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Turning from the mirror, she piled pillows against the headboard and climbed into bed. She dragged her computer onto her lap, opened the lid, and turned it on. While she waited for it to power up, she uncapped the flash drive and plugged it into the USB port. A menu popped up in the center of the screen, and the first document she saw was titled Rya
My Dearest Rya
If you are reading this letter, then that means I am no longer with you. I am so sorry for the way things have turned out. I had hoped for a different outcome. By now you probably know the truth, the truth I’ve worked very hard to shelter you from, and I want to start by telling you how deeply I regret the decisions I have made. My only hope is that it’s not too late to correct my wrongs, and my old friend Henry has agreed to help me do that.
I want you to know how much I love you and how very proud I am of the woman you’ve become. You are the only light in the darkness that surrounds me. I have made mistakes, and in trying to undo them, I’ve made far greater ones. I fear my demons are about to catch up with me. Were I to do it all over again, I would have taken you someplace far away from here and started over somewhere simpler—someplace safer. It is my hope and my desire that you do that now. Leave New York, Rya
I’ve set up an account in your name. All the bank information is in an attached file. It’s your mother’s life insurance money, and I want you to use it to start over. It was never my wish to drag you into this, but I fear the ramifications of my actions have made that inevitable. But you must leave, Rya
Again, I want to tell you how sorry I am and how very much I love you.
All My Love,
Daddy
As Rya
This was crazy. She could trust Aiden—couldn’t she? He loved her. And he promised they’d get through this together. She would take her father’s advice. She would leave New York. But she had to see this through first. She had to see Vincent Moralli get the punishment he deserved. When it was over, then she’d decide where to go, where to begin her new life, because truthfully, it was just too painful to stay here anymore—safe or not.
Rya
“Oh, no . . .” she whispered as she read on. Each page was more damning than the last. “Oh, Daddy, how could you do this?” By the time she read through the end of the document, despair gripped her heart. What was she going to do? How was she going to tell Aiden the truth? She didn’t have long to think, because a moment later the bedroom door opened.
CHAPTER
38
Rya
“I thought you were going to sleep,” he commented offhandedly as he closed the door behind him and tugged off his shirt.
“I’d pla
She moved the computer off her lap and set it on the nightstand beside the bed.
“What are you doing?” He stripped off his jeans, leaving his boxers on as he crossed to his side of the bed. Fu
“I was reading some files. How is Nikko?”
She was trying to change the subject, clever girl. But he was a lawyer, and a damn good one, too. He was trained to read people. It was what made him so effective in the courtroom, and Rya
“Nikko’s fine. A little caught up in his head, but he gets that way sometimes.”
“Do you know why?”
Aiden climbed under the covers and stretched out beside her. “Not really. He doesn’t talk about it and I don’t ask. It’s why we get along so well, when we’re not beating the shit out of each other in the cage. I know he’s ex-marine recon and ended his career in Afghanistan. I can only assume it has something to do with that.”
“Do you think what happened tonight with Henry might have triggered some memories?”
“It’s likely. Again, I don’t ask and he doesn’t tell.” He rolled to his side and faced her, propping his head up with his hand. “I like your shirt.”
She smiled and stretched it out, looking down at it. “This old thing? It’s not mine. It belongs to my boyfriend.”
Yeah . . . he liked seeing her in his clothes. It was sexy as hell, especially when she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. “Well, he must have impeccable taste in clothing.”
She shrugged. “Or perhaps a superhero fetish. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Come here,” Aiden growled and grabbed her waist, dragging her across the sheets and rolling her beneath him. He kissed her softly, a gentle brush of his lips, wooing her to lower the last of her defenses. It didn’t take long for Rya