Our flight takes off smoothly leaving Austin. I peek over at Addison while she’s looking through her case files. I wish she would’ve stayed with Lexi. I could tell that she wanted to. It pained me to hear Lexi cry when Addison told her we were leaving. I’m thankful to Max that he stayed behind. He wanted to make sure security was all set in place around the ranch. At least that was his excuse. I’m sure part of him staying had to do with Lexi feeling better. I’ve never seen Max become so soft around someone, let alone a five-year-old child. It’s surprising.
“Where are they with the DNA test?” I ask to break the silence looming around us.
“They put a rush on it. Hopefully we’ll have it back tonight or tomorrow,” she says, looking up. There are moments of silence before she speaks again. “I’m glad Max stayed.”
“Me too.” I’m not sure why there’s this awkwardness between us right now. It dawns on me that this is the first time we’ve truly been alone since I got back yesterday. There is so much we need to talk about, but I know this is definitely not the time.
We’re about an hour away from landing, and I’m getting nervous. My leg shakes and I have my arms on the armrests with my fingers pointed on my lips. Just thinking about Addison being here already has my anxiety spiking. She looks over at my fidgeting with a questioning look.
“So, your place or mine?” I spit out.
“What are you talking about?”
“Tonight. Your place or mine?” I repeat.
She looks at me with a blank expression. “Um, I’m going back to my place and since Lexi isn’t with me, you don’t need to stay.” She looks right into my eyes. Rejection fucking stings.
“Addison, I don’t think you should be alone.”
She sighs. “Aiden, I’ll be fine. I already know you have Stone parked outside my building, so why are you freaking out?” Why can’t Max keep his mouth shut?
“Why am I freaking out?” I grind out. “Maybe after what happened to you, you should be a little more freaked out.” I flip my seat belt release button, needing to stand up.
“Are you serious?” She stands up right in front of me. “I’m trying to live my life not in fear of everything because of what happened to me, and I’ve worked really hard to get to that place. I don’t need a daily reminder of it from you,” she snaps.
“What am I supposed to do, Addison? I can’t function thinking that you might be in the crosshairs of a sick bastard. Again.” I throw my hands in the air.
She takes a step back from me. “I don’t know why I thought we might have a chance,” she mumbles quietly.
My spine straightens. “What are you talking about? Because I’m worried about you, we won’t work? Did I miss something, Addison?” I step forward, needing to be closer to her, but she steps back again. Panic fills my eyes.
“That’s exactly why,” she says, briefly looking away, wrapping her arms around her stomach. “You’re too emotionally attached to my wellbeing that you’ll always be worried about my safety.”
“Let’s pretend what happened didn’t, I’d still be worried about your safety because I love you,” I explain.
She twists her lips, thinking about how to respond. “Aiden, too much has happened between us. You won’t know how to let it go. You’ll always be overprotective of me. And that’s understandable, but that’s not what I need in my life right now.” She stalls for a moment. “I can’t live in the past. If you are constantly worried about me, that’s exactly where I’ll stay.” Her voice shakes with emotion as tears run down her face.
Her words shoot straight to my heart. Like a fucking spear. I’m at a loss of what to say. The airplane shakes from turbulence. I think it’s from the weight of my heart breaking into pieces. Again.
“Please take your seat as we make our final descent into LaGuardia,” the pilot’s voice comes over the intercom. Addison turns around and sits down quietly and buckles her seat belt. My hands go to my temples. I can’t even comprehend how we got here in just a few minutes. The plane shakes again, reminding me that I need to sit down. I take a seat across from Addison. She stares out the window the rest of the flight.
By the time we land, anger has taken over my confusion. I slam my bag down as I watch her gather her stuff. I’ve taken two bullets since I’ve met Addison, and I’d take more to keep her safe. And that’s the reason we shouldn’t be together? Well then, I suck at this relationship thing.
As we walk off the plane, silence follows. I don’t even look her way when I sarcastically say, “I’m taking you home, but don’t worry, I won’t go in.”
“Aiden, I don’t want you to be mad at me.” She grips my arm.
“I really don’t know what you want from me,” I say, flexing my jaw, looking off into the distance. “You don’t want me to love you. You don’t want me to be mad at you. You don’t want me to worry about you. Tell me, Addison, what the hell do you want from me?” I stop in the middle of the tarmac and pin her with my stare.
“You could be a little more understanding,” she whispers and then looks down.
“Well, that goes both ways, sweetheart,” I say with anger, walking away, leaving her standing there. I close my eyes as my shoulders drop, and I let out a heavy breath. I’m a bastard. I turn around to apologize, but she’s already walking in the direction of another hangar. I throw my head back, staring up at the sky. Why didn’t anyone warn me about this shit when you fall in love? I might have tried to avoid it a lot longer.
I laugh at myself over thinking that was even an option. The second I laid eyes on Addison, I knew something had changed in me. My heart started beating to a different tune that day.
When I look back at Addison, she’s almost to the hangar. I take off, sprinting to catch her. “I said I was taking you home,” I say out of breath when I catch up to her.
She ignores me as she keeps walking. I shake my head and curse under my breath. I follow a few steps behind her into the hangar. She stops and looks around.
“You’d make this so much easier on yourself if you’d just walk to my car so I could take you home,” I say, my voice laced with humor. She continues to ignore me, walking toward a couple of men.
“Excuse me, do y’all have a phone I could borrow? My phone died and I need to call a taxi,” she asks in her sweet, southern voice. The guys look at her and then at me. I smirk and slightly shake my head no at them. I’m thankful right now that Addison can’t see me.
“Sorry, our phones are having issues today. They’re not working,” one of the guys says and shrugs. Addison turns enough so she can see me.
“How convenient,” she grits out, narrowing her eyes at me. I shrug innocently. She turns back to the guys who are trying to hide their smile. She sighs out of frustration. “Whatever. All you guys are assholes,” she says, stomping toward the exit, waving her hands around.
The guys chuckle as I pass by. “Good luck with that, Aiden.”
I laugh. “Thanks for your help guys,” I say over my shoulder, jogging to catch up with Addison again. I laugh again, thinking that Max will get a kick out of that. The Smith brothers have been our friends for a long time.
When I catch up with Addison, she’s already walking toward my car.
Thank God.
Not a word is spoken the entire car ride. When I pull up to her apartment, she hops out and slams the door shut, not even looking back. I watch her walk in and then look the other direction. Stone is sitting in his car across from me with a smirk. I roll my window down.
“Don’t ever fall in love,” I warn him, shaking my head. He laughs out loud.
“You’ve been back one day and you already fucked it up?”
“So it seems,” I say blandly. “Let me know if something comes up.” He salutes me before I peel off. It’s almost five but since I don’t have anything else to do, I head to the office.
Walking into the office, Cheryl greets me with a smile. “Good afternoon, Aiden.” Her cheerfulness is like fingernails on a chalkboard right now.
“Absolutely nothing good about it,” I mumble, walking past her, making a beeline for my office.
“Is there a reason you’re being an ass?” Damon asks, standing in my doorway with his arms crossed.
I plop down in my chair, leaning back into it, staring at the ceiling. I sigh. “Have we got any leads?”
“Where’s Addison?”
“At her fucking apartment,” I seethe. I close my eyes and exhale quickly. I fist my hands as my anger brews. I glare back at Damon and say, “Are we going to chit chat all goddamn day or are you going to give me an update on the case?”
A tiny body takes a spot next to Damon in the doorway, holding a file, flashing a concerned look.
Fuck! I drop my head, knowing what’s coming next.
“Aiden,” she calmly says.
“Dr. Price,” I respond, looking up to her.
Damon looks at the doctor and then to me. “Great timing, doc. Maybe you can get the stick out of my friend’s ass.” He turns around and leaves. I’m on a roll today.
“Do you have a minute?” she asks, walking into my office and shutting the door. Seems I don’t have a choice in this matter, so I shrug. She takes a seat across from my desk, trying to read me. I’m usually really good at hiding my emotions; shit, I’m trained in that area. So why can’t I hide my feelings when it comes to Addison?
“I’d ask you how you are doing, but I think that goes without saying.” I just nod again. “So why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
I run my hand through my hair, groaning in frustration. I don’t even know where to start.
“Isn’t this a conflict of interest, you being both our doctors?” I ask. I’ve had a weekly Skype session with Dr. Price for the last four months. Come to find out, she’s been Addison’s doctor, too, for the last month.
“I’m assuming you mean you and Addison. I’m very capable of separating the two.”
“She is the most stubborn woman.” I think my mouth decides to vomit words because once I start, I can’t stop. I push off my chair, almost knocking it over, and walk around my desk. “She’s being ridiculous. She thinks we shouldn’t be together because I’m too emotionally attached to her safety. But how the hell should I feel when she keeps putting herself in dangerous situations? And she tells me I should be a little more understanding? Doesn’t she know she wasn’t the only one who was hurt four months ago? I was shot, almost died, and my heart was torn to pieces!” I bark loudly, slamming my hands down on my desk.
Dr. Price doesn’t even flinch. She’s sitting back in her chair with her legs crossed, silently letting me have my outburst. I drop back down in my chair, trying to calm the fury.
“Have you both had a chance to talk?”
“No,” I mutter.
“You definitely need to talk to each other, but I understand why that hasn’t happened yet.” Her voice is a constant state of calm, but her eyes reflect compassion. “I do think she might be right.”
My eyebrows pop up. “What?”
“There needs to be understanding from both sides. Addison needs to feel in control for her to be able to move on. You suppress that control by constantly trying to keep her safe, which in turn will take her back to the times she didn’t have it.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” I sigh and drop my elbows onto the desk and rub my eyelids. “I just don’t know how to stop these feelings of helplessness. I love that woman more than anything. I just can’t stop worrying about her.”
“Give it some time, Aiden. I think when you both have a chance to sit down and talk, it will help you both understand each other. To make this work, you’ll need to set expectations on both ends. But you need to be patient with Addison. I know that you went through a lot, and I’m not discrediting that, but what Addison went through was life altering.” She stands up and flashes me a soft smile. “I think it’d be a good idea if both of you came to a session, together.” Of course you do, I chuckle to myself and nod.
I pick up my phone and call Addison. I need to apologize and see if we can talk. Her voicemail answers, so I hang up. I sigh. She’s probably ignoring me.
A few moments later, movement in my doorway catches my eye. A makeshift white flag is being waved. Damon peeks his head in. “Is it clear? Am I going to get shot if I come in?”
“Come in, asshole,” I grunt.
“I am not the asshole here.” He smirks walking in.
“Sorry. It’s been a shitty few hours.”
“What the hell happened? Last we talked, you were getting ready to leave Texas and everything was fine.”
I sigh. “Addison is being stubborn as ever. And I guess I fucked up.”
“That’s not surprising. But if there were ever two people who belonged together, it’s you two. You’re just as stubborn as she is.” He chuckles.
“Well, that might be our undoing,” I say grimly.
“I don’t believe that. But to get your mind off of it, we just got back the DNA results.”
I lean forward in my chair. “What are you waiting for, tell me the results.”
“We’re meeting in the war room now,” he says, walking out. The war room is the conference room where the entire case is spread out.
I walk into the room and chatter fills the air. Addison’s boss, CJ, my boss, Todd, and a few other agents are sitting around the table. When Todd sees me, he clears his throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Everyone’s here, let’s get started,” he says, looking at me. I nod and pull out a chair. “So, the DNA results came back, but we didn’t get a match in CODIS.” Several sighs can be heard. “But … we did get a DNA match to another case in St. Louis. Seems this wasn’t where he started with his murders. Another family was murdered last September. We are working with the office there to see if there might be more unsolved murders that match. So far it’s just the one.”
“Forensics is running a familial DNA search to see if we get anything there. You never know if there’s a family member in the system who might help us catch a lead,” CJ states. “We started that earlier today, so hopefully we’ll get those results back any time now.”
“What we know so far is that the unsub has only killed families of four. He always rapes the wife.”
“Are there any patterns with the women?” asks Damon.
“The woman in St. Louis was brunette, but the other three here have all been blonde. So we’re not sure if that’s a connection or not. Something might have happened or he just doesn’t care.”
“He must have been following them for a while. Where did he find them? Did they have the same doctor, kids go to the same school? Where’s the link that connects them?” Dave asks.
“We have the analysts looking at everything. The three families all live in the city, so there are a few similarities. They all went to the same movie theater, ate at the same restaurant, two of the three go to the same bank. But schools, doctors, employers are all different.”
My hands are behind my head as I lean back and think. Something in the back of my head is nagging at me, telling me that I’m missing something. It’s like when I have a déjà vu moment but can’t for the life of me remember when I had it.
Then the light bulb turns on. Addison … St. Louis … changing of hair color. I jump up out of my seat, startling people.
“What restaurant?” I fire out.
“What?” Todd asks.
“What restaurant did they all go to?”
He starts looking through his notes. Damon stands with me, walking to the computer and starts typing. He knows what I’m thinking.
“Bella Mistero.” He tilts his head in my direction.
I look at Damon, and he nods his head. “He came from a town not too far from St. Louis.”
“He’s going to go after Addison,” I say quickly, getting ready to leave.
“Aiden?” Todd stops me. Of course he’s going to want more information.
“His name is Marco Aceto.”
I quickly tell them about Marco and that when he and Addison met she had brown hair. Then he conveniently moved here, just a couple blocks from her. I give CJ his dad’s name to compare the DNA results. His dad currently resides at the Colorado State Penitentiary for raping and killing a woman in the nineties. Fucking apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
I call Stone and tell him to be on the lookout for Marco.
“Someone went inside about ten minutes ago with a delivery from Bella Mistero,” I say, repeating what Stone just said and looking up at the team. “Don’t go in. We’ll be there in five minutes.” I gesture with my hands to get a team together now. I hang up, and Damon has already grabbed the SUV keys and is handing me a vest.
“We’ll get this son of a bitch.”
Hopefully, it’s not too late.
We pull up in front of her apartment and start devising a plan of entrance when we hear three shots ring out.
Air escapes my lungs. Time stops. My hand reaches for my chest as I gasp for air. It feels like someone punched me in the stomach, and I can’t catch my breath. They are going to have to put me in a mental hospital if I lose Addison because I’m about to crack. Damon shakes me, bringing me back to present.
I suck in a large gulp of air and take off running.