All of Me? The Trust Me? Trilogy (18 page)

Aiden might believe that you aren’t having an affair with Adam, but will Brielle? Do you want to risk her relationship with you and Adam, because you want to argue with me? You lost me the Anderson account so be careful what you say, whore. You know I have influence and power in all kinds of places. Take St. Luke’s Prison for the Criminally Insane, for example. I know the warden’s son, and I’m sure I could have some strings pulled to get a certain someone to have a release day, or maybe even a weekend, how would you like that?

Oh my God, would he really be able to have Jason released if I don’t do as he says?
I can honestly say that without a doubt, and for the first time I can admit it, that I hate Alistair O’Connell. If he died tomorrow, I’d dance on his grave. My blood is boiling—I don't think I've ever been this angry. I need a second to calm the hell down, so I get up and stomp to the only place I can go to be alone—the bathroom. I splash cold water on my face and count to ten—twenty times—before I start to feel a little calmer. By the time I walk out, I still haven't decided on what to do about the email. On my way back, I see Aiden standing in front of my computer with a horrified expression on his face.

CHAPTER 14

I instantly freeze and look at him. He looks up at me and shakes his head while his face turns red.

“Jeni, what the
fuck
is this?” he asks, pointing to my computer screen. Brielle looks up in curiosity. I race over to Aiden when I notice his fists balling and his face contorting with rage.

“What’s what?” I ask, dreading the thought of him seeing the email from his father.

“These emails saying that Father has influence on whether that
fucking asshole prick
Jason can be let out on a day pass? How long has Father been threatening you with this
bullshit
?”

I gulp and shake my head as a million thoughts cross my mind, and it’s all too much to process.

“Jeni, why didn’t you tell me?” he asks as tears start to well in my eyes from the guilt of not telling him, mixed with the fear of what could happen now between him and his father.

“No way,
fuck
this
shit
.
Father!
I’m going to
fucking
kill him!” Aiden yells, pushing past me and walking towards Alistair’s office. Bree and I run after him.

“Aiden wait,” I call out as he slams his father’s office door open and storms in. Bree and I follow closely behind as Aiden walks up to his father and punches him in the face.

“
Aiden, what the…?
” Alistair yells as he falls backwards in his chair to the floor.

“Why the
fuck
did you think you could get away with this? Tormenting my fiancée under my nose? I
fucking
hate you, do you hear me? I don’t even know who you are anymore. You’re nothing to me, and Jeni, she’s everything. Consider this my resignation. Go
fuck
yourself, you pathetic old man,” Aiden says, and then storms out of the office as Alistair glares at me. Brielle walks over to her father, and I walk to Aiden’s office and see him packing his things into a box.

“Aiden, wait,” I say as I walk in and close the door.

“Why?”
he asks loudly, shocking me as he thrusts his hands into the air in frustration. I furrow my eyebrows and shake my head at him confused—
Why what?
.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Jeni?”
he yells as he throws some books into a box.

“Babe, stop, please calm down. It’s not as bad as you think.”

“Not as bad as I think? My
fucking
father is threatening you about Jason and God knows what else, and you let him do that to you.
Why?”

I gulp and walk over to him. He looks so angry that I don’t know what to say. So I reach out and touch his shoulder. He sighs and turns toward me picking me up and holding me so tightly I can hardly breathe.

“I knew you would hate him for it. I don’t want you to leave here because of me. Aiden, I can put up with his abuse, but I can’t put up with the fact of you leaving here because I can’t get along with Alistair. Your relationship with him is far too important, and I can’t be the one to come between you and him. I just can’t, Aiden.”

He looks at me and winces. “My relationship with him was long over the minute he called you a floozy that night at the retirement ball. He’s nothing to me. I can’t believe this was happening right under my nose, and I didn’t see it. I knew you were jumpy and reacting to things that you normally wouldn’t, but I didn’t think for one second that Father was tormenting you like this. The fact that he threatened you just makes my blood boil.
Fuck!”
he yells, and holds me tighter to him.

“I’m taking you home, and I don’t want any arguments from you, Jeni. I’m putting my foot down on this one. What that
fuckhead
has been putting you through is unforgivable, and I can’t imagine the psychological damage he’s done. To know my asshole of a father is the one who’s been tormenting you makes me undeniably angry. I’ve never felt this way before, baby, and it scares me. That’s why we have to go home, because I don’t know what I will do to him if I see him again right now.”

I completely understand where he’s coming from so I nod my head and cuddle into him tightly. I can only imagine how he’s feeling, and it can’t be anything other than pure anger toward his father.

“Okay, we’ll go home, but before we do there’s something I should tell you.”

He pulls back and looks at me. “Okay?” he asks hesitantly.

I swallow hard. “The day Bree and I were late getting back from lunch, you know the day when you and Mike were looking for us, and I didn’t have my cell phone.”

“Yeah, I remember. I was so worried about you.”

“I know, and I’m sorry for not telling you where we really went.”

“What do you mean, where you really went? Jeni, tell me.”

“Don’t be mad, but Brielle took me to see a counselor. She was really nice, and she completely gets me, but I didn’t—”

“Are you
fucking
kidding me? Don’t be mad? Jeni, I’m so glad you’ve seen someone, but why the hell wouldn’t you tell me about it? You’ve been keeping all these secrets from me and you go on about trust? Where’s your
fucking
trust in me? I have done nothing but trust you and love you since we met and this is how you repay me? Jeni, can’t you see how
fucked
up this is? God, I’m so beyond angry I just don’t know what to do. What else have you lied to me about?” he asks loudly.

My bottom lip starts to quiver. “It’s not that I lied to you, it was just omitting the truth.”

“Oh and so you think that’s okay do you? Keeping me in the dark so you suffer in silence while I’m oblivious to the fact that you’re drowning in a sea of depression caused by my father. Jeni, remember the word
trust?
You obviously have none in me so why should I bother?”

“Aiden, please.”

“No, Jeni, this is ridiculous. What else aren’t you telling me? I want to know everything, and I want to know
now!”

He’s so far beyond angry, I’m not sure if I should tell him or not, but I think if I don’t say anything and keep him in the dark for longer, it would break him. So I decide to tell him everything.

“Okay, but promise me you won’t go in there and commit murder. I can’t lose you again, Aiden.”

“I can’t promise anything right now,” he says, looking at me as his breathing quickens. His body is rigid, and his eyes are a glassy, stern pool of anger. I bite my bottom lip and exhale, preparing myself to tell him everything.

“He’s been making me tell him I’m an insignificant little bitch, and he’s been raising his hand to me as he knows I am scared of being hurt again. He uses it to his advantage, and he corners me every chance he gets so he can belittle me and abuse me. The day I fell over in the Anderson meeting, I didn’t fall. Alistair tripped me. Your father said that if I told you what he was doing to me that he would get Jason released on day pass, and I honestly don’t know how I would function knowing that Jason was out. So it’s not like I didn’t trust you, Aiden, it’s that I couldn’t take the risk. Jason scares the hell out of me and knowing that your father knows the warden’s son at St. Luke’s, I just couldn’t risk it,” I say, taking Aiden’s stiff hand in mine. He shakes his head and scowls at me.

“Jeni, I love you, but sometimes you can be so naive. Father doesn’t know the warden’s son. He made that up to scare you,” he says, making me frown.

“Oh,” I say as the realization hits me that Alistair has been playing me all along. I feel angry, pure unadulterated anger toward him, and in this moment, I decide he no longer deserves for me to try and protect his relationship with his son. So I tell Aiden absolutely everything.

“The worst part is yet to come, Aiden.”

“What do you mean the worst part?” he says his breathing increasing again.

“That day, when you went to the Anderson’s, and I fell off the ladder in the kitchen…”

His eyebrows furrow while he listens intently.

“Alistair pulled me from the ladder. He watched me fall and saw the box land on my stomach, and then he left me there on the floor.”

Aiden stops breathing as his eyes glaze over like he’s completely lost. It’s as if his soul has left his body, and he’s just a shell of a man standing in front of me while he processes the information I’ve just laid out in front of him. His lips tighten into a tight thin line as I watch his face turning red. His nostrils flare and a small grunt escapes his mouth.
“Fuuuuuck!”
he yells, making me jump. Suddenly he turns toward his desk, picks up his desk lamp and throws it against the wall smashing it to pieces. I watch as he paces around the room, breathing heavily.

“Babe.”

“Don’t. Don’t talk to me right now.
How could you not tell me this, Jeni
?” he yells at me for the first time. Tears form and then run down my face; I have never seen him like this before. I reach out my hand to touch his, but he pulls away. I think I might have broken him. His breathing is erratic as he paces the floor, stomping his feet with every step. He’s so angry it’s almost scary.

“He killed our baby,” he mumbles under his breath.

“Aiden,” I say, trying to get his attention. He shakes his head and storms over to the door, pulling it open with such force that when it opens, the door handle smashes against the wall behind it, leaving a hole in the wall. He walks over to his father’s office as I start to run behind him as he makes his way inside.

“Aiden, stop!”
I yell, but he ignores me. I make it to doorway just in time to see Aiden pick his father up by the scruff of his neck and push him up against the wall behind him.

“Son, think about who you’re man handling,” Alistair says as he’s thrust up against the wall.

Aiden doesn’t say anything, but I see his right fist clench and then in what seems like slow motion, he punches Alistair in the nose. Brielle screams at Aiden to stop as he repeatedly punches Alistair into a bloody mess. I feel numb, standing here, watching Aiden beat his father repeatedly. Bree runs up to Aiden and grabs his arm; he looks down at her with an intense burn in his eyes.

“Aiden, stop. Please. Stop, you’re going to kill him!” Bree says as tears run down her cheeks. Aiden looks down at his father moaning on the ground and exhales. He looks over to me, and I see his bottom lip quiver. Bree kneels down to tend to her father as Aiden storms out of the office. He pushes past me and makes his way back to his office. I follow closely behind.

I walk in to see him pacing the floor again. I bite my bottom lip while I stand in the doorway watching him fall apart.

“I can’t believe this,” he says under his breath as he stops and looks at me. His brow is furrowed and he takes in a deep breath. He shakes his head and walks toward me. I feel completely numb as he walks past me and toward the elevator. I turn to watch him press the button.

“Aiden, where are you going?” I ask.

“I can’t be around any of you right now,” he says sharply, and then enters the elevator. A sudden wave of panic rips through me, and I start to run toward the elevator. He sees me running and pushes the close door button.

“Aiden, don’t leave me,”
I yell. He winces but lets the doors close. I reach them too late and Aiden is gone. I bang on the doors in frustration as anxiety overwhelms me. My breathing becomes erratic, and I can’t help the fresh tears that sting my eyes. I turn and slide down the doors as the emotion overcomes me. Bree comes out of her father’s office and looks at me. I can’t tell if she is angry with me or not, but right now I don’t care. Aiden is gone and I don’t know what that means. I want to chase after him but that would probably make things worse. I need to let him process the information on his own and deal with it in his own way.

“What happened to make Aiden so angry?” Bree asks, walking over to me. I sniff and look at her. She seems conflicted, as I guess she would, having to deal with her brother and her father fighting.

“I told him everything, including that Alistair pulled me from the ladder and left me in the kitchen while I was losing our baby.”

She winces. “Okay, give him some time. He’ll be back. He just needs to process the information. It’s a lot to deal with and I guess Aiden just needs some space. Don’t worry,” she says, and she pats my shoulder and heads toward the kitchen.

I slowly get up and make my way to my desk and sit down. Bree walks back out with some ice in a hand towel, I’m guessing for her father’s nose.

“Is he okay?” I ask, wiping my tear soaked cheeks as she walks toward his office.

“He’s pretty hurt, emotionally, but physically he’s okay. I don’t think his nose is broken, just a bit bruised and bloodied up.”

Alistair comes out of his office, confusion written all over his face and blood on his shirt.

“Callie, when’s dinner?” he asks Brielle. She looks around and shakes her head.