Aidan (Devil's Stepbrothers MC)(31)

"You haven't done anything wrong. So pick that head up and bring me back  my sister. It's hard on all of us losing Lucca, but losing you while  you're still here is more than I could take sitting down. I pulled a lot  of strings to bring you back to the land of the living, so now you have  to do your part."



Frankie stood up and kissed her on the forehead before he walked over to her phone.



"Hey, he texted you back," he said scrolling through her phone.



"What are you doing looking at my texts?" She got up and walked over to  him gingerly. You would think that he would be kind knowing how much  she'd had to drink, but he wasn't that concerned about that, apparently.



"I've fucking told you to put a lock on your fucking phone. You live in a  house full of criminals for god's sake." Frankie's trademark grin was  back. He loved to give people shit, and normally she loved to take it.  He was such a character.



"Who texted back? I didn't text anyone." She got up to retrieve her  phone from her brother's hand as he scrolled and read through her text  messages.



"Yes you did. You are rough with your drunk text. You really let him  have it." Frankie was playing keep away with her phone, and that wasn't  really fair because she was practically handicapped with her  drunkenness.



"Stop reading that." She stretched and tried to get her phone, but he was easily keeping it away from her.



He threw her phone on the bed, and although the smile remained on his  face, he looked a bit more somber when he looked at her. "Look at the  DVD before you look at your texts. Okay?"



She gave him a semi shrug because she wanted him to leave not really  because she was going to do what he said. How was it fair that he'd read  the messages and she couldn't? Damn was she so lame that her baby  brother could tell her what to do? She'd do whatever the hell she wanted  to do while she was locked up in maximum security.



"I mean it. You are the only person that I would actually trust to keep  her word." He looked so sincere, and she knew that she'd always been  very good with her word before and wouldn't break the trust her brother  had in her. It was the least she could do. Damn it, she wanted to see  who had texted her back, and she wanted to see what she'd said, but she  gave her word and that had always meant a lot to her.         

     



 



"I promise to look at the video before I read the text, but I have to  tell you that I don't have a lot of reserve. Is this going to hurt me?"  The fear crept into her just thinking about what could be on the DVD  waiting to devastate her even more than she already was.



"Yes …  but it's going to help you too." Frankie left, and she stared at  the disc in her hands like it had the weight of the world on it. Knowing  who had given it to her and what it was about, it probably did.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN




Aidan Barnes had been having the worst life possible before he met up  with the woman who made him think there was a chance his luck was  turning toward the better. His one idea to see her father had come out  of the blue when he couldn't think of anything else to do. It was a  ballsy move if he said so himself. He sat and thought about how he  could've made it work out better.



It had taken some time and a lot of money and persuasion to get even the  phone number of a guy who knew someone who could get him an audience  that high in the Giovanni Family. Then after all the cat and mouse chase  he'd been ushered in like he was, well if not royalty, not the enemy.  There was a chance that this could have all been a set up and they had a  pair of cement shoes that they were going to fit him with when he  entered the door, but he needed information, and he was going to get it.  If it came down to it being something else, he'd have to deal with that  when the time came.



It was only Antonio Giovanni and himself in a large room that looked  like it had gold lining the walls and mirrors for ceilings. He could see  where his Lorna's taste in design came from. He told his story from the  top. How he'd met his daughter and that she meant so much to him that  he'd not done the job he was sent to do but worked with Lucca to get to  the bottom of the problem. He also told him how his crew had sent  someone else to do the job it was taking him too long to do, followed  him by the GPS they'd placed to track him on his bike, and killed Lucca  when they were going to exchange a bracelet so he could show the father  Lorna was alive and well.



He sometimes remembered what happened next like it was on a loop in his mind.



***



The man had power, and he knew it. He sat staring at him like he was  less than a man, and for that Aidan wouldn't bend. It had been said that  Antonio Giovanni could bring tears to a grown man's eyes, but Aidan had  the fear knocked out of him long ago and would show none now.



"Are you Italian?" Antonio asked as he looked Aidan up and down.



"No. I'm not." Aidan didn't mind a bit of a stare down with the man who  held the key to him seeing Lorna. They both knew he wasn't Italian so  there must have been a reason for that question.



"Lorna's mother and I have always wanted to see her settle down with a  good Italian boy. Someone we know …  who works with me. It's clear to me  that you aren't any of those things." Her father was good at letting his  desires be known, but the decision was ultimately up to Lorna.



"So you're saying that you wanted your daughter to marry someone from  your organization? That may make him Italian, but he would be no better  than me …  or you for that matter."



Antonio sat up in his chair and glared at Aidan. It was good that the  man could hear an insult when it was distributed. Aidan just hoped the  man could see that he could match wits with the best of them because he  was definitely outnumbered.



"We buried my right hand man and Lorna's cousin last week, and here you  stand wanting more from me and my family?" The man was having a hard  time keeping his cool, and that was understandable; Aidan just hoped  that he could keep it together enough to really hear what he was saying.



The man wanted a fight, and Aidan could understand him being angry. A  good fight always worked some of the tension out, but the man had to  know this wasn't his fight.



"Sir, I understand that you're upset, but I was trying hard to work out another alternative for this situation."



"I'm aware of all you tried to do, boy, but it didn't work, and the  result is the same as if you just walked in and killed Lucca. You think  you're forgiven? You turned my daughter against me and took Lucca …  I  should have your balls cut off as we speak." Antonio looked away like he  couldn't stand the sight of him any longer.



Aidan knew that there was a possibility that he'd never see the light of  day again. He'd come to terms with that as he was frisked by the door  by a man who had more visible guns on his person than a regular gun  closet would hold.         

     



 



"With all respect, I didn't mean to come in here and upset you. I only  want to talk to your daughter for a few minutes and give her back her  bracelet. I've gone by her house and her store, and both seemed to be  closed down. I really didn't want to come here, but I had no choice."



"We all have choices to make. Sometimes you make the right ones …  and  other times you don't." Antonio still didn't look his way, but he took  in a deep breath and let it out with a loud sigh. "She's getting married  within the month to someone more suitable than you. Keep the trinket.  Her new husband will get her another one."



Aidan had been dismissed. He'd known about that possibility as well, but he had to try.



"In case you didn't realize, that was me telling you to fuck off," Antonio said as he stood by his chair.



Aidan wouldn't ever let a man like that see how much something he said  or the fact that he was withholding his daughter hurt because once you  showed your belly to the enemy, you should just hand over the knife to  gut you as well. Aidan backed toward the door noticing that it was now  opened and three armed men surrounded it.



"What do you want us to do with him, boss?" asked the man with the thick  neck and gun drawn already. These men were blood thirsty; it must have  been a slow week or maybe they were just wanting to get some revenge on  the guy who was sent there to kill Lucca.



"Just get him the fuck out of here and onto his dirty little bike … "  Antonio looked Aidan up and down like he was trying to come to grips  with something, and the room was filled with silence that was pregnant  with anticipation. " … and let him go. Unharmed."



The man with the gun drawn had a smile on his face that made Aidan  wonder if this was the guy who was going to get the unreleased wrath  that was bubbling under the surface. Aidan would be happy with a good  fight.