Page 16 of Sold to the Titan

Chapter 8

Cillian

“Listen, Daniel, I’ve already told you—I’m not selling it to him.” I turn away from the splendid view outside the window of my home office with an irritated sigh. This conversation has dragged on too long, and I’m running out of patience.

Daniel Riggs is my business partner and longtime friend. We met while I was sourcing funds to start my company. He was working as a bartender in a club I used to frequent, fresh out of business school. After one too many bottles one Friday night, I told him about my plans and he swore to secure investors if I gave him thirty percent of the company’s shares. Two years later, Cypher Co. came into existence, and we’ve been a great team since then.

Until now.

“I just don’t understand why you’re turning down Vincent Leone?” Daniel says, his frustration evident even though we’re miles apart. I can imagine him scowling at the phone like he does at me whenever he’s trying to get a point across.

“Leone is an asshole,” I say simply. The bastard is worse than an asshole—he controls the production and distribution of drugs in all of Mexico and is on the FBI’s most wanted list. He abducts kids and women off the streets and takes them to his productionsite where they test all sorts of drugs on them. The feds are closing in on him, and now the bastard wants to protect his production site with my software.

“You had no problem taking money from assholes before,” Daniel says. “What the hell changed?”

Everything. Everything has changed since Aria came into my life. I know I can’t erase all the shit I did in the past, but I can do better moving forward. I want to be better for her, I want to deserve her.

Not like I can say any of that to Daniel—he’d never understand.

“Do you realize how much money he’s willing to put up for that software?” he asks.

“Don’t care,” I say, my voice ringing with finality. “I’m not selling it to him.”

There’s a pause on the other end of the line, followed by a deep sigh. “I don’t understand.” My friend’s voice is a mixture of resignation and disappointment. “I don’t understand any of this at all. I flew all the way to Mexico. I waited four fucking weeks before I could secure a meeting, and another two to convince him we’re his best bet, and now you don’t want to sell to him? This is fucking unbelievable.”

I listen quietly while Daniel vents his frustration. He has the right to be mad, but he won’t change my mind. He’ll get over it and start looking for the next big client. I make a mental note to tell him not to approach criminals like Leone again. We’re going a hundred percent legit.

A gentle knock sounds at the door, and I glance up as Aria walks in. A grin breaks out on my face. It’s only been a few minutes since I left her all tangled up in my sheets to receive Daniel’s call,but it feels like hours and seeing her now makes me realize how much I’ve missed her in those few minutes.

God, I’ve got it bad.

“Daniel,” I say, cutting through his rant, “we’ll talk later.”

A slight pause. “Alright, Wolfe, but this isn’t over.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I end the call and set my phone down, focusing on my Aria. “Hey, love.”

Aria doesn’t return my smile, and I instantly know something isn’t right. Her face is pale and her usually sparkling green eyes look haunted with guilt. I reach for her, trying to pull her close, to console her, but she flinches—just barely, but enough for me to notice. I drop my hands, keeping a straight face despite the painful jab that her rejection drives through my heart.

“What’s wrong, love?”

“Vivian is missing,” she says quietly, searching my face as if it holds answers to the questions in her head. “I was chatting on the phone with a colleague from work and she told me. She went missing on the night of the fundraiser.”

“And?”

Aria shrugs nervously. “I don’t know, I just feel like…” She lets her voice trail off, dropping her gaze with a guilty blush. “I wanted to ask if you had anything to do with it, but I realize now how ridiculous and insulting that sounds. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

“You’re right. I do have something to do with it,” I cut in quietly. “I was pissed at the way she treated you that night after what she did, so I leaked her information to some bad guys that she owes money.”

Aria doesn’t say anything. She’s looking at me with a blank expression. For the first time, I can’t tell what she’s thinking. I tell myself I’ve done what’s right, that I’m protecting her in ways she can’t understand. But there’s no relief in her eyes, no gratitude, no blame or disgust…nothing.

“Say something, Aria.”

“Why would you do that?” she asks. She’s shaking her head like she’s trying to wrap her mind around my actions.

I want to tell her that there’s nothing strange about what I did. In my world, an action calls for a reaction—when someone stabs you in the back, you turn around and stab them back, deeper. You stand by and watch them bleed to death. That’s the natural order of things…but I can tell she won’t understand any of it no matter how hard I try to explain. My world and hers are different.

She’ll only realize what kind of monster I am, and that look of adoration in her eyes will change to disgust. The thought sends a stake through my heart, twisting painfully.

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