Strong For Too Long Trilogy ✔️

14. Reunite The Wife and Her Husband

CHAPTER 14: Reunite The Wife and Her Husband

"When you said she was a waitress, I thought you meant for some sort of restaurant." Aaron says behind me, hands on my waist as we move through the drunk dancers, the loud, pounding music. I grab his callous, masculine hand and pull him towards the bar, texting Harrison for an update on the ball. The electrodes are on, meaning I looked like a taller, ginger-haired, blue-eyed female. Aaron looks the same, he didn't need any alterations as he snaps his eyes around the room.

"Their son is at home, babysitter is with him. Claudia Ludlow is over there, serving cosmo's." I gesture to the side of us. Aaron side-glances before a waiter steps towards us on the other side of the counter.

Aaron snaps his eyes to me, I turn to the waiter, "Diet coke, please. Extra ice." I order for me, Aaron orders the same, turning to me, gesturing forward under the table. I give him a raised eyebrow and a smirk before his arms curl to the small of my back, pulling me in-between his legs.

"I will not get use to the ginger." He whispers down to me as the music slows a bit.

I curl my hands around the nape of his neck, "I kind of like it." I murmur, leaning into his warmth.

He raises an eyebrow, "I prefer your actual height too." He mentions.

I lightly tap the back of his head, "Stop it. You buffoon." I say to him, side-glancing behind me as Aaron pecks my cheek, before picking up his drink. I still and snap my head towards it.

"DON'T DRINK IT!" I snap grabbing it from his hand when I scent the toxins in it and snap my sharpened irises to the waiter who's no longer there but is stepping out from behind the counter, twirling the barrel on his gun.

"What?" Aaron asks, tense next to me.

I nudge my head to him, gesturing to a narrow-eyed Aaron, "I have him. Get Claudia, tell her exactly what we talked about in the ride over. Meet at the coordinates I gave you." I say to him.

He holds the urge to give me a lecture, only he presses a quick kiss to my lips, obviously not liking how short it was, but this situation definitely had a time-sensitive manner, "Be careful. Promise me." He whispers, worry in his eyes, longing and something else combined in his voice.

I fist-bump him, thinking it were that easy, he wasn't liking the 'bro' move and just gave me a dry look, "You too." I say to him, moving through the crowd of still drunk dancers. My mind wasn't racing like I believed it should have been when I step towards him, the cheating bartender and before he can enter the shadows to shoot Claudia Ludlow, I grab the gun whilst shoving him through the door of the alleyway. He snaps his dark, black eyes to me.

I aim the gun between his eyes in the alley as the door slams shut and locks behind us.

He stares at me, unmoving, "You think I don't have a family too?" He asks me, catching me off-guard as he stands there in the uniform. His sudden question, as if he knew something like this would happen, as if a part of him was partially hoping he'd be stopped and that is what made me pause.

"You think I wouldn't fight to keep them safe?" He asks me again. Stiffer this time.

I stare at him, "Every Candidate would, but you're fighting for the wrong side, and killing an MI6 agent just to protect yours is getting in the way of my missions. I can help you, I can stop what they're doing to control candidates much like us. You are acting like an expendable soldier when I could help you." I say to him, slowly.

He blinks, "We know pain like the back of our hands. We know every crevice in the dark. We know every lingering echo that runs down our veins at the presence of a threat and to eradicate it. If I fail, it's me or my family. I choose me." He says, before grabbing his neck in two skilled places and ripping it sideways as a crack resonates. I don't flinch as I stare down at his lifeless form before I hear it, the police sirens in the background. Why would he do this? Why would he choose to kill himself over seeing the family he's claimed to be protecting.