“Octavia, put down your gun,” Aaron said. “I won’t let your family take this.”
“I won’t let you take it either,” I said.
A frown line creased his brow, but his grip on the gun didn’t waver. “Wait, what do you want to do with the drug?”
“Destroy it. I don’t want anyone to get any ideas to steal it or sell it,” I said. “Not even you.”
“You want to destroy it?” He gaped at me.
I jerked my head back toward the container I’d left on the ground. Bullets were still flying, but we were protected by two wide columns.
“Okay,” Aaron said, lowering his gun and taking a step back. “Do it.”
“What?” I still had my gun pointed at him in case it was all just a pretense to get me to lower my guard. “Why would you let me do that? I thought you wanted to sell the drug on your own to use the money to destroy your father or my family.”
“No, I don’t want to sell that shit.” He scowled. “And how could I even do it without my father finding out and coming for me?”
I shrugged. “You could say someone else stole it. Like my family. Your father would never know.”
“That’s not what I want. Losing this will be a huge blow to my father,” Aaron said, and I finally lowered the gun.
“Can’t he just make more?” I asked. “I know it’ll take time, but...”
“Hopefully, he can’t. I overheard something about your family finding the source and destroying any chance of making more. I think this is all of what’s left of it. With it gone...”
“Okay, let’s do this.” There wasn’t much time for chitchat because someone could come and attack us before the shipment was destroyed. Aaron ran for the canister, then brought it to me as I looked inside the truck, which was full of boxes. I opened the first one and saw packages of whitish powder. “We’re sure this is it, right?” I asked.
Aaron nodded. “They wouldn’t be protecting this truck otherwise.”
“Fine then.” I climbed inside and spilled the gasoline around as Aaron kept watch to make sure we weren’t interrupted. He’d never wanted to use the drug. Somehow that made me like him even more. Once I was out of the truck, I pulled out the matches, lit one, and carefully dropped it inside. Fire spread through the truck as it caught the empty egg cartons that were supposed to hide the drug, and we backed away as someone shouted. They must have noticed the truck was on fire, but they wouldn’t be able to save the shipment.
Aaron grabbed my hand and we ran, hiding behind other trucks and columns and avoiding bodies. The gunfire had ceased and was replaced by the sounds of running engines. It was a surprise there were still cars that could run, but I hadn’t even seen the middle of the battlefield, so maybe those were new ones. It sounded like they were leaving, though.
“Come on!” Aaron led me away from the trucks, and we reached the hole we’d used to get inside. Letting go of me, Aaron pushed me up, and I quickly climbed up and hoped no one was waiting for us to emerge.
Aaron followed me out, and we slammed the door shut behind us. I let out a loud breath. The field and trees around us were in darkness, and the metal container that was at the entrance to the garage was on fire. A few cars were scattered around, dead bodies everywhere. I squinted my eyes, looking for a familiar face among the men who were standing around one of the cars. Michael’s face came into view, and a fraction of the tension left my shoulders. He was talking to someone on the phone.
“You should go to them,” Aaron said quietly. “The air’s clear. My father’s men have fled.” He waved with his phone, which meant he must have gotten a message from someone.
“Marco?” I asked, holding my breath.
“He’s fine.”
“Good.” He must have gone with his father and the rest of Roberto’s men. Before I could say anything else, Aaron pulled me in for a kiss, his tongue parting my lips and exploring my mouth. I held onto him, unwilling to let go, but I knew I’d have to.
“They’re going to be looking for you,” he said when we pulled away. “You should go.”
“But you...”
“I’ll be fine,” he said.
“We...” I started to say, but Aaron placed his finger over my lips.
“There’s no we, Octavia. There can’t be. This was an act of war, and I don’t want you in the middle of it. You should go somewhere far away from here. Be happy. I’m sorry for what you had to go through because of me.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but I knew that he was right. He was still a Viteri, and I was a Ferrara. “Be careful, okay? You don’t have to be a part of this war. You can go wherever you want...”
“Octavia, go.” Aaron’s voice cracked a little. “Just go.”
I broke into a run, my eyes filling with tears, and I knew that if I looked back, I wouldn’t be able to leave him, so I kept my eyes on the men in front of me. Slowing down, I raised my hands.
“Don’t shoot me!” I yelled as everyone reached for their guns.
“Octavia!” Michael yelled in shock. “Put your guns down!” He raced toward me and pulled me into his arms, squeezing so hard that I thought I wouldn’t be able to breathe. “Sis, I thought I’d never see you again. How did you...?”
“Is everyone okay?” I asked, pulling back. “Is Dad and...?”
“Yeah, everyone’s fine.” Michael gave me a reassuring smile.
“Where are they?” I looked around, but all I saw were the faces of my family’s most trusted men, which explained why Michael didn’t try to hide my real identity.
“Dylan got shot. He’s going to be fine. I have to call the rest to tell them to stop chasing after the Viteris because you’re here.” He fished his phone out of the pocket inside his jacket and quickly dialed a number. As he went on explaining that I was safe and with him, I glanced back at the darkness, wondering where Aaron had gone and if I’d be seeing him again.
***
“Oh, honey.” My mom wrapped her arms tightly around me and released me after what seemed like a century. In fact, today I’d been hugged more times than I could count.
“Mom, I’m fine.” I was a bit annoyed that my mom had been forced to cut her vacation short, since it had taken my brothers and me ages to convince her she could leave us for a while and have some time for herself, away from all the stress and drama. We’d wanted Dad to go too, but he’d thought it was too much of a risk for them to be seen together in public.
“I want to know what happened.” Her brown eyes were hard. “If anyone touched you... I want their names or descriptions, and I’m going to end them.”
“Mom!” I sighed, taking a seat on the sofa. My whole family was in the room, and the guards were outside, ready to take on anyone who dared to interrupt. But after what happened, the Viteris had retreated and the word about our win had spread through the whole area, which meant no one really dared to come against us.
Dylan was lying on the couch, his arm and leg wrapped up. He’d been lucky the bullets hadn’t hit anything important. Jason and Michael were standing in the middle of the room and arguing about what they should do about my kidnapping. Jason insisted Aaron and the Viteris needed to pay for what they’d done, but Michael wanted to hear my story first and thought going after the Viteris now was too risky since they’d holed up pretty well and were expecting more attacks. My father was sitting across from me, his face calm, but his eyes were troubled.
“You went there without my permission. You could’ve been killed,” he said, but he was failing at sounding angry at me.
“But I wasn’t killed. It was my decision. I’m here now. We stopped the Viteris from distributing that drug, and Katya is safe and well. That’s all that matters.”
“I shouldn’t have...” Tony started to say, his eyes fixed to the floor.
“Tony, I told you it wasn’t your fault.” I’d have to talk to my brother later about this and convince him that he shouldn’t feel guilty about anything.
“You burned that shipment,” Dylan said. “That was pretty awesome. How’d you do it? How’d you even get there?”
“It’s a long story.” I didn’t want to relive that quite yet.
“Why did you do that? We were winning. We could’ve taken that drug!” Jason narrowed his eyes at me. “We could’ve killed them all. Instead, some of them got away!”
“The Viteris’ men would’ve fought for it until their last breath. I’m sorry that your friend Coco got killed. I heard that wasn’t the only death. But how many more of ours we could’ve lost and for what? Roberto wasn’t there. What would you have done with the shipment anyway? You would’ve become a target for anyone who wanted to get their hands on it, or did you want to distribute it and kill a bunch of people?” I met his eyes.
“Quiet!” My father raised his hand before Jason could reply. “You made the right call, Octavia. I’m proud of you.”
“Father, you...” Jason started to say, but my father flashed him a warning look.
“Princess, we need to know what happened to you. How did you escape?” my father said, his eyes full of concern. “I know it might be difficult for you to talk about that, and if you prefer to talk to me and your mother in private...”
“No, I just... Aaron let me go. He helped me destroy the shipment,” I said. “When he caught me in his apartment, he offered me a deal to help him take over his father’s business, and I agreed. He didn’t hurt me in any way. Destroying that shipment was a huge setback for his father, and that was exactly what Aaron wanted, so he let me go. He even stopped the assassin who Roberto hired to kill one of you.” I looked at my brothers.
“She’s got Stockholm syndrome,” Jason said. “The Viteris are monsters! Who knows what they did to her! Maybe she’s been brainwashed somehow and they sent her back to us to get information out of us.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I glared at Jason. “I wasn’t brainwashed to do anything. And Aaron helped Katya escape, just like he helped other girls. He’s not like his father.”
“See what I’m talking about?” Jason said. “She’s defending him. And we’ve all seen what he’s capable of.”
I groaned in frustration. “I don’t care what you believe, brother! I know what happened.”
“Honey.” My mom came over to me and placed her hand over mine. “I know a nice and discreet doctor who can talk to you and maybe...”
Wonderful. “Mom, please. I didn’t invent a different story to protect myself from the horrors of whatever you think happened to me. But sure, I can go talk to your doctor. I killed a few people, so yeah, I could use some therapy, I guess.”
“What?” Dylan’s mouth fell open. “You actually shot someone? Like a real person?”
“It was me or them. I had no choice.”
“I’m so sorry.” My mom’s eyes welled up with tears. “We never wanted this life for you.”
“You wouldn’t have had to kill anyone if it wasn’t for Aaron Viteri,” Jason said. “See, I told you there’s no reason to defend him.”
“Jason, just shut up. It was my choice to find the files and I was aware of the risks,” I repeated for God knows how many times. I was getting really tired of this whole thing. “Can we talk about something else other than me? I’ll tell you everything later. I’m just not in the mood right now.”
“Yeah, take your time,” my mom said. “We’re here for you.”
“What are you planning to do now?” I looked up at my father. “Are we at war with the Viteris?”
“They are laying low and I don’t think we can draw them out or surprise them. We lost a lot of good men, and I don’t think it’s in our best interest to pursue them now.”
“But this is our chance!” Jason yelled, balling his fists. “They’re weak! We can take them and show them who’s the boss. We can take control over the whole area.”
“Not yet. We don’t have enough forces to spread across the whole area, and there are two cartels waiting to come and get us if they see we’re vulnerable.”
“So we’re just going to let them get away with what they did to Octavia and to us?” Jason asked.
“No, we won’t, but we’re not going to stupidly rush into a fight that we might be able to win, only to weaken ourselves and leave ourselves open to an attack as a result,” my father said firmly. “I forbid you to go after the Viteris without my permission.”
“But...”
“No buts, Jason. I love you and I understand how you feel, but attacking wouldn’t be the best choice for our family and someday you might realize I was right.” My father’s eyes softened as he looked at Jason, whose anger faded a little.
“This is all so boring,” Tony said. “Sis, why don’t we go play a game? Take your mind off this shit?”
“Sure. Just no shooting games.” I got to my feet, glad I could find some distraction. Too bad there wasn’t anything that could take my mind off Aaron. What was he doing now? Did he miss me? Did he even think about me? One part of me hoped that he did.