by CR Robertson
Her hand grabbed mine on the gear stick and squeezed.
“Why don’t you let me go?” Cassandra coaxed. “He can say his piece and return to being dead.”
“That’s the problem,” I muttered. “He isn’t dead.”
“If you killed all the bad men, the world would be an empty place.”
Maybe I couldn’t kill all the bad men, but I could certainly dispatch those in the vicinity of my wife. I chewed the side of my mouth, lost in my thoughts when Cassandra poked me in the side.
“What’s that for?” I demanded, my brow wrinkling in confusion.
“You’re in your head again. We need to talk to each other, or we’ll slowly start to fall apart.”
“Cas, I’m meeting one of the world’s most notorious crime lords in a few hours. A few days ago, I discovered he was the dead uncle of my wife. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to invite him to dinner or put a bullet in his head.”
Her silence would be damning if her hand on mine didn’t tighten. “You can’t fix the world, Zee. He’s not your problem.”
“Technically, he is. He wants me to go into business with him, to take Malcolm’s place in his perverted empire.”
Cassandra just continued to stare out the window. “I always thought my family was perfect, that tragedy had stepped into their path and they were taken from me. Then, when I was older, I came to terms with the fact that they had probably been killed. Now, I have to face the fact that my uncle is a human trafficker and my father was a criminal.”
“Ouch!” I gave her a side-eyed look because she put him into that category because of me.
“Zee, we both know that you’ve killed men. I accept you for who you are, but that doesn’t change facts.”
“Fair enough.” I sighed and continued to watch the road. I missed my bike and wished I was driving back to London on it to clear my head.
“Uncle Dan was my dad’s older brother. If I understand the workings of your Council, then surely he should have had a place on it, not dad?”
The car swerved as I turned to look at her. “He was the eldest son?”
“Yeah, Dad always referred to him as his big brother.”
My mind reeled. She was right—only the eldest sons were allowed onto the Council. Younger sons had peripheral roles in case anything happened, and they had to step in to take their sibling’s position. If Cassandra’s father had a place on the Council, it was because Dante was already on it in another capacity. We were drowning in secrets and every time we uncovered one, another two were there to take its place. Our very own hydra of secrecy.
“You’re going to get frown lines if you keep scowling like that,” Cassandra commented.
“I’m going to go bald because I’ll have torn all my hair out,” I countered.
“That’s my job,” Cassandra said, arching an eyebrow. She tended to drag my hair out when my head was between her legs and she was screaming my name.
“Duly noted.” I couldn’t stop the salacious smile that emerged. There wasn’t a sub bone in her body, and that would have bothered me a year ago. Now it made lust trickle down my spine and my dick stand to attention.
“What are you going to do?” Cassandra asked, turning in the seat to watch me.
I glanced at her and kept driving. “You really don’t want me to answer that question, considering that he’s your last family member.”
“He hasn’t been part of my family for over twenty years.”
“Even so, there are some things you don’t need to know.”
I’d polluted her with enough of my darkness. All I wanted to do was lock her away from my world and give her everything she needed. For the first time ever, I felt ashamed of the life I’d been leading. She deserved better than me, but that didn’t mean that I would ever let her go.
“Zee, you don’t need to protect me from my past.” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper. “The ghosts in it have haunted me long enough.”
I lifted her hand and kissed the pulse at her wrist. “It’s time those ghosts were exorcised once and for all.”
“Maybe I should hear what he has to say? I need to know why Dad cut him out of our lives.”
My eyes met Cassandra’s for a brief moment. “I think we both know why, considering he had two small daughters.”
She sighed and slumped back into the seat. “He was my favourite uncle.”
“He was your only uncle.”
“You’re just being pedantic.”
My lips twitched in amusement that this difficult woman with so much sass honestly thought she could be a sub in The Twilight Rooms. Her ass would constantly be red from the paddle so that she wouldn’t be able to sit on it.
“Are you laughing at me?” she demanded.
“Nope, just thinking how demure you are. I’ll maybe sign you up for sub training.” My comment earned me a glare and a slap on the shoulder.
“I saw you chatting with Charles this morning. Was the opening a success?”
Normally I would have prowled around the different areas all night to ensure there were no problems, but since Cassandra had booked a room, it seemed a pity not to use it. Ash had abandoned Carly after a while and took on my role. He seemed to think the location and the entertainment were well received.
“Yeah, the rooms are already fully booked for the next three months. Charles has a few ideas about how we could use the theatre for erotic shows that will bring in more customers.”
“You don’t seem excited.”
I pursed my lips together and blew out my cheeks before releasing my breath. “I enjoy creating the venues, designing the experience rooms and what we’ll offer. When it’s done, I hand the running of it over to a manager I’ve selected. We take it in turns to arrive anonymously to sample the atmosphere from time to time. Charles thinks I own that resort, so Ash or Jay will visit it in future.”
“You visit The Midnight Rooms in London,” she pointed out.
“Not anymore, I finally found what I was looking for there and claimed her.”
Cassandra’s laugh washed over me. “You know that we’re never telling our children how we met.”
“I think it was romantic.”
“Yeah, meeting their mother when another man is having sex with her is not romantic.”
“It is when I tell them that I dragged him off and gave you your first real orgasm.”
She laughed, getting her phone from her bag when it pinged with a message. She really needed to get a new notification tone, as that bird chirp made my eye twitch. It was her stillness that told me something was wrong.
“Cas? What is it?”
“I think someone is in our apartment.”
“What?” I barked out, trying to share my attention between the road and my wife.
“Someone’s just sent me a text with a picture of our living room.”
“What the fuck?” I grabbed her phone from her to glance down. It was our living room, but it was before she arrived in my life because there were no cushions in it. The message made my blood boil.
Changing your number doesn’t work. You ready for that date?
“Motherfucker!” I was going to annihilate that goofball and piss on his carcass.
“You need to calm down, Zee. I’m going to be sick.” Her hand curved protectively around her stomach.
My foot eased off the accelerator, even as my thumb moved over the controls for my phone in the car.
“Yeah?” Jordan’s voice filled the silence.
“We have a problem.” My knuckles tightened on the wheel.
“Another one? We’re already meeting with that psychopathic asshole today. Can you not reschedule your problem for another day?”
“That fucker who used to stalk Cassandra’s phone just texted her a picture of our apartment and asked her on a fucking date.”
Jordan’s laugh made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “He really does have a death wish. Does he know who you actually are?”
&
nbsp; “He’s about to find out,” I replied darkly. “I’m about thirty minutes out from the apartment and I’ll check the security feeds.”
“No alarms have tripped on my phone.”
“Yeah, I think the picture was before Cassandra moved in.”
“How do you know?” Cassandra asked in a small voice beside me.
“No cushions, baby. When you moved in, my apartment was infected with the little buggers. They seem to breed every time I’m not looking.”
“Best to stab one as a warning to the rest of them,” Jordan said. “They disappeared in my apartment when I began to exact my revenge on them.”
I dreaded to think what that meant, but Jordan had always been a control freak who hated ‘fluff’ in his living space.
“Yeah, I’m not going to divorce court over cushions,” I replied.
“I’ll be on the road in five and meet in your apartment when we arrive. Any more problems, let me know.”
“No worries. Chat soon.”
What Cassandra wouldn’t know was that right now Jordan would be in the security camera system and checking all the alarms. A protection team would already be en route to our apartment. I was taking no chances with the security of my family.
“Why is he texting me now?”
“He was connected with Marco and he disappeared with a huge supply of jewels. My guess is that they’re still looking for him and probably think you’re a vulnerable target.”
“We should have gone to the police, told them what happened,” she said. Cassandra beat herself up every day about what occurred that night. The only reason I was alive was because she’d lifted that gun.
I didn’t reply. Instead, I slipped her phone into my pocket and grabbed her hand. The number that texted her would be in our system within minutes of me getting home. That asshole would be having an unexpected accident in the near future.
“You’ve gone all growly.” Cassandra sat sideward in her seat to study me.
I gave a mock growl that resulted in her smiling. “You know how I feel about people threatening you, Cas. That’s never going to change. He knows you’re married. Hell, he even saw your ring. You never once gave the guy the impression that you were interested, yet, he keeps coming after you.”
“Do you think he targeted me in the pub that night?” Cassandra asked, her thumb rubbing up and down the side of my hand.
I shot her a quick look. “Why would you think that?”
She shrugged. “Because when Megan is with me, no one ever asks for my number. Do you think Malcolm found me before I went home?”
It was a good question, but not the part of what she said that I addressed. “I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. There is no comparison between you and Megan. She may be beautiful, but I’ll be honest with you, baby. You’re the whole package.”
“You don’t need to make me try to feel better, Zee. I know she’s stunning, she always has been. I’m not jealous of her, just stating a fact.”
We were on the outskirts of London, but I came off the motorway at the next junction and found a layby to park in. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I turned to face my infuriating wife. Her mouth fell open as I grabbed her face between my hands.
“Next time you compare yourself to others and find yourself wanting, I will suspend you from the ceiling and spank that sexy ass of yours until you can’t sit for a week. Do I make myself clear?”
Her eyes widened into huge orbs, watching me wordlessly.
To drive home my point, I smashed my lips into hers. One day she would realise that she was the one woman in the world that I chose to be by my side. There would always be someone smarter, someone prettier, but there would only ever be one Cassandra.
She moaned, melting into me the way she always did. It was the reason I always ended an argument with a kiss. With her mouth busy and her arousal levels soaring, she never stayed mad at me for long. I broke away, my forehead pressed to hers.
“I mean it, Cassandra. You need to see yourself through my eyes every once in a while.”
The only time I used her full name was when I wanted her attention.
“I was being honest earlier. It was the first time a man looked at both of us in a bar and approached me. At the time, I put it down to feeling sexy because I’d agreed to a date with you in The Midnight Rooms.”
I kissed the tip of her nose and her eyes fluttered shut. “I just wanted to make sure you know how I feel about you devaluing yourself.”
I felt her take in a huge breath that came out as a sigh. “Some days I think you’re going to wake up and realise who you married and that terrifies me.”
“What? I’m going to wake up and realise that I married the woman I love. Pretty sure I already know that, or I wouldn’t have done it.”
She shoved against my chest, her cheeks flushing with heat. “You’re being a dick.”
“Seriously, baby.” I trailed the tip of my finger down the side of her face until her attention was fully on me. “Don’t ever say anything like that in front of me again. I chose you. I will always choose you no matter what.”
The guys in her past had done a serious number on Cassandra. I wished that I could track each one down and kick their ass for what they’d done to her confidence. Only a really crappy person would make someone else feel bad to improve their own self-esteem.
A tear escaped her eye and trickled down her cheek. She never liked to confront her emotions, normally joking or changing the topic. This time I hadn’t let her do that.
My lips met hers because I knew she needed reassurance, her body moving to mine instinctively the moment our lips connected. I gave her all my emotions in that kiss, telling her without words how I felt. Her tongue found mine, her hands grasping the front of my T-shirt.
We only broke apart when that fucking bird chirped again. Cursing, I fished her phone from my pocket and handed it to her. Cassandra typed in her password and swiped it open, passing it to me when she read what was on the screen.
Another fucking dick pic. What was wrong with that guy? I swear when I got my hands on him, he’d understand the meaning of the word no.
“Asshole,” I muttered as I put the car in gear and took off.
“I know it wasn’t very big, but it was definitely a dick.”
My lips spread into a smile and I laughed. Trust her to make me laugh when I wanted to rip someone’s head off. Both heads if I was being honest.
“What am I going to do with you?” I asked in amusement.
“That’s easy. Buy me shoes and give me orgasms.”
“I think I can do that.”
She winked at me. “I know you can, that’s why I married you.”
Even when surrounded by darkness, she brought light. With so many wolves at our door, my little lamb constantly seemed to be in danger. I needed to find a way to keep her safe.
***
Chapter Thirteen
Cassandra
I sat on the sofa, pretending to read my Kindle while listening to Xavier and Jordan snap at people on their phones. Ash arrived about five minutes ago, and sat sipping a bottle of beer. He’d been drinking heavily since Michael’s death.
“You doing okay?” I asked. Out of his friends, I never knew how to treat Ash as he always seemed unapproachable. Jordan had taken on the role as annoying family member whose mission in life was to embarrass you. Since he and Xavier were as close as brothers, it made sense.
Ash stared at me for several seconds until I didn’t expect a reply. “I never liked Michael. He was my brother and I looked after him, but he was a pain in the ass and a horrible human being. Now that he’s dead, I blame myself for not protecting him.”
“We’re all programmed to protect our younger siblings. When Kimberley died, I think that affected me more than Mum and Dad at the start. She’d always been there since we grew up together. Even when there’s nothing we can do to change their death, a part of us thinks it should have been us to die so they could live.”
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br /> He took another sip. “I never thought of it that way.”
“You can’t alter the past, Ash, so don’t let it affect your future.”
He sighed and studied the label on his bottle. “Mum has decided after thirty something years of marriage that she wants a divorce. Dad is furious and spitting fire and brimstone. He wants me to have a word with her.”
“You can’t fix someone else’s relationship.”
Ash nodded and leaned back in the chair to face the ceiling. “I guess not.” He reverted back into his shell of silence. He was in all the social media posts and tabloid articles with the other two men, but always seemed unapproachable. To the outside world, Ash was a playboy who didn’t give a fuck about anyone. I was beginning to see that he felt too much and blamed himself for the actions of others. He was a tortured soul in turmoil.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Xavier snapped. “Make it happen, because if I do it myself, you won’t like the results.”
His eyes met mine. I knew that whatever that conversation was pertained to me and my safety. The tight line of his jaw said that he wouldn’t take no as an answer. He hung up and wandered toward me, his expression dark and menacing. In this mood, Xavier was brutality mixed with masculinity, his muscles bunched and ready to fight the unseen enemy at our door. I didn’t want to know what was clawing at our door because I was already terrified.
Xavier’s eyes locked the world out, only letting me see the real man behind the mask. My stomach tightened and a flock of butterflies took flight in my chest at the look in his eyes. Anger mixed with desperation while he warred with his emotions.
I could feel the time left in this apartment begin to slip away. Someone had been in his sanctuary and Xavier would take that seriously.
“Did you find out who took the photo?” I asked.
His already tight jaw bunched further until I thought he’d break a tooth. “My cleaner, Martha. If you blow up the photo, you can see her in the reflection. She must have taken it when she was in here alone before you moved in.”
I knew for a fact that no one was in here by themselves since he discovered my pregnancy. One of the security patrol always escorted people when we were out. I knew that security cameras ran when we weren’t here, because I’d seen Xavier turn them off when we arrived home.