Thea's P.O.V.
"What the hell happened, Beck?" Aaron asked, anger laced in his voice as he came straight to me.
I grabbed a hold of his hands, trying to calm him down. "Aaron, everything's fine. Can we please go inside and talk, plus I'm hungry. Please tell me you have something to eat in this extremely large house of yours?"
His eyes softened as he looked me over a few times, relaxing when he noticed I was physically fine. He placed his hand on my lower back, guiding me inside.
When we got in the house, Sofia, Derek and a lot of their men were here too. They smiled as we entered but they too seemed on edge.
"What exactly happened tonight?" Aaron asked. I could tell he was trying to stay calm as he spoke to me.
"After work I went into a restaurant to pick up the take out that I had ordered. When I came out I noticed Miguel, he was standing across the street, smiling at me."
Beck cleared his throat and stood up tall, "We did a perimeter check while she was inside. When Thea spotted him, she took off after him in the alley which we followed her in. Miguel was getting into a car when we got to her."
"Why would you follow him, Thea?"
I immediately started getting defensive, "because that's my job!"
Aaron clenched his jaw and started at Beck again. "And how in the hell was he able to get so close to her?"
I put myself between Aaron and Beck, holding him back. I wasn't sure what Aaron was going to do to him but I knew Beck shouldn't get in trouble for this.
"Aaron, they didn't do anything wrong. Beck and the others were there and they would have stopped Miguel if he came closer but he didn't. I'm fine! Are you alright though? Did something else happen because you seem really tense, everyone here actually does."
Closing his eyes, Aaron messaged the back of his neck, rolling it back and forth with a few deep breaths before looking at me again. "I'm sorry, I just don't want anything happening to you."
I smiled, "I know. Can you tell me what else is wrong?"
He paused for a minute, "There's a few people that came to the states that aren't supposed to be here so we're dealing with that..." he pinched the bridge of his nose, "and Miguel made contact with us."
"He did... what did he say?"
"He's playing games and I'm getting very annoyed with how long it's taking the FBI to deal with this fucking prick. He's brought Sofia into this now."
I looked over at her. "Are you alright?"
She smiled at me, "Yes. I tried reassuring my father of that but you know how he is."
"What did Miguel do?"
"He had someone deliver a picture to our home." Sofia informed me.
A picture.
"What kind of picture?"
Aaron nodded at Silas. Silas looked annoyed but walked over to me and handed me a Polaroid picture of Sofia. On the bottom it read 'Quod'.
"And then I got this one, along with a clock in a box." Aaron said, handing me a picture of him. On the bottom, it read 'unum'.
"It's like a fucking riddle that doesn't make any God damn sense." Silas said, angrily.
"It's Latin." I whispered.
Everyone looked over at me. I licked my lips, continuing. "Together, these two words don't really make any sense. I got a picture just like these, earlier today." I pulled out my phone and brought up my picture and showed Aaron. "The DEA has my picture, it was found on a dead woman over by the airport last night. She had a drug balloon in her stomach full of heroin that had exploded, killing her. Has anyone else gotten any pictures?"
"No, just us three. Do you have any idea what it says or means?"
I nodded. "When you put these three words together, 'Quod unum elige?' it means, 'which one will you choose'?"
Aaron clenched his jaw, walking away. He took a chair from his kitchen table and whipped it across the room, breaking it as it hit the wall. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HIM." Aaron yelled.
I just stood there, not saying anything as everyone stood there too. They were used to this Aaron and if I was being honest, I wasn't scared of him either... not even a little bit. I understood why he was frustrated because I was too.
Miguel was making Aaron choose which one of us would die in his sick little game, the question was how much time we had before Miguel tried something.
Aaron let out a few breaths before looking over at me. We stood there for a moment, just staring at one another before he came up and stood directly in front of me again. "Why aren't you telling me not to?"
"What?"
He ran his hand across my face gently, wrapping his gentle fingers around the back of my neck. He was much more calm now. "Why aren't you scolding me, demanding I don't kill this asshole?"
I felt everyone watching us, including Sofia. No one has seen Aaron and I like this before. I figured a few of them knew something happened between us but we've always kept it private.
"Because... he's playing games. If you don't kill him, he's never going to stop trying to kill you." I swallowed the lump in my throat, fighting back the tears. "I don't want you to die or anyone else, Aaron."
His thumb was messaging the side of my neck, pulling me into him, our lips connected not caring that we had a room full of people watching us.
And I let him.
His lips moved slowly against mine and I felt him relax even more as I held him close.
Aaron pulled away slightly, resting his forehead against mine. "You're right, this is a power trip for him. Choosing one of you, he knows will hurt me and then he'll still come after me after I'm broken. I need you to know something though... I don't like what I do."
I could see it in his eyes how much this bothered him. I placed my hands on the side of his face, rubbing back and forth with my thumbs, "I know." and pulled him back into me again, hugging him as he rested his face in my neck.
I was mentally fighting with myself whether or not I should tell Aaron what I found out today... "Aaron there's more."
"What is it?"
"Do you know of the Rojas family?"
He nodded, looking up quickly at everyone then back at me.
"I'm not supposed to be telling anyone about this. The DEA thinks Miguel is working with them. I just heard about them today so I don't know a lot about that family, just that they did lots of business with Alvaro over the years."
He nodded again. "Yes and that would make a lot of sense because they're in town."
"They're here now?"
"Yes."
"Aaron..." Beck came forward. "Two men picked Miguel up when we chased him down the alley. I'm positive it was the Rojas brothers."
Aaron was thinking about something for a moment before he brought his attention back to me, "Thea, do you remember Dylan's last case?"
"Yes." John Ruzek used to sell girls and move his drugs like the one they found last night. That same thing happened when he was trying to sell them to Alvaro before he was arrested and John was killed.
"Unfortunately that's become a very popular way to transport drugs and women. John's number one buyers were Alvaro and The Rojas. The father; Alexander Rojas and I had an understanding. He listened and kept his shit out of the U.S. like I asked. He died a few years back and his sons took over. Now they're here and coming after the people I care about." Aaron kissed the top of Sofia's head and then came over to me and kissed the side of my cheek. "This will be over soon. Come on."
He grabbed my hand and brought me into the kitchen and sat me down at the island. He went into his fridge and dished up a plate of what looked like leftovers. "If you want something else or if you're still hungry, I'll make you something when I'm done talking with the guys."
"This is perfect. Thank you."
"Will you stay with me tonight? Please."
I nodded. "Okay."
He put the warm plate down in front of me. Giving me one last kiss before going out of the room with the guys following behind.
Sofia came over and sat down next to me after they left the room. She looked over at me and smiled as I ate my chicken then looked down at her lap, playing nervously with her fingers. "So... you and my dad?"
I paused for a moment, swallowing the food in my mouth. I knew this needed to be talked about, I just wasn't ready yet. "I don't even know how it happened... I mean I do... That's not really important. Umm-"
"Relax. You like him don't you?"
I looked up at her and nodded.
"So what does this mean?"
"I have no idea. I'm still trying to figure all this out too even after eight months."
"Eight months?"
"Yeah. He kissed me the night I met him after the poker game. I was in a place I shouldn't have been and he made it look like we were fooling around so I didn't get caught. Then we kept having these little moments together. Long story short... I've never experienced a kiss like that or even felt like this before. I know that sounds cliche but I haven't." I gave her a small smile as I shrugged my shoulders.
She gave me a smile. "He's happy you know? I figured you were the reason for that but I wasn't positive. It's been a really long time since I saw him smile... like really smile. Please don't break his heart."