Carved in Stone (The Stone Series) (23 page)

             
              A warm hand rests lightly on my back at the same time a welcoming familiar voice pierces my thoughts. “You okay sunshine?” Jeremiah’s tone is laced with concern,

             
On a deep inhale of breath I pull myself up plastering a fake smile on my face. “Yeah, I’m all good,” I lie.

             
“You don’t look so good,” counters Jeremiah, his eyes moving over my face as if he is trying to read me.

             
“Just a little tired. How’s it going out there?”

             
“All good. The whole event has gone off without so much as a single glitch. We should be very proud of ourselves,” he grins. “Now scoot back out there and enjoy yourself. There’s nothing left for us to do in here and I think there’s a glass of champagne that has your name it.”

             
“Hmm… I think I might stay in here for a little while – ”

             
“No, no, no…off you go and enjoy,” instructs Jeremiah, shooing me off with his hands. “And grab me a glass too, I’ll be out in a second.”

             
Not wanting to discuss with Jeremiah the real reason I’m wishing to hide in the kitchen, I reluctantly head back to the ballroom silently praying Mia will be alone so I can stand within the safety of her presence.

             
As I reach the entrance of the ballroom I spot Blake dressed in a tux leaning against the wall just outside the fringe of the party. His ankles are crossed in a semi- relaxed posture and he is holding a crystal tumbler filled with dark amber liquid. His hair is a little disheveled and his eyes appear to be bloodshot as they narrow in on me.

Great – an intoxicated Blake! Apparently this night can get worse.

              “Well, well, well if it isn’t the delectable Gabriella, my big brother’s latest piece of ass,” slurs Blake shifting forward to approach me.

             
“You’re drunk,” I accuse, my eyes quickly scanning to see how I can avoid this latest confrontation.

             
“Yes! Yes I am,” he says stopping before me, the strong stench of scotch wafting from his breath. The close proximity of his body to mine sends warning bells ringing loud in my head – real and instant fear washes over me like a tidal wave.

             
Blake’s hard sleazy eyes rake up and down my body, an obnoxious smirk curving his mouth. “You must be some fantastic fucking lay to have Aidan coming back for this long.”

             
Before I can retort a thunderous voice bellows towards us. “Get the fuck away from her now Blake!” Aidan. He’s finally here and by the murderous expression of his face, he is not a happy man.

             
Blake doesn’t move an inch but rather turning his head over his shoulder he taunts, “Ah… the man of the hour. Come on Aidan, you won’t share father’s company, how about sharing your little whore here.”

             
Mia’s, who I note, is now standing several feet away along with Sebastian and Caleb, echoes my own gasp of shock. Before I can move to get away from Blake, Aidan lunges forward grabbing Blake by the scruff of his collar and jerking him roughly back away from me then with one powerful cock of his arm, Aidan sends his fist flying into Blake’s face.

Chapter Twenty

             
The sound of Aidan’s fist slamming against Blake’s flesh in a booming crunch has me stunned speechless in a state of utter shock.

             
“Don’t you ever fucking go near her again,” snarls Aidan, his face distorted in a murderous rage.

             
Just as Blake slowly regains his footing, his nose gushing blood, poring out down his mouth and dripping onto his shirt, Aidan lunges for him once more. With lightening speed Caleb throws his arms around Aidan hauling him back at the same time Sebastian pushes Blake back to the floor. “For God sakes stay down Blake,” hisses Sebastian. “Haven’t you learned your lesson already!”

             
“Easy Aidan,” coaxes Caleb still holding Aidan back. “He’s not worth it man.”

             
“Fucking hell!” Mia exclaims, her eyes wide in stunned disbelief. Her expression matching that of my own horrified one.

             
Heaving, Aidan growls at Caleb, “Let me go Norwood. I’ve got it under control.”

             
Caleb lifts his hands in a placating gesture backing away from Aidan as Sebastian helps a now deflated Blake up and mutters, “Let’s get you cleaned up, you dumb bastard.”

             
Taking a deep calming breath, Aidan turns his enraged gaze towards me. With a clenched jaw he asks gruffly, “Are you okay Gabriella?”

             
“No,” I whisper.

             
The intense glare of his emerald green eyes pin me immoveable for several long silent seconds before I force my eyes away and look to Mia. “I want to go home now please,” I plead softly, tears filling my eyes.

             
Mia nods with compassionate understanding.  “I’ll take you home Gabby,” she says gently, moving towards me.

             
“No,” counters Aidan, the tone of his voice unyieldingly firm. “I will be taking Gabriella home with me.”

             
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I squawk incredulously at the same time Mia hisses, “You’re not taking her anywhere Aidan.”

             
“The fuck I’m not,” bites out Aidan, in Mia’s direction.

             
“I think we should all calm the fuck down,” interjects Caleb standing in between the two of them. Mia’s expression is hard, her chin raised in defiance as she faces off against an equally determined but considerably scarier Aidan.

             
Oh for fuck sakes!

I guess there is n
o time like the present – time to confront my boyfriend and get a few of my questions answered.

             
“Oh for fuck sakes,” I snap at both Aidan and Mia. “One punch up is enough for one goddamn night.”

             
“Don’t think I won’t hit him,” snipes Mia narrowing her gaze at Aidan in an attempt to intimidate him.

             
Bugging my eyes out at Mia, I silently will her to shut the fuck up then I look back at Aidan whose face is now an impassive mask although his scorching eyes say otherwise.

             
“Fine, I’ll talk to you, but up stairs in the suite I used earlier. I’m not going anywhere with you until you explain a few things to me first.”

             
“Fine,” he bites back, roughly grabbing my hand and practically dragging me to the elevators.

             
“I’ll be right here if you need me G,” calls out Mia jeeringly to which Aidan snorts mockingly back in response.

****

              “Which room,” Aidan asks brusquely, still not releasing his grip on my hand as we walk out of the elevator.

             
Dragging me down the hallway, Aidan stops at the door to the room I showered and dressed in earlier tonight and pulls out a master key. Holding the door open for me, I stomp in as he follows me, slamming the door behind him.

             
My heart is literally stuck in my throat and I’m a confused mess of conflicting emotions.

             
Whirling on him, I lift my hands in exasperation. “Okay Aidan, you have me alone so please get on with it – just spit it out.”

             
“Spit what out Gabriella,” he growls back while stalking towards me.

             
“Just say it – you want to break up with me!” I shout holding my hands up in warning. I know if he touches me I’ll break and burst out crying.

             
“What the fuck are you talking about?” He barks, halting mid-step.

             
“Don’t play games with me Aidan. I know you want to end it with me so just do it already!”

             
“Who said anything about ending it with you?” His tone is deceptively calm, a complete contrast to ten seconds ago.

             
“Don’t you?” I shake my head in confusion.

             
“Fuck no!” The sincere finality in his voice confuses me even more.

             
“Oh…”

             
“Well why were you so distant and withdrawn from me on Monday morning before you left to go to Chicago? And apart for the same token text message every night why haven’t I heard from you all week?

             
“I’ve been balls deep in a complicated acquisition so forgive me for being a little occupied and not elaborating more on my text messages.” He fires back sarcastically clenching his jaw.

             
Fucking smartass!

             
“Don’t be condescending Aidan, please give me a little more credit than that.”

             
Aidan stares at me, his fists clenching in agitation as a painful expression passes fleetingly across his features. I know this look on Aidan – it’s the one where he is deciding whether to disclose something personal to me.

             
“You’re right Gabriella,” he says softly, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them up again. His emerald green eyes hold such an intense blazing sincerity within their gaze that an involuntarily shudder races through my body.              

             
“I was also processing the profound depths of my feelings for you. I admit it – I partly closed down so I could digest what was happening between us but I wasn’t pulling away. I told you Gabriella, there is no going back for us – for better or worse – this is us baby.”

             
Overwhelming relief collides with niggling reservations - the combination is an explosion if irrational insecurity as I confess my biggest fear.

             
“Aidan, I’ve been so sacred all week and then tonight… your stepmom saying you would never love me – ”

             
“Virginia is actually my aunt.” He says with bitterness, cutting me off.

             
“What?”

             
“I know what you want to hear Gabriella but first let me tell you a little about my family history.”

             
Speechless, I nod for him to go ahead.

             
“My mother and Virginia were half sisters – same father but different mothers. Virginia’s mother was my grandfathers second wife, a woman he met shortly after his first wife’s, my grandmother’s death. It was a brief affair that he intended not to continue until she fell pregnant with Virginia. My grandfather married her and it was not a pleasant marriage partly due for to fact that he was still very much in love with his dead wife.”

             
Sitting down on the couch behind me without taking my eyes from Aidan’s, I nod for him to continue when he pauses.

             
“When my grandfather died he left the bulk of his estate to my mother, the only child from his first beloved wife. Virginia ended up with a meager inheritance but still it was enough to live off for the rest of her life comfortably. Being the both resentful covetous bitch she is, she wasn’t happy with that and she blamed my mother for her position in life. A couple of years after my parents were married and my mother had invested the majority of her personal wealth that consisted of her inheritance into my father’s new company, Virginia thought she could kill two birds with one stone by seducing my father and enticing him to leave my mother for her thus ensuring her financial future as well as exacting revenge on my mother. Virginia’s in her twisted sick mind had perceived that my mother had stolen Virginia’s share of the estate my grandfather left behind.

             
When my father left my mother for her own sister, my mother was inconsolable heartbroken – she never recovered and took her own life.”

             
Instantly, grief, sadness and compassion for Aidan flood me – my heart painfully aching for him. I could only imagine what it had been like for Aidan as a child to experience such heart wrenching loss.

             
“Oh god Aidan, I’m so sorry baby.”

             
“Don’t,” he scoffs harshly. His tone causes me to flinch in its ferocity.

             
“I’m not telling you this in order for you to feel sorry for me. I am not a virtuous and gracious forgiving man Gabriella – I’m far from it. I wanted retribution for the childhood that was stolen from me, I wanted payback for not only Virginia’s treatment of me when I came to live with her and my father after my mother died, but also I wanted it for the pain she caused my mother. And I needed them both almost as much as the air that I breathed. I warned you before I was a ruthless man but know this about me Gabriella, I will also protect you and our life together with that same unforgiving ruthlessness.”