by CR Robertson
“I’ll be in touch soon. You did the right thing reaching out to me.”
“Who else would I go to, Dad?” There had been a time that Dad wasn’t just my father but a close friend as well. Over the years and countless girlfriends that friendship slowly eroded.
I ended the call with a heavy heart. The tone of his voice had gone from apprehensive to excited. He wanted the information in that box, and that terrified me, especially after the reaction it had already garnered.
Cassandra silently watched me. She crooked her finger at me, and without thought I moved toward her. She stood and held her arms open. You never knew what was missing from your life until you found it. Cassandra granted me a precious gift that no one else did. She saw the real me, looking beyond the façade and finding the person behind the mask.
Her arms closed around me as she stood on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around my neck. “Nothing matters but us,” she whispered in my ear.
The truth of her words sunk into my bones. It was true. The only thing that mattered was that she was safe and by my side. My head burrowed into her shoulder and I held her until I was afraid that I would hurt her with the force of my grip.
“When do we head out?” she asked.
I shrugged one shoulder. “Probably tomorrow morning by the time we work out routes and detours.” We settled ourselves on the sofa with Cassandra resting against my chest.
“Then tonight we enjoy the company of our friends, and tomorrow we face the past and finally bury it.” She soothed her hand over my heart.
“What if the past keeps coming back to haunt us?”
“Then we keep dragging everything into the light until there are no secrets left to be told. It needs to end before the next generation are brought into it.”
She was right. It was said that the sins of the father was passed onto the third and fourth generations. Since my first child was on the way, I needed to ensure that those sins ended with me.
Cassandra’s phone pinged where it sat in the kitchen. I ignored it until it pinged again.
“Let’s hope it’s not more dick pics,” Cassandra muttered. “Why do men think we want to see that in a text?”
A laugh rumbled in my chest. “Does that mean you don’t want me to send you any to your new phone?”
“You do realise that I’m the only one who gets to see it in person?” She smiled and wiggled on my knee to prove her point.
“I wouldn’t object to more pics of you in sexy lingerie.” I pressed a quick kiss to her lips. Her last one was my contact picture for her. It made me smile every time it appeared on the screen.
Her phone pinged again in that chirp that echoed through my head. Cassandra giggled at my expression. It had been her idea to text him back and now I was stuck exchanging messages with an asshole who wanted to impregnate my wife to maximise his bounty.
Groaning, I lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around my waist as I padded to the kitchen to grab the offending phone. Our best guess was that he got her number from when she ordered takeaway to the apartment on the night of Michael’s funeral. He probably followed the delivery driver back and got her details. The texts had only started after that.
Cassandra lifted her phone. “Seriously, Zee?” she asked, skimming through the messages.
“I know what men like to hear.” It was true, men responded to a certain language. The filthier the texts, the more the little pervert had responded. He obviously thought she was a bored housewife looking for a little excitement.
“Whose breasts are these?” Cassandra leaned back to glare down at me.
My eyebrow arched at her tone. A real sub would back down instantly. Instead she stared at me, demanding an answer.
I sighed in defeat. “They belong to Carly. Ash took them when the phone pervert began to ask for return pics.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You do realise that your ass is going to be very red tonight?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Still want to continue this line of questioning?”
A sexy little grin formed on her lips. “Uh-huh.”
“Minx.” I pushed her back against the wall and smashed my lips into hers. It was the easiest way to win an argument with Cassandra. She moaned into my mouth, her hands sliding into my hair.
I wanted all this to be over, for us to finally find the life we both deserved. Once upon a time, I believed in the Council and the values I thought it stood for. Now, I saw a different side filled with corruption and rich men seeking power.
“Will you consider staying here?” My forehead pressed against hers as we tried to regain our breath.
“Who else can interpret Dad’s ciphers? He pretended it was a game when I was little, when in reality he was preparing me for the day he might not be there anymore.” Her lips pursed together. “I don’t want that for our children.”
A tear slipped down her face. I wiped it with my thumb.
“I will do everything in my power to ensure our children are safe,” I promised. “Now help me message this lunatic. Jordan’s been tracking him via his phone and recording all the places he’s been. Every time he turns that phone on to sext you, we’re tracking him.”
“Kinky!” Cassandra winked.
I carried her back into the conservatory and sat down with her straddling my hips. Her eyes skimmed through the messages, her nose wrinkling every so often.
“This doesn’t even sound like me,” she lamented.
“I know that, but he doesn’t. Gimme the phone.” I nabbed the phone from her. It repulsed me to have anything to do with the lowlife, and I would have eliminated the problem of him by now, only Jordan said that he was collecting useful information. We now knew the headquarters of the club Marco was in and he had discreet surveillance in the area.
I scanned his latest messages. The guy was obsessed with photographing his penis. My guess was that he was using a zoom lens because he obviously had insecurity issues. “There is no way any man with a reasonable sized dick would take this many photos. He must do this to make it look big.”
Cassandra grabbed the phone to study it, her fingers zooming the screen in and out. “Look at his finger size for comparison in this one.” She leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “I can’t get my hand around your girth.”
She rubbed her hand over my groin, and I groaned.
“Maybe you should ask him for a video of it in action?” Cassandra suggested.
“I am not watching another man wank himself,” I hissed. “It’s bad enough I have to look at his dick pics.”
“Am I interrupting?” My cousin Lucrezia was standing in the doorway.
“Nope.” Cassandra sat up, her ass rubbing my dick was attracting his attention. “I had a stalker problem and the guys are sorting it.”
Lucrezia wandered in, her demeanour sad.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing, I’m just a little tired.” I’d noticed her watching Ash earlier, but he’d deliberately gone out of his way to ignore her. “I’m not used to this weather.”
“When the men are planning war tonight, why don’t we have a girl’s night in drinking cocktails and watching movies while doing our nails?” Cassandra asked.
Lucrezia looked down at her perfectly manicured nails. “That sounds good, especially the cocktails.”
“Megan makes a mean pornstar martini.” Cassandra gave me a quick, hard kiss. “I’m going before I have to watch my husband sext another man and get jealous.”
She stood up and straightened her top. I gave her a narrow-eyed glare.
“Come on, Lucrezia, there are some things that we do not need to witness.”
The saucy little minx winked at me as she ushered my cousin from the room. That was why I loved her. She didn’t need to take care of Lucrezia, but she saw someone in pain and wanted to help them.
Staring at the scene, I began to type, my stomach rolling with every word. There was no doubt in my head the dirty fucker was sitting somewhere with
his dick in his hand, imagining my wife. She was too good for me, but she was completely out of this guy’s league. I should have ignored Jordan and blew his brains out when I had his location, but now he was included in our long-term plans because he was interacting with some very interesting characters.
Cassandra and Lucrezia walked past the window on their way to the pond. Every time I lost her, she was sitting beside the water, talking to those fish.
The bars of my gilded cage began to tarnish. All the privileges that I grew up with began to wither and die as more evidence came to light about the men I used to look up to. Leaving the phone on the table, I went to the window and watched Cassandra and Lucrezia.
Cassandra’s baby bump was finally showing, and she tended to unconsciously touch her stomach every so often as if to check that it was still there.
Emotion formed a lump in my throat. She was the light in the darkness that surrounded me. I would do everything it took to ensure she survived this nightmare. For the first time in my life, I wanted to be normal and not the son of Hugh Bartholomew.
Fear churned deep in my stomach at the thought of her being taken from me. I made a silent vow to myself that I would destroy everything I once believed in before I let anything happen to her.
***
Chapter Twenty
Cassandra
Warmth surrounded me in the darkness, perspiration coating my skin. My hips arched up as that divine friction massaged my core, that piercing trailing along the front wall.
I loved hard and angry sex, I adored it when Xavier fucked me into submission, but this right here was my favourite.
I’d gone to bed after two movies, too much popcorn, and watching everyone else getting tipsy around me. The men had still been planning their war when I passed their den on the way to bed. Xavier came out to press a kiss to my forehead and tell me he’d be up soon. I’d been so exhausted, I fell asleep hugging his pillow.
Whatever time it was, the sky remained dark outside. Since we got married, Xavier had never let me go to sleep without us both enjoying an orgasm. He moved deep and slow, sliding in and out of me. Barely awake sex was the best kind, when you were floating somewhere between dream and reality.
Xavier kissed me, his tongue replicating his cock, delving in deep to claim me. It felt like we were back in The Midnight Rooms, when all I could focus on was the movement of his cock.
“Zee,” I moaned, grabbing his ass to drag him further into me.
He groaned, slamming into me harder since I was awake.
I was on fire, sensation stoking the flames that burned deep in my tummy. My teeth sunk into his shoulder, and he let out that deep, gravelly groan that sent shivers down my spine. I pushed until he rolled onto his back, his hands on the curve of my ass.
I undulated up and down, setting my own pace and pushing us both toward the edge, grinding my pelvis against his. Heat bloomed in my chest until I was panting, every inch of me on fire. My legs trembled with the effort, and Xavier sat up so he could kiss me.
“I can’t,” I whispered, my thighs tightening.
“Hands and knees, baby.”
“Hmmm.” I pulled off him and felt empty as I settled myself, my ass in the air and my arms stretched in front of me for my head to rest on.
His lips skimmed up my spine, leaving kisses on every vertebra. “You ready?”
I was so ready I could burst. His cock surged deep into my core, stretching and filling me. Now that I was awake, I wanted it so hard and slow that I would still feel his impression in me tomorrow. He pulled out of me with infinite slowness, until only his head remained in me. My entire body moved when he slammed back inside, his fingers gripping my hips.
His pace continued until I was mewling, my back arching to present my ass to him. The pressure in my stomach built with every forceful thrust, sparks of pleasure firing through the synapses of my body to culminate in my core. His hands roved over my body, caressing my breasts and fluttering over my clit in teasing strokes.
He surrounded me, his presence cloaking me in the darkness until there was nothing else but the slide of his body on mine, the sensation of his cock thrusting in and dragging out of me. I could barely breathe, everything too much and yet not enough.
Xavier pulled out suddenly and rolled me onto my back, spearing into me as his lips found mine. He consumed every part of me until there was nothing left but a quivering wreck of muscle spasms and nerves screaming in ecstasy.
He pushed me over the precipice of pleasure until we came together, our bodies locked together in a climax that left us both gasping for air, our foreheads pressed tightly together.
“I love you,” he whispered, his lips pressing delicate kisses on my lips.
“Love you, too.” I wound my arms around him and gave up even trying to think.
We held each other until our breaths settled and the sweat on my body started to cool. Then he wrapped me in his arms, his stomach pressed to my back, his arm holding me tight against him.
“What time is it?” I asked, snuggling deeper into his embrace.
“About three in the morning.” I knew there was something wrong by the stillness of his body and the way he held me.
I struggled free to sit up. “What’s up?” Panic snaked up my spine when he rolled onto his back and covered his eyes with his arm. “Zee?”
“Just leave it, Cassandra.”
He only ever used my full name when he wanted my obedience or his emotions were spiralling out of control. I flicked the bedside light on so I could study him.
“Zee?” There was no explanation because he hadn’t said anything, but suddenly I was terrified.
He finally lifted his arm and his eyes met mine. They were red as if he’d been crying. “Please don’t ask me,” he pleaded.
I lifted his fingers and threaded mine through them. “How can I help you if I don’t know?”
He swallowed and looked toward the window filled with the darkness of the night. “Because there are some things so dark that when you see them, they haunt your soul.”
His hand shook and a tear trickled down his cheek. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his head, dragging him against me. His arms nearly crushed me with the power behind it when he finally returned my embrace.
I sat with my back propped on the headrest and Xavier’s head on my stomach. Tentatively, I slowly stroked his hair and let him get rid of his excess of emotions. Whatever had happened was bad and he needed to process it before he could discuss it with me.
“I want you to leave today and go to Tuscany with Uncle Lucas,” he finally said, his fingertips tracing over my tummy. “Just until all this is over.”
I tipped his head back until he was peering up at me. “Tell me.”
He blinked once, looking like a man being led to the execution block. “Baby…”
“I need to know, Zee. Right now, I’m imagining all sorts of crazy scenarios.”
He swallowed and tried to look away, but I refused to let him. “This will only work if we’re honest with each other.”
“They’re dead,” he said randomly.
“Who’s dead?” Goosebumps rose up on my skin.
Xavier sat up, his shoulders heaving as if he couldn’t breathe properly. He got up and paced to the window, opening it and staring out into the darkness.
I turned the light off and wrapped my silk kimono around me before following him. My arms snaked around his waist, and my head rested between his shoulder blades. He created The Midnight Rooms because the darkness gave him a place to hide and process his emotions.
“Who’s dead?” I repeated.
“Us.”
For a moment, panic bloomed in my chest that he meant our relationship was over, but he was standing here with me and had just woken me up to make love to me. We stood for so long that I thought he was going to ignore me.
“They must have thought we’d returned to London with the files from the box. They’d forgotten to set the alarms and the
security measures that would have kept them safe from attack. They’d taken acting the happy couple to a different level and were in our bed.”
Nausea burned a rancid trail up my throat.
“He was found hanging in the bathroom, a note left on the side of the bed. She was tortured and—” his voice broke off. I didn’t need the visual to know what had happened. “They didn’t know about the cameras in the apartment. I hadn’t turned them off when I left.”
My arms tightened around him. He’d just had to watch our enemies murder me and frame him before killing him too. I pressed a kiss to the centre of his spine.
“I’ll do whatever you need,” I whispered.
His fingers gripped mine at his waist and we stood together until I shivered and his back straightened. “Fuck, Cas, why didn’t you tell me you were cold?” He engulfed me in those strong arms of his, hauling me into his chest.
“You had a few things on your mind.” I kissed his chest and rested my head over his heart to listen to the reassuring beat of his heart that always calmed me.
I had no doubt that whoever committed the atrocity tonight would feel the force of his wrath and regret ever meeting my husband.
***
Chapter Twenty-One
Xavier
The water of the shower had cleansed my body but not the dark thoughts swirling about in my head.
We’d been sitting discussing plans for today when the alarm activation pinged on my phone. All we could do was watch as my apartment was invaded and the couple having sex in my bed were murdered. It was all over in a matter of minutes. They looked similar enough to us as decoys that the team hadn’t realised they got the wrong targets.
The image of the woman lying on the bed with her throat cut and stab wounds all over her torso tormented me. I’d held my breath when I opened the door to our bedroom last night, finally letting it go when I saw Cassandra sleeping in our bed, her chest rising and falling.
I’d sat for nearly an hour watching her before I needed her touch to heat me and take the images away even for a while.