This chapter takes place after a shooting on Halloween at one of Jeff's nightclubs.

James followed Aiden taking in the luxurious hallway of the high rise penthouse she had given him the address to. In all the years he had worked with Jeff, he had never been to or heard of this place before.

He stepped into the room behind Aiden and stayed at the doorway after he closed it.

Jeff went to his lover enveloping in his arms, "I'm so glad to see you're okay"

She stiffened and pulled away from him, "I'm fine"

"I got Dr. Soni to come here. I want him to look at your arm" he said cupping her face gently.

She pulled further away, "My arm is fine"

His hand went back to her face, "Indulge me Angel"

He pulled her to the oversized ottoman to sit down. She looked like a petulant child sitting there while she was being checked out. After her stitches were restitched and Jeff was reassured that there was no lasting damage, he paid the doctor and showed him out.

"That's a relief" Jeff smiled proudly turning back to her.

"If that's all, I'd like to leave" she stated firmly.

Jeff went to the bar and calmly fixed himself a drink, "You just got here honey"

"And I want to fucking leave" she said.

He turned to looked at her then; cursing and raised voices were never a part of Aiden's repertoire, unless she was highly annoyed.

"What's the matter with you baby" he cocked his eyebrow.

"Don't baby me Jeff" she almost shouted, "I'm not one of your regular whores. You just don't fucking summon me whenever you want. We've never worked like that before and we aren't going to now."

James looked between the two. To say he was the uncomfortable third wheel in the room was a gross understatement.

He had never heard anyone talk to Jeff like that before. He was however piecing together the complex relationship between the mob boss and the youngest wife in the organization with each passing moment.

"That's not what this was" he causally shrugged off sipping his drink.

"I'm not some concubine Jeff. You'll do well to remember that before you ever pick up the phone to call one of your men to come fetch me." she angrily pointed at him, 'I'm leaving!"

James' jaw went slack watching their banter.

That little bitch had some kind of balls talking to Jeff like that.

He was gritting his teeth together in anticipation of the back slap that the girl had just earned. Hell, he'd seen women get one for much less around the "Godfather".

Jeff seemed truly saddened by her words. They seemed to affect him in away James had never thought they would.

She brushed past James and was at the door when Jeff called to her, "Aiden… wait."

She swung the door open, ignoring him completely.

"Aiden, please" he pleaded.

The desperation in his voice was shocking to James.

She turned to Jeff, "Are you ordering me to stay now too?"

Jeff wet his lips, 'No, look honey, I called you here because I had to see that you were really okay. You had to be okay by my standards or I would have gone crazy"

"Why did you send James?" she glared.

"I can't trust you to be alone after what happened tonight. You're too important to me to be unattended" he answered.

"You embarrassed me in front of Alex. You know I hate flaunting us in front of him. You fucking promised that you wouldn't do that' she hissed.

He closed the distance between them taking her shoulders in his hands, "I wouldn't under normal circumstances Angel you know that I keep my word to you. Tonight was just crazy I couldn't be without you."

She blew out a frustrated breath.

"Don't go. Stay here with me baby, please?" he asked kissing her lips softly.

"Don't ever treat me like this again. Don't ever send someone to come and get me ever again or we will not be together." She said solemnly.

"I'm sorry." His lips went to her neck, "I'll make it up to you beauty."

James felt awkward again as he watched Aiden melt into Jeff's arms. Somehow she'd gotten Jeff's balls in a vice and that could be very dangerous for a man in his position. It could be incredibly perilous for everyone else involved as well, not just the two of them.

Aiden was obviously aware of her influence over the Godfather and knew how to easily bend him to her will

"James stay here tonight so you can take her home in the morning" Jeff ordered before closing the bedroom door.

James sighed this was going to be a long fucking night.

Jeff went about undressing her slowly, purposely taking his time with each piece.

Everything was different now. Tonight had changed his outlook.

Aiden was lethargic, her aura dwelled by the pain medication and the roller coaster of emotions she had been on.

She noticed the conflict in his eyes. He had been looking at her in a new light.

"I love you." Jeff said with a sudden clarity that made her falter.

Never once in their relationship had either one of them uttered the "L" word.

Her brow furrowed, "What? Why?"

He chuckled seeing her trepidation, "You can't ask why about love, Angel."

She was stunned and speechless and could only stare at Jeff.

He cupped her face, "Tell me how you feel, do you love me too?"

Tears fell down her face, "I do love you, but what does this mean? I can't leave Alex."

He shook his head, "I'm not asking you to do that. This is between you and I." he lowered his mouth to her neck, "I think I always loved you. Tonight just made me realize it even more."

The next morning Aiden slid on her stilettos, taking a seat on her side of the bed. She pulled open the drawer finding the stash of morning after pills that she always took before leaving. It was a part of her ritual and she never dared to deviate from it.

She felt the bed shift as Jeff leaned over and took the pack from her and tossed them in the trash.

"I need to take that actually." she laughed, thinking he was joking.

"I don't want you take them anymore." he stated evenly.

"But last night we…' she trailed off confused.

He chuckled, "Honey I remember last night."

"Yes, of course, but what if..." she seemed to contemplate the very idea as she mentioned it.

Jeff casually lit a cigarette exhaling a long line of smoke, "Lets see what happens."

She sat pensively, clasping and unclasping her hands, her beautiful face was etched with worry and indecision.

He hid a smile as he watched her. She needed him to verbalize exactly what he wanted from her. It was a big deal, he could understand that.

"I know you've wanted another baby for a long time, and I haven't exactly been on board with that for a multitude of reasons. I can admit most of them were very selfish on my part." He paused to take a short drag on his cigarette, "If it happens, it happens, I'm okay with it this time. That's of course, only if you are."

Tears welled up in her eyes, "I do want another baby"

He cupped her cheek, "You can have whatever you want Angel. From now on, you come to me for everything. Nothing is too big or too small, is that understood?"

She nodded against his hand.

"Come on, I'll walk you out so you can get home." he said pulling on a pair of pants.

He took her hand and opened the door for her.

James was sitting on the couch tipping back his beer.

Jeff eyed at least a twelve pack on the coffee table, "Was that necessary?" he gestured to the beer bottles.

James shrugged his shoulders indifferently and stood up.

"I think this goes without saying, but I'll make myself perfectly clear. Everything that happened tonight is not to be spoken about. This penthouse, our relationship, everything will be off limits. No one needs to know about this." Jeff commanded.

"No problem boss." James replied with a hint of annoyance.

"I'll see you later at the warehouse then." Jeff dismissed James and then turned to Aiden, "I'll call you later."

She blushed and nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I love you Daddy."

"I love you too beauty." He whispered back.

He gave her a chaste kiss and sent her on her way.

Aiden knew before they even got to the car that it was going to be a long awkward ride home.

James' menacing stride screamed that he was extremely pissed. He didn't even bother opening her door for her, something that he always did.

Whatever.

She certainly wasn't going to engage him in a conversation about everything he was now privy to.

James felt like a ticking time bomb about to explode. The questions he needed answered, the wake up call she obviously needed were cutting him up inside.

"So what the fuck was that?" He blew up before they even left the parking garage.

Aiden removed her Chanel sunglasses from the case calmly, "That was none of your business."

He snorted at her prissy attitude, "No it wasn't but now it fucking is. Being with Jeff is dangerous, not to mention stupid on your part."

"Oh you don't know anything James." she scoffed.

"I know that you have a daughter at home that doesn't need to be left with nannies so you can carry on this affair." he shot back.

Aiden turned and slapped him, "Don't you DARE bring her into this!"

James flexed his jaw, his temper at an all time high.

"What about Alex then? He worships you Aiden." He pointed out.

"I'm aware of that. We're dealing with it ourselves. Again...its none of your business." she growled.

"How are you dealing with it? They HATE each other! You're gibing them a reason to kill each other!" he yelled.

She rolled her eyes, "They wouldn't dare."

James raised his eyebrows, "So you are in charge of Jeff now? Because it sure fucking looked like it last night. You said jump and he asked how high. Is that your end game? You're hoping one of them offs the other so you don't have to make a decision.

She slapped him harder this time as they pulled into traffic.

James roared in anger, "Do not slap me again little girl!"

"Then stop accusing me of things that I would never ever be apart of." she shot back, "I don't have a stupid end game in this which is probably dumber then having one."

"How long have you been with Jeff?" he asked.

"I'm not answering that." she huffed.

"Okay, well what was that shit last night then? You cracked then whip and he didn't even try arguing with you. If it had been anybody else I'd be getting rid of another body today."

Aiden raised her chin defiantly, "Jeff has always treated me with respect until last night and he needed to be reminded of where I stand with him that's all."

"So where do you? What are you to him?" James lead her on in hopes that she would give him a solid answer for once.

"He's Jeff, I'm Aiden...that's it." she shot him down.

They drove in a heavy silence for a few minutes.

"He doesn't deserve you Aiden." he finally stated.

She sighed, "You have no clue what you're talking about."

"You're too good for him. You're too pure. All he's doing is tainting you." James said sounding like he'd thought all night about what he was going to say.

"I'm confused. First you said that I shouldn't be having an affair at all. now you're saying that I should, but only with the right guy." She said sarcastically, "And I'm sure you must be hinting at yourself, am I correct?"

She saw his jaw flex repeatedly and knew she had guessed right.

"You're just as bad as Jeff, if not worse." she accused.

"I am not. If you were with me there wouldn't be any other women. I would treat you like a queen." he argued, hoping somehow he could convince her.

Aiden laughed at how absurd he was being, "There aren't any other women, except his wife. And as you saw last night, he already treats me like a queen. You and I are too different to work."

"If you wouldn't be so snobby all the tie and look down on everybody you might see that we have a lot in common." he frowned.

She crossed her arms, "Way to win me over James."

"See what I mean?" He shook his head, "If you gave me one chance I know you would see things differently."

He knew he sounded completely stupid, being around her always did that to him. He'd had fantasies about her since before she and Alex got married. It was a not so well kept secret among the guys closest to James. Everybody knew that he had always hoped Alex would mess up and ruin his marriage.

Finding out his boss had beat him to the girl of his dreams had sent him into a tailspin.

He pulled into her neighborhood at a crawl, "Will you let me take you out on a date? I'll keep it between us, no one will know and we'll go anywhere you want."

"NO! I can't believe you're even being serious right now." she exasperated.

He pulled into the drive and threw the truck in park. He grasped her face and kissed her sensually. She squealed into his mouth and tried to push him away. He groaned and tilted his head sideways, deepening the kiss.

She stopped fighting him and waited for him to finish kissing her.

He finally pulled away from her with a satisfied smirk. He licked his lips to taste her all over again, choosing to ignore the angry glare that she was giving him.

She slapped him for a third time on their short trip. His head snapped to the side.

"You should be glad to know that I won't be telling my husband or Jeff about that. I hate to think what either of them would do to you if they found out." she hissed getting out of his truck.

He rubbed his cheek with a chuckle after she slammed the door, "It was worth it."