Page 5 of Aidan (The Doherty Mafia)
“When I heard you were back in town, I knew I had to meet with you,” he began.
I was surprised to hear he knew anything about me when I knew nothing about him.
“You look confused,” he added with a smile.
“I don’t know what I’m doing here or what you want from me.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself there, honey. Firstly, I would like to establish all the things you have to lose before we get to the part where I tell you what I need from you.”
My eyes narrowed at him. I had my hands clasped in my lap while I tried hard to keep my legs from shaking.
“What makes you think you know anything about me?” I snapped.
Aldo smiled.
“Oh, Leah. I know everything about you. I have always been in a habit to keep tabs on everyone connected to the people I work with and especially the people I don’t work with.”
My nostrils flared while I waited for him to explain.
“You never know when a piece of information can come in handy.”
Aldo puffed on his cigar and sat back in his chair with a sigh.
“For instance, you and Aidan were fucking a while ago. I know this because I was interested in the Doherty family before I had anything to do with them. And now that I know your secret, I can use it. See what I mean?”
The smirk grew wider on his face while my heart thudded in my chest.
My secret…
“Aidan doesn’t know he knocked you up. He doesn’t know you gave the baby away. If he finds out what you did, he will make you pay.”
I had always known Aidan would react badly if he ever found out about the baby and the fact that I gave him up for adoption. His child was out there in the world without either of his biological parents.
Aidan would never forgive me for that decision I made.
But I had no choice.
I was a teenager, barely an adult, who was shunned by her family with nobody to turn to. I survived on the limited allowance my parents sent me and I lived with strangers my father had made a deal with.
I wanted to be alone. I wanted to be left alone. Even by Aidan.
“You know it’s true. You have been working hard to keep your secret to yourself all these years. We don’t want that secret coming out now, do we?”
Aldo continued in an even tone, and it seemed like he knew he had me in a corner.
My throat felt dry, but still I managed to croak a few words out.
“Why are you telling me this? What do you want from me?”
“I want all the information you can get on Aidan. I want it directly delivered to me. You see, Leah…” He sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the desk now. “There’s a war brewing between our families. The Dohertys fucked me over and now I’m going to make them pay. And you are going to help me.”
I was frozen to the spot.
He expected me to go to Aidan and what? Reacquaint myself with him? Pretend like the past five years didn’t happen? Then come back here and feed him any information I could find?
All so that he didn’t tell Aidan about the baby?
I shook my head.
“I can’t do it. Tell him. Tell him whatever you want. I’ll pay my price. Whatever Aidan wants. I refuse to be a puppet in your hands.”
Aldo sighed again, tapping the ash off the end of his cigar. He looked disappointed in me, like I was a child who had done something mischievous.
“Then you leave me no choice, honey. Your poor mother who doesn’t have long to live will meet an even earlier death. And trust me when I tell you I will make sure it won’t be a peaceful passing. She will pay for your refusal to cooperate with me. Is that what you really want?”
Aldo wasn’t smiling anymore.
And with that, I knew I had no escape. I wasn’t about to wake up from this nightmare.
Three
Aidan
A number flashed on my screen that I didn’t recognize. I wouldn’t have heard the phone in the midst of the loud thumping music in the bar, but it vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.
“Yeah?” I barked into the phone, knocking back a shot of tequila simultaneously.
“Aidan?” I heard the whisper of a female voice on the other end.
For a few moments, I thought I was mistaken. I thought that was Leah. But it couldn’t be.
I told myself I was imagining things again.
I put a finger in my other ear to try and hear the voice more clearly.
“Speaking. Who the fuck is this?” I growled.
She took a few moments to speak again while I scanned the bar. Some of my brothers were there with me, ordering more drinks and crowding around the pool table.
