The front door opened before he got to it.
“We expected you,” Trent said. “Come on into the office.”
Duncan didn’t think the man looked upset. “Where is Angelica?”
“We’ll tell you after we talk to you,” Trent said.
Duncan gritted his teeth but followed the man. Trent closed the door behind them, and Duncan stopped a few feet from Aria’s desk. Her men were in the room. Trent sat on the corner of her desk, and Mateo leaned against the wall behind her with his arms crossed.
He stood waiting as she finished a call. When she hung up, her attention went to him. “Are you having an affair?” she asked.
“Fuck no.”
“Then explain to me why my daughter thinks you are.”
He told her about Larissa, and she nodded a few times.
“I figured that might be the case. Some women can be vindictive.”
“No shit.”
“Now, about ignoring her? She said you won’t talk to her.” Aria asked.
“You know why I’ve been gone, Aria. We finally got the last of the girls early this morning and dropped them off at the center.”
“Yes, we guessed that was what the problem was, but I needed to make sure that was all that was happening.”
“Then why the third degree?” Duncan asked.
“Because she’s my daughter.” Her voice turned harder than he had ever heard before.
“I understand that. But she’s my wife.”
“But she’ll always be my daughter, Duncan.”
“And she’ll always be my wife.”
Aria studied him. “She’s hurting badly. Worse than I’ve ever seen. Do you know what that means?”
“What?”
“That she cares deeply for you.”
“Good, because I love her with my whole heart.”
The men finally smiled. Aria didn’t look one hundred percent convinced, but she finally nodded. “She’s up in her bedroom napping.”
He turned to leave.
“Duncan,” Aria called out.
He turned back to her at the doorway.
“Don’t hurt my baby. Not ever. Do you understand?”
Jesus, the deadly tone of her voice made the hairs on the back of his neck stand out. The mama bear was coming out, and you didn’t mess with one of those.
“I understand, and I accept it. I’ll be taking her home.”