by CR Robertson
“But I ran away.” Another tear escaped.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen again. When you get out of here, Jay will fit you with a tracker.” She opened her mouth to complain. “We all have them. If I had been taken, they would have located me in seconds. We had to try and track you via that burner phone and hope they didn’t find it and turn it off.”
“I never thought anyone would still be looking for me after all these years. When Dad’s business partner found us at the accident site, he took me to hospital. He arranged for the funeral and everyone believed him that I was dead. He put me into care, he just never realised when he told me to take one toy with me that I knew to lift the books Mum told me to if anything ever happened to her or Dad. I think that’s what that man was looking for.”
“Cassandra, I’ll take a look at the documents if you want me to since I know about the workings of the Council. That’s your choice. All I want is you safe in my home where I can protect you.”
She groaned. “All the stuff is in my safe house.”
“Jay has it, you put it at the base of your wardrobe, same as in your apartment. Everything is safe at the vault in my house.” I stared at the ceiling, lost in my thoughts. So many questions swirled around, the most predominant being: How did his business partner know to find them on a remote road in the countryside? Why did he not let her claim her place as her father’s heir? And why did he take a terrified child, change her name, and dump her in the care system with nothing more than a teddy bear?
“Fine, we’re going home.” Cassandra struggled to turn and drop her feet out of the bed.
“What the hell are you doing?” I muttered. “You need to get your ass back into bed and let the doctors take care of you.”
Her feet hit the floor and her hand grasped the bedrail to steady herself. “I can heal at home. The sickness is obviously pregnancy related, and as you keep telling me all I need is rest.”
“Get back in bed, Cas,” I growled.
“No. You’re determined to sit there and worry. At least at home there are snacks and cushions to prop myself up on. You can prowl about and make the twenty million calls that are already forming in your head.”
She teetered to the red button I’d moved aside since I was here and could get a nurse. My teeth ground together. At least at home no one would see if I tied her to the bed.
“Can I help you?” A nurse popped her head through the door.
“Yeah, I really want to go home and sleep in my own bed. Is that possible?”
“Of course. I’ll get doctor to come and speak to you.” The nurse disappeared again.
“Cas…”
“No!” she snapped, her finger pointed at me. “If this is going to work, we are equal partners in this relationship. I am not sitting on my ass while you plot the demise of whoever did this. I am going home to sit in a cocoon of my cushions and eat ice-cream. Understand?”
A discreet cough sounded behind Cassandra as the doctor stood watching her tirade. “Sounds like you’re feeling better. All your bloods are fine, I’ll get the nurse to strap your ribs and you can go home.”
Her eyes narrowed on me because she knew I’d seen the doctor standing behind her. A wide grin spread over my face. “That would be great. I have clothes here for her to change into.”
The door closed behind her. “I suppose you think you’re funny.”
“I know I’m hilarious,” I retorted with a wink, lifting the overnight bag off the floor. “Sit on the side of the bed.”
I tugged her yoga pants on and placed her flip-flops on her feet. The nurse came in a few moments later and began to strap her ribs. The bruising on her skin was starting to show in its glorious technicolour. Malcolm would pay for every one of those bruises.
“No overexertion for a few weeks, just take it easy. You’re very lucky that the majority of your injuries are minimal, but the body still needs time to heal.” The nurse chatted on in the background as I typed on my phone.
My car had already been brought to the hospital with a bag for Cassandra in it. All her clothes were hanging in my apartment and most of her other stuff in boxes. Yeah, I was moving everything fast, but it wouldn’t take the right people long to track her to that apartment. The Council employed brilliant hackers. We were just lucky Jay was among them. The best place to protect her was my home. There wasn’t a member of the Council who would make a move against me. They wouldn’t dare because the majority of them knew that the problems that disappeared were because the three of us made them vanish. We could easily do the same to them if we put our minds to it.
“Ready?” I asked, holding a loose blouse in my hands. It buttoned down the front, so she didn’t have to pull it over her head.
“Looks like you’re being spoilt,” the nurse said. “Your fiancé has thought of everything.”
“Apart from a ring,” Cassandra muttered darkly.
“Now, baby, that’s only because you couldn’t make your mind up.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead and flashed the nurse the smile I normally used for the press. “We good to go?”
“Doctor Johnson has left a prescription at the desk for you. I hope you feel better soon.” She waved on her way out of the room.
Linking her arm through mine, I led Cassandra from the room. I knew a wheelchair would have been met with objections. Another nurse at the reception area handed me her medication.
Cassandra was pale, her face strained when we eventually got to the car. “I knew you should have stayed another few days,” I snarked, putting the car into gear to pull away.
“Just leave it, Zee. I hate hospitals, it was stressing me out.” Her eyes closed and she sank back into the seat.
I turned the radio on and let the gentle classical music soothe her on our way to my apartment. She only woke up when the car stopped, blinking in the dim light of the underground car park.
“Where are we?” she muttered, beginning to stretch, but wincing.
“Home.”
Her full body weight sank into me as I helped her from the car. “This is your apartment, not mine.”
“This is our apartment, since all your stuff is here.”
Her back straightened ready to fight, but I ushered her to the private elevator. “Why are my possessions in your apartment?”
“Because someone tried to kill you, and this is the best place I can protect you. Work is currently accelerated to get our house finished so I can move you there.”
“Zee,” she moaned, burrowing her head into my chest. “I need to be able to live my life.”
“I hate to point this out, but this is no longer about keeping you safe, but our baby as well.”
Her eyes were huge when she peered up at me.
“You heard me. By tomorrow, you’ll have a ring on your finger and if I can get an officiant, a piece of paper saying we’re married as well.”
“You never even asked me…” she said in a low accusation.
The elevator pinged and we stepped out. Jordan had even brought her cushions from her apartment, and they were strewn all over my sofa.
Glaring at her for several moments, I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the window. I dropped to one knee with the lights of London as my backdrop. “Marry me, Cassandra. Spend your life with me.”
She studied me for several seconds before a smile slowly crept across her lips. “Yes.”
I really wanted to lift her and spin her around, but that went against all the laws of her recovery. Instead, I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her the way I wanted to do from the moment I knew she was safe. She moaned into my mouth as she clung to me, and I pinned her against the window with my tongue taking control.
Cassandra was mine, now and always. Her little excursion to the country had only accelerated the plan I’d had in my head for weeks. Add the fact she was pregnant to the equation, and my father would personally sign the order to execute anyone who even looked in her direction.
Pressing a last k
iss to the end of her nose, I pulled her away from the window. “Come on, and you can reorganise the apartment for me. Your cushions have already invaded and I’m sure those throws you like are here somewhere as well.”
Her breathless laugh washed over me. “You take abduction to a different level.”
“No.” I slowly turned to face her. “I’m planning on forever, Cas. You just need to meet me halfway.”
***
Chapter Ten
Xavier
Malcolm hung from a St Andrew’s cross in the basement of one of our remote storage locations. He’d never struck me as a criminal mastermind, taking his father’s position on the Council and sticking to the periphery of everything that happened.
Jordan sat with his feet propped up on the table containing all the equipment he used to recover information from people. I preferred hand-to-hand combat, or, if necessary, shooting, but I’d never had the taste for torture. It was the reason Jordan excelled at being a Dom. He knew exactly how far to push people.
Right now, he had Malcolm at breaking point.
“You need to let me go. My people will know where I am.” His voice sounded shaky, not the way it had when he taunted Cassandra.
“Nah, that’s your tracker on the table,” Jordan said. “Shoddy piece of work that I found in a few seconds. Fun fact, Malcolm, we carry jammers when we go on missions. The moment we stepped into that room, your tracker went offline. They don’t have a fucking clue where you are.”
His eyes met mine and I saw the question in them. “You have two options right now,” I explained. “Tell us everything we want to know and your family will live through this. Or Jay extracts the information we want and your line dies out right now. Either way, your death is guaranteed.”
“How the fuck was I supposed to know she belonged to you?” He whined. “Look, this has been a misunderstanding.”
“I walked in to find you trying to shove your dick up her ass. There are no misunderstandings, Malcolm, just one perverted little man who doesn’t mind indulging in rape.” I dragged his head back by the hair to stare at him. “I heard every fucking word you said to her, every time you hit her, the moment you kicked her in the stomach. She’s carrying my child and you fucking kicked her in the stomach.”
I heard Jordan’s intake of breath even as I kicked Malcolm in the stomach, my fist connecting with his chin. The need to make him suffer burned through my veins, scorching everything in its path as vengeance screamed to be administered.
“Why the fuck did you want Cassandra?” I demanded, pinning his head back against the cross. Jordan handed me a strap to put around his head so he couldn’t avoid looking at us.
His laugh was hollow, blood trickling from his mouth. “You should speak to her father’s business partner.”
Jordan slowly sharpened a knife, the sound of metal on metal making my molars grind together. “Already on that. I have eyes on him and he’ll be brought in on my signal.”
“You’re a sick wee fuck.” Malcom sneered.
“Yet, I don’t need to rape women to get my rocks off,” Jordan replied amicably. “What was it you said? That she should ask your slaves?”
Malcolm reared back and tried to break free of his bonds.
“The police raided your house in London earlier today, the one you never let your wife and kids visit. They found your harem of sex slaves you bought and helped to personally train.” Jordan tutted and shook his head. “Looks like Malcolm was a bad man.”
He flung himself around like a man possessed. “Let go of me.”
My arms folded across my chest. “Why did you want the keys to the safe deposit boxes?” I asked in a cold tone.
“You have them?”
I shrugged. “Cassandra gave them to me.”
“Her father was a brilliant businessman. He organised shares for the Council, but at the same time he also put together a massive portfolio for himself. He had details that could have destroyed the main families in the Council if he wanted to. That sort of information is worth more than money.”
“Are you seriously telling me that this was all about money and power?” I demanded, throwing a look at Jordan. He shrugged and picked up another knife to sharpen.
“What else is there?” Malcolm tried to laugh but coughed instead. “With those details I could have run the Council and those anonymous shares would have made me the richest man there.”
“Did you kill her family?” At some point she was going to start putting two and two together and I needed answers for her.
“Fuck you! There are scarier bastards than you out there.”
Jordan gave a dark chuckle. “I seriously doubt that.” He kicked his chair back and pressed a scalpel to the bottom of Malcolm’s chest. “Why did you really want those keys? You already have money and power.”
He spat on Jordan and I knew that he’d just crossed the line that would ensure he suffered horrendously before he died. The scalpel cut a perfect line down the middle of his ribcage.
He screeched and tried to pull back.
“There are few blood vessels here, so I can peel all the skin away and begin to remove your ribs one at a time. It won’t kill you, but I’ve been told the pain is immense. Do you know that you broke one of Cassandra’s ribs?” Jordan said all this as if he was talking about the weather. “You can survive for several hours without some of your organs.”
Malcolm’s stomach sucked in as if trying to avoid the scalpel. “Are you going to let him do this?” he demanded, his eyes pleading with me.
“You tried to rape my woman, so yeah, it seems fair. Be grateful I didn’t stick your dick up your ass to see how you’d like it.”
Jordan’s smile even scared me a little bit. “Who do you think eliminates the Council’s problems? How do you think I get all the information I do from people? Grow up, Malcolm. Welcome to the real world.”
“Fuck you!”
“I love it when they choose the hard way,” Jordan said, his smile almost maniacal.
I stepped back because I knew what was coming. His screams punctured the airwaves and his pleas fell on deaf ears. I hardened my resolve, knowing that he deserved this for what he did to Cassandra and those women. There was no doubt in my mind that there were others who had been sold on or killed because they wouldn’t fully submit to him. Sick fucks like that made me ashamed to be a man.
Anyone who needed to use their strength and dick against someone was a coward.
His sobs followed. “She has access to the Doulton files.”
The name was familiar, but I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
Jordan grabbed his face, his fingers coated in Malcolm’s blood. “What’s the Doulton files?”
“He was a major arms dealer and had access to secrets worldwide. He went into hiding about twenty years ago. The bounty on his head is worth more than money. Somewhere in her files was the location of his safe house. Her father was killed before we could extract the information.”
“Why would you want it so badly?” I asked.
“He knows the details of the slave resorts I’m involved in. They’re supposed to be secret and exclusive. He knows all the information, including our supply lines for the slaves. Just let me go…” His voice broke at the end.
Jordan and I stared at each other. He nodded and turned away.
“Goodbye, Malcolm.” My gun pressed against his head and piss splashed on the floor at my feet.
“I fucking hate when they do that,” Jordan said in the background. “Ruins a perfectly good pair of boots.”
He didn’t deserve to live. He’d ruined the lives of God knew how many young men and women as he dragged them into his perverted world.
The only thing I regretted was the waste of the bullet in his head. Other than that, he could rot in the depths of hell and atone for his sins there.
***
Chapter Eleven
Cassandra
All my clothes were on one side of a mass
ive walk-in wardrobe. My colourful kitchen utensils sat around the kitchen as if I’d left them there while making dinner.
If I wasn’t so relieved he found me in time, I’d be pissed at Xavier right now. He took jealous and possessive to a whole new level.
My phone rang in the living room and I padded in wearing just one of his shirts because it was loose, and I needed to feel close to him.
“Hey.”
“You want me to pick up something for dinner?” Xavier’s voice was deep and sent heatwaves down my spine.
“I would love Thai right now.” Now that he mentioned food, I was famished.
“No worries, I’ll be there shortly.”
“Zee?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I have spring rolls as well as the sweet chili noodles?”
His chuckle made me smile. “Why don’t I get an assortment and you can pick through it?”
A smile tugged at one side of my mouth as I wandered to the window to look out over the city. “I’d like that since I don’t need to worry about my waistline anymore.”
“You need anything else?”
“Just you.” I stared at my reflection in the glass. It was true, I’d tried to walk away and was miserable. The only place I wanted to be was with Xavier. Now that I was pregnant with his child, I knew he’d never let me go.
“You’ve already got me, baby. See you soon. Love you.” The line went dead. He said the words I’d always feared with such ease, as if they didn’t hold any repercussions for the people who used them.
Everyone I love had died and I was left to try and live without them. The pain never really went away, it just festered in the background, waiting until you were having a bad day to jump out and slap you in the face with a random memory that had faded.
I stared around his apartment and viewed it through his eyes instead of my angry, independent ones. He hated cushions and all my colourful utensils that didn’t match. I used to laugh when he bitched about them. But he’d gone and collected all my stuff and left them in his designer apartment to make me feel at home. I wasn’t annoyed that he’d been through my stuff since we’d been practically living together for the past few months. It was because I was a control freak.