Heartless (Merciless 2)

Chapter 10

Carter

“What’s the update?” I ask Jase, leaning against the wall in the hall. My eyes stay pinned on the carved glass doorknob with my thoughts on what’s behind it.

“Same as before.” Jase’s answer comes out low as we both see Aria and Daniel making their way toward us. They’re far enough away that she won’t be able to hear. Her fingers twist around one another as she walks quickly to keep up with Daniel’s pace.

I don’t know what Daniel tells her with a wide grin, but it cracks the solemn look on her face and she smiles back at him.

“Romano’s ready to strike when we are. As far as everyone knows, it’s the two of us taking out Talvery.”

“And the drug? What about the buyers hoarding it?”

“They’re all saying Marcus. But it’s only a name.” I know what he’s getting at. When a man is close to death, he’ll tell you anything you want to know, either to make his ending quick or to try to save himself. Four men now, each hoarding the drug we know to be lethal and each only giving up a single name in their last breath. Those are the only four buying in bulk, except for the girl I saw a week ago. I’d rather not seek her out, but our options are dwindling.

“Why not give more information?”

Jase’s palm presses against the wall and I can feel his gaze on me as he leans closer. “What does he have on them that they keep his secrets even as they die?”

“Maybe they don’t know anything else,” I offer, but Jase shakes his head. I only glance up at him because of Aria. She sees his expression and the bit of happiness Daniel provided her instantly vanishes.

Jase looks worried, angry even with a scowl plastered across his face.

“We’ll talk about it later,” I tell him lowly, but he doesn’t stop.

“They didn’t give me anything. Not a drop-off point, not a procedure or any details at all.” He leans in closer to me to emphasize, “Only a name.”

Our gazes are locked for a moment longer than they should be.

Daniel clears his throat at the same time that I hear his and Aria’s footsteps come to a stop behind me.

“Then we have a name,” I tell Jase and a small twitch gathers on the corner of his lips.

“Later,” I remind him. “We’ll talk later.” He nods, pushing off the wall and finally nodding a hello to Aria.

“I hope you like it,” Jase tells her, and she glances between the two of us, not knowing what the hell he’s talking about.

As Daniel and Jase walk away, heading back the way Daniel and Aria came, she tells him, thank you, to which she’s given a smile from both of my brothers.

Her nervousness is still visible as she barely glances toward me and continues to run her fingers along the seam of her blouse. Anything out of the normal routine causes this reaction in her.

I wonder how long that will last.

The drunken comment she made the other night hasn’t left me. That night, as soon as she was asleep, I made arrangements.

She said she’s going to leave me one day. That she’s going to run away and hide in her room until the war is done with. She was drunk, but she said it as if it was a fact.

She doesn’t remember saying it, but that doesn’t change anything.

I won’t let her leave me. She’s never allowed to leave me.

I asked her why she’d leave me, and she said so simply, that sometimes she just wants to breathe but can’t even do that without overthinking everything.

I won’t give her a bedroom, but she can have a room to run to.

I can hide what’s going on from her until her questions fade and all she has left is me.

“What is this?” Aria asks as the door opens.

“It was a storage room,” I answer her with one hand splayed on her lower back and one hand on the door to push it open as far as it’ll go.

“And now?” she asks aimlessly as she takes a step into the brightly lit room. Her face is filled with awe as she steps further into the lushly decorated room.

Other than a gray paisley wallpapered wall to the left, where one would presume a bed to sit, the remainder of the walls are a soft blush, nearly white.

The chair at the vanity is lined with a matching gray striped fabric and beyond it are glass vases and a matching glass standing light.

Gray and blush are the only two colors. The decorator referred to the color scheme as mineral tones, but it looks feminine as fuck to me. I wanted Aria to know this room was designed for her, so every piece of furniture and item contained in this room was meant to ensure she knew it belonged to her.