you need to be strong. Think about Anna. I know she’s alive. They all are.” Her eyelids are swollen, her forehead crinkled, her ivory complexion ashen and pale.

“There’s no one downstairs. Well, there was, but he’s followed Dilan and Anna out the building,” Matthew says gruffly and with more confidence than I like.

“No. She’s all I have. She has to be all right,” Grace cries out. “You would be wise to listen to the crazy lady over here.” He juts his thumb in my direction. I stand stone still. He’s trying to bait me. To break me and make me weak. Fuck him. He underestimates me. They all will. I will survive this time. My son will survive, and I’ll be goddamned if I let them take any of my loved ones away from me.

“It’s time to go.” The piece of shit manhandles my mom once again by gripping her tightly on her upper arm while training his gun at my son and me. I move onward out the door, my anxious mind tediously wishing there were something I could do to stop him. I can’t get to the screwdriver while clinging onto one of the only reasons I’m strong enough to survive this.

“Where are we going?” I have no clue which one of them is talking right now. All I can do is try and cling on to what sanity I have left, to hope someone finds us, saves us before… God, I cannot even let myself thin k about what could happen. Or why. Money is an evil bitch. I hate it. It’s unfortunate we all need it to survive. Does someone really need that much? I know damn well Salvatore pays his men above what they’re really worth. Especially this fucker, who deserves to die at the hands of John Greer. The cleaner. The sweeper. The man who will silence you once he’s finished gutting you like a fish. I can only hope he’s been called.

My flip-flop-covered feet slap against the cold tile floor of the passageway into our building. The warm air sweeps across my skin when we exit. We keep moving on, down the few stairs that lead into our apartment building from this side of the building. I see a dark van parked along the curb.

And then I see him. Junior and his snarly, self-assured grin in the passenger’s seat. The security guard from my building is in the driver’s seat. I ignore them when I’m pushed forward past the van. Don’t ask me how I can feel it, or sense it, or whatever the hell you want to call it. But I do. I feel him. I feel Aidan and his strength spill out of the back of that van. He’s in there. My perception tells me so. I want to run to him, make sure he’s okay. But I keep going, holding one half of my heart in my arms while the other half is just a few feet away from me, yet untouchable. He’s hurting in there. Oh god, does my chest ache.

We’re all shoved into another van. Unlike the one in front of us, this is a goddamn mini-van. “Nice ride, jack-hole.” My flaming mouth gets slapped for that comment. My child is tugged from my arms. I yell, and kick, and draw blood from this fucker who dares to take my son from me. “Give him to me! He’s a baby! He’s done nothing to you! Give me my son!” I scream. The sting on my face is nothing compared to having my child taken from me.

I remember nothing after that. Not a damn thing. Until I’m startled awake with a kick straight to my stomach.

ANNA

Something inside of me breaks angrily. Snaps off like lead at the end of a pencil. I cannot believe the evil, vindictive creature in front of me is even human. But he is. Humans kill other humans. We may not be classified as animals, but some of us sure the hell are.

He’s a despicable man who shot Dilan, who dragged me by my hair into the back of an alley, tied my hands together, and beat me with his fist. Kicked me repeatedly in the ribs, while calling me every name but the one my mom blessed me with. I hate him.

People take pain in so many ways. Me, I can hardly breathe, barely see. I feel pain everywhere. But nothing is worse than feeling the pain radiating off of someone else.

I’m not sure how long we’ve been cruising along. Long enough to know Aidan has checked out on me. Who can blame the man when his life walked by us and we heard those murderous screams coming from Deidre right before we pulled away? I need to do something, anything to get him to come back to me and fight.

Junior has brought enough pain into my life, and now as I sit here staring at Aidan, who cannot seem to move, through my swollen eyes, my anger turns me into one of those animalistic creatures. I’m going to kill this rat-bastard.

I nudge Aidan on the leg when the phone he has shoved somewhere in his pants continues to go off. The sound is faint, but I can hear it. “Aidan,” I whisper. He finally concedes to me getting his attention, when the little bit of vision I do have detects him fluctuating his long legs in my direction. “Don’t move, and no matter what I do, do not make a sound.” He’s looking right at me, I can feel it. The closer I get to him, the more I can see he’s looking right through me. Oh, god. I have to do something, anything to get him back here to the present. His entire life waltzed right by us. So did mine. My mom is wherever they are, too.

Like me, he’s stuck in here going to god knows where. I heard Deidre screaming for them to give her Diesel back, and then all of a sudden, the screaming stopped and the laughing coming from the front of our van began while a gun was shoved inside of Aidan’s mouth to get him to shut up and sit down.

And the man driving the van. I’m not sure if Aidan has recognized him or not. I have. He’s the security guard of the apartment building they live in.

I may not know much about this mafia life these men live. But I do know these men love with everything they have. They are selfless, righteous, caring, and have the biggest hearts out of anyone I have met. Aidan especially.

Who comes to a woman’s home they don’t even know, to take her away, to protect her and her mother from the scum of a heartless person who wants to take the life of an innocent person?

They aren’t perfect by any means. I’ve heard about the things they do. I know they commit crimes, steal, and god knows what else. I don’t care. They saved me.

Dilan took bullets that were meant for me tonight. I know they were. I don’t even know if he’s alive. I can only pray and hope he is. My heart is breaking right now. It’s time someone stood up to this son of a bitch.

Aidan continues to stare right through me. I scooch over as close to him as I can get once the vibrations begin again. I scope out the two monsters in the front, then quickly force my hands forward, my body straddling his legs, and I shove my hands into the front of his jeans. He flinches but says nothing. My hesitant hands find the phone, thankful it’s right there at the top.

“Don’t take it out. They’ll see the screen light up. Just start pressing buttons,” Aidan whispers vaguely. Well, shit, if I had known that all I would have had to do was stick my hands down the pants of a man who surely doesn’t want them there, I would have done this several minutes ago. Whatever it takes, Anna. I nod, doing what he asked, slinking back into my corner after doing so. The phone stops. And my plan begins.

“Where are you taking us?” Even though I’m scared to death, I’m able to keep my pitch steady.

Just as Junior turns around, his crazed eyes make me slink back into the corner more. I want him to think I’m afraid of him. I’m not, well, that would be a lie. I’m frightened, not only for me but for all of us. If our loved ones are following us, he obviously plans on killing us all. This is for all of them. I will sacrifice getting beat, killed if it means somehow, someway my friends and family can escape.

“Aidan’s sacred place. The place he loves so much. You know where, don’t you, Aidan?” What a cocky arrogant asshole. He’s taunting Aidan. What a little shit.

Aidan remains passive, although he cranes his neck toward the front. I see every muscle in his face twitch and convulse as if each nerve is trying to fight against the other. He’s holding back his anger.

“Do you mean the land in Pennsylvania?” I question peculiarly. This gets me a jerk of the head from both of the men, at least I think it does. My eyelids seem to be growing heavier by the second. They’re begging me to let them close, but I refuse.

A chuckle comes from the condescending man who thinks he holds all of the cards here. Oh, no. My heart starts beating wildly in my chest, my thoughts going crazy like a caged bird drumming his frenzied little wings.

“You are an evil man. Pathetic and insane. I feel sorry for you. A man who has never been loved by anyone. A man who is jealous of this man here,” I lift my scraped up arms, aiming them in the direction of my true brother. “That’s really what this is all about, isn’t it, you pig. You’ve been sloping slowly downhill in the shadows of a real man your entire life, and you can’t take it anymore. So you’re going to take him and his family and show him you’re the man, aren’t you? Well, let me tell you something. You’re no man. You’re nothing.” I’ve identified him perfectly. I feel his self-esteem deflate just as I feel his glare bleed me dry.

“For those remarks right there, you little bitch, you’ll be the first one to die.”

AIDAN

All hope of happiness have been sucked out of my world. My future has been stolen. And in its place is an abandoned vastness of nothingness. I sit here, stunned, wishing I could have done anything to not have heard the aching screams come from the love of my life. I know she’s alive, I know my son is as well. I can feel it in what little bit of my heart is still hanging loosely in my chest.

I cannot begin to imagine what kind of numbness, vacantness, or other emotions Deidre is experiencing right now. Matthew must have stripped our son right out of her arms by the way she was screaming for him to give him back to her. And then there was silence. The only things I heard were doors being slammed shut, an engine being cranked on, and then we took off.

I can honestly say I thought I hated Junior before, but that wasn’t hate. It was more like shame, pity for even having to associate myself with him at all. Hate isn’t even strong enough for what I feel for him right now. Only the love I have for Deidre and Diesel outweighs the hate I encompass for this man.