Chapter 17

Shania wrinkled her nose in disgust as she entered the living room. All of the furniture was gone, because she had sold it to pay off Aiden's debt. In its place was a blanket and pillow surrounded by booze bottles, ashtrays and trash. Aiden released her arm. "Welcome home, Shania."

She stared at him. "Why have you brought me here?"

"I wanted to see you, baby. I missed you," he said. "And I know you missed me too. I'm sorry about what happened. I figure we can spend a little time together, get reacquainted and then talk about the casino."

Shania shook her head. "That makes no sense, Aiden. Didn't you get the divorce papers?"

Aiden shrugged as though it didn't matter. "Yeah, that rich bastard had his lawyer track me down. I don't blame you though, Shania. I know you didn't have a choice. A guy like that would want to keep his toys to himself."

Shania hated the way he talked about her relationship with Khalid. "He didn't force me to sign those papers, Aiden. I can't stay married to you."

He nodded. "Of course not baby, I got that. You got to go along with what he says so he plays nicely with you. I'm so proud of the way you have him wrapped around your finger. You played him better than I ever could have imagined."

Shania gasped. "Don't say that!"

He approached her quickly as though to soothe her. "It's okay, baby. I didn't mean to upset you. I know you're sensitive."

He ran his hands over her long hair, down her back and up her arms. She shuddered in disgust, but he misread her. "I missed you too, baby." He leaned forward, nearly the same height as her and crushed her lips in a kiss meant to stoke her passion.

Shania felt nothing and, if it weren't for the gun pressed against her back, she would've shoved him away. Instead, she turned her head to the side and gasped for air. "Aiden Aiden, please, I just need a minute."

She was amazed at how delusional her ex-husband had become. He somehow imagined she would want to kiss him, make love to him, after he virtually sold her into sexual slavery. He also somehow had convinced himself that she was there willingly, despite holding a gun on her.

"It's fine," he said, leaning his forehead against her cheek. "Take all the time you need, we got hours yet baby girl before we need to get you back to him."

She despised the nickname he called her.

She gently extricated herself from his hold. "You wanted to talk about the casino Aiden?"

He nodded vigorously. "Yeah, let's talk about the casino. The sooner we set my plan in motion, the sooner we can be together."

"Plan?" she asked.

He pushed a hand through his disheveled, sweat-soaked hair and looked at her with shining eyes. She suddenly realized that he must be high on something. He had never taken drugs that she knew of when they were together, but he was clearly high now. His movements were jerky, he wasn't making much sense and he was moving around with relative ease despite sustaining serious injuries only a few weeks prior.?

She edged away from him and tried to take a few steps toward the door. He didn't seem to notice.

"The plan for you to keep fucking Khalid and making the bastard happy while I pawn the gifts he gives you and use the cash to set us up for a new life together," he said earnestly, looking to her for approval.

Shania gaped at him in astonishment. That was the stupidest plan she had ever heard. Even if her conscience let her scam Khalid in any way, she was pretty sure this was a plan that would get them both killed if she even considered agreeing to it.

Aiden took her silence as approval and continued talking in fast, jerky sentences. "We'll meet at the shelter whenever you work and you can hand over whatever you got your hands on. Maybe not all the jewelry, because he might notice, but the most expensive pieces. And I bet he keeps cash in his desk, you can check there too. Even if he noticed it missing, he's so far gone for you he wouldn't care. Just tell him you needed to buy something."

Shania let him talk nonsense in the hopes that his distraction would allow her to reach the door without notice. She was about halfway across the room when the door flew open and Khalid and Ash stepped into the room. Shania stood in between Khalid and Aiden.

Ash tried to shove Khalid back behind him, but he brushed the bodyguard off and stepped forward.

"Stop!" Aiden shouted, swinging the gun up and training it on Khalid.

"Khalid!" Shania gasped, searching his face with terrified eyes.

Khalid looked her over with eyes made dark by fury. "You okay, princess?"

She nodded and swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. "I'm so sorry!"

"You have nothing to be sorry for, love. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you. It won't happen again," he said. "From now on, I go everywhere with you. Even to work."

Aiden watched their exchange with growing realization. Shania had never been able to hide her feelings from anyone and now she stood in their old apartment staring with undisguised love at the man that had broken Aiden. Khalid was watching her like a lion watching his mate. With sudden clarity, Aiden knew he wasn't going to leave the room alive. He would die for the crime of touching Khalid's woman.

"She's mine!" he bellowed into the silent room. "You took her from me!"

Khalid sneered in disgust. "You sold her to me, vermin. She is not yours. She never really was."

Shania gasped as Aiden's hand shook in anger, the gun barrel jumping. She looked at Khalid, then looked at Aiden and then calmly stepped in between the two.

"Shania!" Khalid snarled her name, anger and terror warring in his voice. She had never heard him so upset with her, even when she had run from the casino to escape him. "Get the fuck out of the way, Shania. Now."

She looked desperately at him and shook her head. "No, I won't let him shoot you."

Khalid moved forward to shove her out of the way, but Aiden screamed, "Stop moving before I fucking shoot you all!"

Khalid stopped moving and looked at Aiden over the top of Shania's head. "You don't want to do that."

"Yes I do!" Aiden whined. "You took her from me, she was all I had and now she doesn't even want me."

"Shania, honey, look at me," Khalid said, sensing in Aiden a broken man reaching the end of his tether. He was about to break completely and try to take them all down with him.

"Khalid," she whispered, saying his name as though it was a prayer. She was turning toward him, away from Aiden, when the gun went off.

A split second later another gunshot echoed in the room.

"Shania!" Khalid bellowed as her body jerked and would have fallen to the floor if he hadn't leapt forward to catch her.

Aiden crumpled to his knees and then forward onto the dirty floor, dead before he even fell. Ash stood to the side where he had edged during the drama, a gun trained on the body.

Khalid kneeled on the ground with Shania cradled in his arms. She stared up at him with wide, pained eyes.

"Thank god!" he mumbled, his fingers touching the spot on her arm where blood was slowly seeping. From what he could tell, it had pierced the fleshy part of her bicep.

Her eyes filled with tears and she reached up to touch his jaw. "I couldn't let him kill you. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left Ash. This is my fault."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault princess, Aiden was a sick man. Selling you was his first step toward a psychotic break. If you had stayed, he would've dragged you down with him."

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she nodded. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Khalid captured the tears with his thumb. "Yes."

She nodded, hating that he was dead, but understanding why. He had threatened their lives, it was them or him, and Khalid would never allow a threat to her to survive.

"Can we go home?" she asked quietly.

"Always," he replied. He lifted her in his arms and strode out the door, away from the body of her ex-husband.