Page 63 of Ruin Me
He smirks. “No. The first rule is to know when to fight and when to use your head. You’ve got a fire in you—I respect that—but it needs direction.”
“Direction? And do you plan on giving that to me? Are we going to bond at the shooting range?”
Aaron’s smirk fades into a serious line. “Maybe we will, but not today.” He walks around his desk, sits down and steeples his fingers, looking at me with an intensity that chills me to the bone. “We need to figure out who is betraying us from the inside. It’s a dangerous game, Vogue. Enemies are not always out in the open.”
I can’t help but snort at that. “Enemies, betrayal, secret fucking wars. This is all just some twisted reality I’ve stepped into.”
He nods solemnly. “Yes, you can look at it that way. But your life is at stake here. Whether you choose to accept it or not, you need our protection. You have already been in danger once.”
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
“I have done everything I can to protect you,Vogue.” Desperation seeps into his words. “This was not how I wanted your life to be.”
“Well, too late for that.” I sit back and cross my arms.
He fixes his gaze on mine, and we just stare at each other for a few seconds, which feels like an eternity.
“Why did you abandon me?” I blurt out suddenly and then shake my head at myself. This will get us nowhere. Nothing he will say will help.
Aaron sits back, the hardness in his eyes softening for just a moment. “You think I had a choice?” His voice is almost a whisper, the layers of the untold story thick between us. “Your mother took you away for your safety. My life, this life,” he gestures around the stark room, “it’s not meant for children. She wanted better for you.”
“So you’re blaming her?”
“Her?” He raises an eyebrow.
“I know she lied to me about where the money came from for my university. But where the fuck was the rest, hmm? Where was the money to help feed me or keep me warm? To stop me having to—” I cut myself off before I can finish that sentence.
“Having to what?” His voice takes on a dark undertone.
“Starve,” I blurt out.
“I gave your mother money every month.”
I shake my head. “Liar. She has never had two pennies to rub together.”
He narrows his eyes. “Then what did she do with it?”
“Stop it! Stop trying to deflect! Your story makes no sense. I grew up dirt poor, I still am. So is Mum. If you say you were never far away, then what the fuck were you doing while we were freezing to death?”
“Trying to provide for you!” he roars. “Megan…” He clenches his fists together, so angry, I think his head is about to explode. I shrink back in my seat, staggered. He is genuinely outraged by this, but I can’t wrap my head around any of it.
He swallows hard and grimaces at me. “I’m not going to sit here and pretend I can make up for lost time or lost opportunities to be a father. Nor am I going to rehash my past actions or surmise what your mother did with all that money. But what I can do is keep you safe now.”
“Why should I trust you?” I challenge, feeling my control slipping as anger and betrayal bubble up inside me. His words make no sense. He has to be lying because if he’s not then that means my mother is.
And she has already lied.
Fuck.
Fuck!
Fucking fuck!
“Because,” Aaron says firmly, rising from his seat with an authoritative presence I can’t ignore, “if you don’t, it won’t just be your life on the line—it’ll be theirs too.” His gaze flicks to the phone before returning to mine.
The mention of Callum, Quentin, Thayer and Harry sends a jolt of fear through me—my heart stutters at the thought of anything happening to them because of me.
The room goes cold, or maybe it’s just the chill settling in my veins as he stands there, a spectre of power and secrets. My breath hitches, and I force myself to keep looking at him. “Are you threatening me? Or them?”
