Invidious Betrayal (44 page)

“You’re not touching me,” Ian warned. He wasn’t going to let his uncle touch either of them if he could help it. “How does Aria fit into all this and why would you want to frame me for murder? I’m your nephew, your brother’s son.” Ian reasoned. “No matter what he feels about me being responsible for my mother’s death how do you think he would feel about his son facing a murder trial?” As soon as he’d asked the question, the puzzle pieces came together for Ian. “You weren’t just going to frame me for murder. You were going to blackmail my father, demand his cooperation for my freedom.”

“For humanity,” Vincent said defensively. “Can you imagine how many people my hard work can help? But the lawmakers and religious groups want to dictate what is morally right and wrong, and all the while the world’s diseased and disabled suffer.”

“Spare me the sales pitch.” Ian shook his head. “I’ve heard it before, one life to save many. The funny thing is that no matter whose saying it, the words still sound crazy.” Ian was sick of looking at the man he once admired. “Me working here and the celebration party where I met Aria were just to set me up. You didn’t want me around anymore than my own father wants me around.” His words were more statement of fact than a question. “I guess I should be use to being unwanted by the Howl men.” Ian leaned forward. His elbows rested on his knees and he sunk his forehead in his palms.

Vincent stood and paced behind his desk. After several quiet minutes, he gripped the back of his chair, his face a mask of anguish. “That’s not true, Ian. I did—I do want you working here. You don’t understand. One of the serum’s side effects is that your emotions dwindle away, eventually leaving just a shell of your former self behind. Only the people you cared for prior to using the drug maintain a faded spot in your heart, and even that love feels hollow at times. As a child you seemed to have a lack of emotion already and I assumed you were affected just as Jasper and I were. I have always loved you, Ian, despite the effects of the serum. We will always have a special bond. You, your father, and Jas are the only people in this world I care for.”

“Clearly you have no idea what love is because what you claim you feel for me isn’t it. Does my father take the serum too?”

“No. He wanted a child for his wife, and I made that possible. He knew nothing of the serum. I would have never given it to Noemi if you hadn’t had it in your system already. You needed it to survive. When I agreed to help them, I never imagined that you would need it.” Vincent pulled his chair out and sat back down. He looked stressed, a shell of the imposing, strong, larger-than-life man Ian had grown to adore and respect.

Awesome
. That meant his father was truly heartless.
He only wanted a child for his wife
.
I think I’ve got the gist of it now
,
though some things still aren’t adding up
, he thought as he rubbed his head for clarity. Vincent and Marroe both said they never injected his mother until she got sick. That she needed the serum. If that were the case then…

Vincent’s earlier words replayed in his head. “
I swear that I had never once injected your mother with Syn-Beta until she became ill
.
”
Vincent had stated
,
“
you were not
a normal fetus.”

It all made sense now. Ian’s hand lifted from his head. “Why did my father ask for your help to conceive a child?” Ian asked through gritted teeth. Vincent’s face paled. He gave Ian a regretful look as if he knew what Ian was thinking. “Why the hell did he come to you and not go to a fertility specialist?” Ian asked again.

“Ian,” Vincent said pleadingly.

Ian couldn’t breathe. He could feel his blood coursing through his veins. His pulse quickened and he began to pant. “Why did he come to you?” His words came out almost as a whisper. The items on Vincent’s desk began to rattle.

“You have to understand that your father loved your mother desperately and he wanted to give her what she wanted. He would have done anything to make her happy.”

“Why?” he yelled. The items on the desk flew out randomly.

“Because,” Vincent sighed, “Victor had been diagnosed with cancer a few years before you were born. The cancer treatments had made him sterile.”

Ian stood, but his feet barely cooperated. He stumbled back, but caught himself. His chest felt tight. His lungs refused to work on their own. A wave of nausea hit him hard, but he swallowed the bile.

Vincent was on his feet and reaching to help him, but Ian swatted his hands away. He didn’t want the man to ever touch him again. But Vincent was persistent and Ian had to send a pulse of energy at him to push him back.

A cry of grief left Ian’s lungs in a rush as he fell to his knees. The painful call seemed to echo through the entire building, causing a few of Jasper’s men to rush into the room to check on him.

“Everything’s fine,” Vincent told them with a wave of his hand.

Ian didn’t see the men leave as he sat on the floor clutching his head.

“Your father and I are identical twins. Your mother wanted a piece of him inside her child, so that you were half of both of them. We all agreed to never tell anyone that you were my—”

“He never loved me because I wasn’t his biological son. It all makes so much sense now,” Ian whispered. “And you”—Ian looked at Vincent accusingly—“you never told her you were using an experimental serum on yourself and that it might affect her child’s development.”

“I wanted to help them.”

“But you said the serum made you sterile,” Ian said, confused.

“It does…eventually, after constant use. It was something I discovered too late.”

“How could you be so callous? How could you play with a woman’s dreams, my mother’s dreams that way?”

“I wanted to help them!” Vincent yelled the words this time.

Ian cursed. “Don’t! Don’t you dare pretend that you fathered me just to help them. I was just an experiment to you.” He got to his feet and rubbed his head, pounding his palm against his temple several times.

“Ian, please try to understand,” Vincent said, as he moved toward him again.

With a raise of his hand, Ian froze Vincent in place and then he looked at Vincent, really looked at him for what seemed like the first time. Never had he thought that his father and uncle were that similar. Yeah, they were identical, but they were so different in many ways that he never saw the stark resemblance. Now as he looked at his uncle, frozen in front of him, he realized they were exactly the same. Aside from the physical, their careers meant more to them than anything else. They were both hard and emotionless men, and they knew nothing of love.

“When Aria is rested, we’re leaving. Don’t try to stop us.” With that Ian released Vincent from his pose.

“You can’t take her in the condition she’s in. I can help her Ian,” Vincent begged.

Ian walked toward the door and didn’t look back. “Don’t you dare try to stop us.”

“She carrying my grandson, Ian,” Vincent called out. “I’m your father. We’re family, and though I may have made some mistakes that cannot be undone, we can get past them. Family, Ian. I know now how important it is.”

Ian said nothing as he left the office.

Aria stroked the top of Ian’s head that was nestled next to her thigh. His black hair made her hand look paler than what it was. It was so soft and she wondered if the baby would inherit the dark satin locks. She gently slid her fingers over the crown of his head, down his forehead, and along his jaw. Aria didn’t want to disturb him but the need to touch him was too strong. She didn’t think that the driving need to be near him, with him, would ever be satisfied, and she could only hope that he would always feel as she did.

When her fingers traced his lips, she felt them stretch into a smile.

“How do you feel?” Ian asked her after kissing her fingertips. He stood.

How do I feel
?

She thought about it for a moment. She didn’t feel weak or tired. Her arms and eyelids no longer felt heavy, and the baby…their baby was moving around inside her. “I feel…good,” she answered honestly. Aria’s eyes lit up when he smiled at her. Grinning, she watched him lean over her until they were so close she had no choice but to let him kiss her. When he backed away, she asked, “Is everything all right now between your uncle and me?”

The air in the room seemed to get heavy as Ian’s eyes darkened. “Do you think you’re well enough to travel?”

Aria sat up. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” She watched as Ian visibly struggled with whatever it was that had him so upset. She didn’t think he was going to tell her and she was okay with that, but he closed his eyes and sighed.

“Vincent is my father, Aria. My dad had cancer and was sterile, so he and my mom asked Vincent to be a donor. They agreed to never tell anyone what they’d done.”

“Oh, Ian.” Aria’s face was full of concern as she caressed his cheek. “I’m sorry they kept that from you.”

“I’m sorry, too”—he laid his hand over hers—“and I don’t want you worrying about me. Once I get you home if you want to talk about it we can, but for now I’d like to forget I even know the truth.”

She nodded even though she wanted to know more about what was going on. But Ian would never push her for information; she would give him the same respect. “Home then,” Aria said, pushing away the sheets that covered her. Ian backed up to give her space as she dropped her feet over the side of the bed. He took her hand and braced her arm so she could stand. He must have thought she was too weak to get to her feet on her own, but she wasn’t. She really did feel great, surprisingly so.

Ian helped her to the bathroom, still holding her hand while she tried to keep the hospital-like gown closed over her backside. She was shutting the bathroom door when she realized she had nothing to wear, but Ian handed her a bag. Aria gave his chest a slight push, blew him a kiss then closed the door for privacy. She didn’t know how he always knew what she needed and when, but she was grateful.

Aria desperately wanted to take a shower, but her desire to be free of this place as quickly as possible was stronger. She didn’t know what the arrangements were and she didn’t want to know as long as they could leave and never have to worry about being hunted again. She would feel better when she and Ian were gone from here.

With that in mind, she took a hobo’s bath, combed her hair, and tied her long tresses in a loose knot. When Aria stepped out of the bathroom and into the room, Ian and a man who she assumed to be one of the armed guards, who was dressed in all black tactical gear, were talking in hushed voices.

They turned to acknowledge her at the same time, but Aria kept her eyes on the guard. He looked young, maybe mid-twenties. He was a little taller than Ian with a very close cut. His skin was a smooth brown that was practically flawless, other than a three-inch cut that was still healing above his right brow. He was thicker, more muscled than Ian.

“I’m Brandon,” he said. His voice was calm, but his body language was tense.

“He’s a friend,” Ian explained.

Something was wrong. She could tell by the way Ian’s gray eyes had darkened. She automatically looked up on the wall behind the guys, at the video camera she had noticed earlier. It was gone now. She tried to remain calm and gave Brandon a smile as she slowly lifted her hand to shake his.

“Hello, I’m Aria,” she said. Brandon’s dark eyes quickly peered at her, then back to Ian a couple of times before his full lips curled into a semi smile.

He shook her hand, gave Ian another look, frowned, then shrugged. “All right,” he said, pulling the bullet proof vest he wore over his head and stepping up beside her. She didn’t get a chance to ask what he was doing before he slid the vest over her head and began strapping her up.

“Look Brandon, I appreciate that you want to help but—” Ian said, as he moved to strap the other side of the vest.

Brandon pulled a gun from someplace on his body and checked the clip. “If you’re going to get Aria out of here, you’re going to need all the help you can get,” Brandon said, as he looked down at her. “Do you know how to use this?”

Her mouth had dried up at some point because she wasn’t able to say a word, so she just nodded. Brandon put the gun in her hand, then took another one out and held it out to Ian.

“You keep it,” Ian said confidently. “I have my own weapons.” Brandon nodded then walked to the door. She must have looked panicked because Ian gently cupped her face in his hands. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” He gave her a quick kiss.

Again, all she could do was nod.

“We need to move now. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take them to un-jam those doors or the elevator, but I’m guessing it won’t be long,” Brandon said, as he held the door open.

Ian grabbed her hand, pulling Aria past Brandon, who had his gun drawn and ready to shoot if necessary. “Stay between us,” Ian ordered.

Aria grabbed his forearm. “I love you,” she said, with a shaky voice.
God, I thought this was over
.

Ian lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles as he moved through the doorway. “As much as I love to hear those words, I don’t ever want to hear you say them with fear in your voice. This isn’t the end. I’m not losing you, and I’m not dying today, so no goodbyes, okay?”