Passing His Guard

He let the threat hang in the air. She was a smart woman and her shrewd gaze narrowed on him. “Do not even think about it, Aiden.”

He gave a negligent shrug and raised his wrist, pulling back his sleeve to check the time and exposing several inches of ink. Ignoring her surprised gasp, he said, “I have a meeting with Moralli in an hour. It didn’t take long for him to discover I was back in town—imagine that. I won’t ask you how he found that out. Which brings me to the subject of Rya

Madeline sat back in her chair and busied herself with the napkin in her lap. “She was referred to me.”

“By whom?” Her delay in response was all the answer he needed. Fuck. It gave him no pleasure to discover he was right. Moralli was behind this. Question is, just how deep did this deception run? “You owe her payment for services rendered.”

Reaching across the table, she took hold of his chin and angled his head to the side. It was the first time she’d touched him in as long as he could remember and the unexpected contact surprised him, catching him off guard and rendering him momentarily speechless.

Unfortunately, the same effect wasn’t true for her. That hawkish gaze zeroed in on his neck, making him feel all of sixteen again. “That’s fu

He jerked away from her touch as if she’d burned him. “You’ll pay her because she did the job that no one else could do, and she needs the money. Then again, you probably already knew that. And as for this . . .” He pointed to his face. “This is who I am. And for the first time in my life, I was finally happy.”

She looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. “I don’t know who you think you are. But this—” she swept her disdainful gaze over him “—is not my son.”

Wow, that hurt a hell of a lot more than he’d expected it to. Pushing back his chair, he cleared his throat, trying to dislodge the swelling lump, and stood. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Mom.”

As he turned to leave, she sighed. “Aiden, wait . . .”

But his steps didn’t falter, nor did he cast her the briefest parting glance as he walked away. There was nothing left to say.

CHAPTER

27

As Aiden headed across town to Vincent Moralli’s office, he tried once again to contact Rya

“Hey, Rya

He disco

As Aiden pushed the button and the elevator doors slid closed, he forced aside all thoughts of his meeting with his mother, his issues with Rya

In fact, he was safer in the cage than he was with this man. At least in the cage they had rules, and a ref and judges. When preparing for a fight, Aiden had the chance to study his opponent’s moves and learn his weaknesses. But walking into Moralli Enterprises after being out of this game for over a year, Aiden couldn’t shake the feeling he was about to be blindsided. He hadn’t been home for even an hour last night before he’d gotten the call from Frank Luciana, Moralli’s enforcer, requesting a meeting. He had no clue what this guy could possibly want, but whatever it was, Aiden was pretty sure it wasn’t to offer him his old job back. Were it not for settling up Rya

The elevator chimed its destination and the doors slid open. Tension strung his muscles tight; restless energy hummed beneath his flesh with the familiar prickle of anticipation. He was ready to get this meeting over with and was anxious to see Rya

Aiden gave the receptionist a curt nod as he walked past, heading for Moralli’s office. “Mr. Kruze!” she cried, jumping up from her desk. “Wait!” She chased after him, shuffling on her high-heels. What did she think she could do to stop him? “You can’t just walk in th—”

His hand was on the knob and he was halfway through the door when the woman finally caught up to him. Aiden had never treaded lightly around Moralli and he wasn’t about to start now. Vincent was sitting behind his desk. At the intrusion, his head snapped up and the scowl darkening his face eased ever so slightly when his eyes locked on Aiden.

“It’s all right, Ms. Porter, Mr. Kruze has an appointment.” The woman faded into the background and Aiden closed the door behind him. Vincent’s gaze darted to the clock on the wall. “You’re early. I wasn’t expecting you for another twenty minutes.”

Aiden shrugged. “My other meeting didn’t last as long as I was expecting.”

“Please,” Vincent said, sweeping his hand toward the empty chair across his desk. “Have a seat.” The man’s grin was more a showing of his teeth than a smile. Zero warmth filled his eyes as he attempted to appear amiable, but Aiden knew him well enough to see through the false charm. “How are you?” The chair creaked as the man leaned back, stretching out behind his desk. He folded his hands in his lap, fingers steepled, as he waited for Aiden to answer.

He fought the instinct to tense under the man’s watchful gaze. Guys like Moralli got off on power and intimidation, and Aiden refused to cow before anyone. Keeping his posture at ease, he returned the man’s assessing stare. The light gray suit matched the silver streaks in his dark brown hair. He’d lost weight in the past months, making his custom-fit Fioravanti not so custom anymore. He’d almost wondered if the man was ill, but the dangerous spark in those eyes hadn’t dimmed a bit.

“I’ve been better,” Aiden told him in all honesty. If there was one thing the man detested, it was being lied to. He wasn’t here to make an enemy, he was here to settle Rya