by Dani René
Cassian leans in, his mouth at my ear in an instant. His warm breath fans over me, sending shockwaves of need coursing through me. I can’t answer him because he already knows the truth. No man has ever made me feel what he does.
Shame fills me at the reminder. Because I can’t have Cassian, he never wanted me, not then, and certainly not now. He’s only toying with me tonight to get his vengeance.
“Does he make your pretty pussy wet?” he whispers, causing a gasp of shock to tumble from my lips. “Because I doubt that he could make your body react like this.” His teasing continues when he trails his knuckles over my cheek, down my neck, to the neckline of my T-shirt. He tugs on it gently before running his fingertips up my collarbone to my throat, where he wraps his hand firmly around the slender column. “Does he know how you used to chase me around like a puppy dog? Needing my attention only on you. And does he know you used to touch your cunt at night thinking about me defiling you every which way?” His words are filthy, harsh, but they’re also true.
My cheeks are burning from embarrassment as a whimper of need escapes my lips. Cassian chuckles, but his hold on my throat tightens when he pushes back to lock his heated gaze on mine. There’s no hate in his stare, only raw desire.
“W-what d-d-do you w-want, Cassian?” I finally manage to whisper. I’m not scared, and he knows it because he tips his head to the side, his eyes narrowing as he regards me with interest.
“I want the truth, Kaly,” he responds in a voice so low, so dangerous, I struggle to swallow the lump of fear that suddenly fills my throat. “I want the honest, brutal truth from you because I’m sick of lies and stories.”
Suddenly, he releases me, pushing away from me as if I’ve burned him. But he doesn’t look away. He keeps those teal orbs pinned on me as if he’ll be able to dig out the truth from me with a glare.
Perhaps he can because I find myself aching to confess, to tell him about my life, about Paulo. I want to ask him for help, but I doubt he could ever give that to me. I doubt he’d even want to.
“Why?” I ask instead. “Why do you want to know about me?”
He regards me for a long while before responding, “Because it would make it easier for me to break you.” And that sinister grin is back on his face. The way his full, pink lips curl, even in this darkness, makes me want to feel them on every part of me. What Cassian doesn’t realize, though, is that I’ve been broken long before he came along.
“I’m getting married to the man I love,” I lie, praying with all I have that he doesn’t see through me. That he doesn’t see the truth in my bitter words.
He laughs; it’s a deep chuckle that confirms he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. “Do you truly think I’m going to believe that?”
“You have a high regard for yourself, Cassian Thorne. I didn’t sit around and wait for you to come and save me,” I bite out, the anger at how he used to push me away just because he declared me too young for him takes hold. Granted, I was sixteen, and I knew he would get into trouble if we took it a step too far, but I was all grown-up, I could choose what I wanted, and I ached for him.
But he never lost control.
Until now.
“You see,” Cassian says, dragging me out of the thoughts racing through my mind, bringing me back to the present. “I thought that’s what was happening. You had moved on to something better. I figured you were all grown-up and ready to take on the world,” he announces with a flourish. “But then I had my men look into this little charade you’re playing.”
He stops moving and just stares at me. The truth in his gaze burns right through me. He knows. I don’t know what he’s found out, but he knows something more is going on between Paulo and me; that much is clear.
“What do you mean?” I cross my arms over my chest, needing to hold myself together. Cassian cannot know about what happened to me. He couldn’t have learned about Paulo’s hold over me. In the silence of the night, I pray he doesn’t know everything.
But when he steps closer to me, there’s a glint of rage in his eyes that wasn’t there earlier. And in that moment, I realize Cassian knows everything. I want to break down, to fall to my knees and cry, but I swallow back the pain, the heartbreak taking hold of me, and I focus on keeping my tears at bay.
“You’re not going back to that house tonight,” Cassian declares, causing my attention to snap to his. “I’m not allowing you to spend another night in a house with that bastard. And if he wants a fight, I’m ready for him.”
“I don’t understand,” I whisper hoarsely, my voice cracking with emotion. “If I don’t go back, if I anger him, he’ll stop paying—”
“For your father’s treatment,” Cassian finishes my sentence. “I know what he’s doing, and I’ve already taken care of it.”
My mouth pops open in shock. “What?” The word comes out as a squeak of surprise. That is most definitely not what I expected him to say.
“I’m not letting you go near him again, Kalyn. If anyone is going to hurt you and make you cry, it will be me, and trust me when I say that when I do, it will not be from pain, but from pleasure.”
“Cassian, you’re not making sense. You cannot keep me hostage here,” I answer, but my head is spinning with confusion. The man in front of me hates me, with good reason. He shouldn’t be stepping into my life as a hero because I don’t need that. All I wanted was forgiveness.
He steps up to me once more, closing the distance between us. Our bodies flush as he captures my chin between his finger and thumb. “I’ve been angry at you for a long time, Kaly,” he tells me earnestly, his eyes shimmering as he looks into mine. “I’ve spent my life wanting revenge, to make you pay for your lie, for telling your parents I would ever get you into this sick addiction of yours.”
“When your father spoke to them, told them the truth, they—”
“I know they believed him,” he interrupts me. “But it was your lie that sparked my anger. That you could even say something like that about me, that’s what shattered me, little liar.”
“I’m sorry, Cassian, I truly am.” This time, my voice breaks, and the tears I’d been keeping at bay slip from my lashes and trickle down my cheeks. A smile dances on Cassian’s mouth as he takes in my broken expression. I know he’ll enjoy my tears because he’s spent years wanting to cause them, wanting to make me beg and cry.
“Oh, you will be,” he warns. “But as I said, you’re not going back to that bastard.” He pulls me closer by my chin, so there’s nowhere else to go. Our mouths are a hairsbreadth away, and his warmth consumes me as he whispers along my lips, “You’re mine now, and I’m not letting you out of my sight until I’ve extracted my pound of flesh. Once you’re paid up, you’ll be begging me to keep you, just like you did all those years ago.”
“I don’t understand.” My words come out as a breathy whisper, one that I admonish myself for because I don’t want Cassian to know just how much his words have affected me.
“You’ll live at Thorne Manor until the Narro house is sold. While you’re at the manor, you’ll pay me back for that lie, for those words that fell from your lips.”
“How?” I mumble, inhaling his breath and allowing him to steal mine. His lips touch mine, it’s featherlight, but enough to cause my thighs to squeeze together.
A flicker of warning dances in those pretty eyes. I should ask him why he wants me to stay at the manor, why he wants to keep me from Paulo, but all I can think about right now is kissing him. And wanting him to finally claim me as his.
But he pushes away and says, “You’ll soon learn. Come.” Cassian spins on his heel, leaving me heaving breaths to keep from passing out. His scent is all over me; the cedar and mint of his cologne have engulfed me, and as I rush to follow him through the trees, it’s the only thing I can smell.
I don’t know what he has in store for me, but I have a feeling his revenge will be nothing compared to what Paulo’s put me through. So, before I have time to rethink my actions, I sl
ip into the passenger seat of the SUV and watch as Cassian joins me.
“What about my father? Paulo’s paying for his treatment.”
Cassian glances over at me, his right hand gripping the steering wheel while his left elbow leans against the door. He looks like the ultimate bad boy as he grins. “Don’t you worry your pretty head about that,” he tells me. “Your father is being taken care of by Thorne Industries.”
“I still don’t understand,” I say, imploring him with my gaze to tell me the whole story. “What about my car?”
“Don’t worry about that either,” he informs me. “I’ll have one of my men bring it to the house.” Cassian starts the engine, a song blares through the speakers cutting off any more conversation we could have. Instead of forcing him to talk, I settle in for the short ride back to the manor and pray that whatever his plan is, my family is safe.
18
Cassian
Her scent is all over me.
Even as I attempt to focus, all I can think about is just how close I was to her, so close I almost stole a kiss when her lips brushed against mine. I almost took her right there against the tree. It would’ve been a release I have craved for years, but I needed to clear my head. I needed to think about this logically because her penance will have to be deserving of her crime.
When I finally kill the engine, the silence that hangs in the air is thick with tension. I should say something. Perhaps I should tell her that I’m doing this to get her away from an abusive bastard, but I want to hurt her as well. Not like he did, I just want her to know that no matter where she goes in life, she’s mine, she always will be.
Nobody can make her feel like I do.
No other man, or woman, can make her want, desire, and yearn for them like she does for me.
“I don’t know what to say to you anymore,” Kalyn whispers, her hands twisted together. “Why are you bringing me here?”
I ponder her words, her question, for a long while before I glance at her. “I may want you to pay for what you did, but I’m no monster. That bastard…” I allow my words to filter into nothing because anything I say will have the rage boiling up inside me again. And the last thing I need right now is to get into a fight with him.
When I take him down, it will be with precision, with class, and I’ll make sure he never has access to vulnerable young women again. I’ve seen men like him, time and again, and they always get what’s coming to them.
“What will your family say if I’m here?” Kaly asks, dragging my attention back to her. I focus on her pretty face. She’s thinner than she was at school. But her beauty still remains perfectly in place. High cheekbones, full, plump lips that just beg to be claimed, almond-shaped eyes, and straight, button nose. She is every photographer’s dream. Her wild, curly brown hair has highlights of gold in strands that only add to her unique beauty.
“My father doesn’t mind,” I tell her before turning my attention to the front of the car. I’ve parked just outside the garage door, and I allow my focus to remain on the wall instead of Kaly. “My brother, on the other hand, he’s about as angry as I am.”
Honesty was what I always gave her. Even when we were still at school, even when I knew the truth would hurt, I would offer it up as a gift. She did the same for me, and that’s how our friendship bloomed, like a rose. The sweet bud of new possibilities blossomed until she lied. That’s when the petals fell, and the happiness I once knew came crashing down.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she finally says. Her hands shake as she reaches for me, and I wonder if she’s going through withdrawals or if she’s nervous to touch me. When her fingertips land on my arm, sparks shoot through me like they always have when we made contact.
Her heat is my drug.
Her touch is my addiction.
Being with her is a high so sweet, I never want to come down.
“What you didn’t mean to do and what you did do are two very different things, little liar,” I tell her before pushing open the car door. “Now come with me; it’s time to get some rest.” The moment I get out of the vehicle, fresh air hits me, and I miss her fragrance. It’s always been like this with us; each time I would leave her, I’d miss her.
It’s stupid to be so emotional over one person, but then I see how Damien is with Nesrin, and it all makes sense. I fell in love with Kalyn a long time ago; I just didn’t want to admit it. To her, or to myself.
Perhaps that’s why she did what she did. Maybe she thought if she were to hurt me, it would make it easier to leave. Whatever her reasons for lying, it doesn’t matter now because I finally have her where I want her—under my roof.
I lead her inside, and the moment we walk into the kitchen, I’m met with Finn, who’s working on his laptop at the table. His gaze flicks to me, then lands on the woman behind me. I notice his brow arching in question, but I don’t offer an answer.
This wasn’t part of our plan. I was meant to send her back to Paulo, but when I looked at her tonight, saw how she reacted to me, I knew there was no love between them. There’s nothing more than his hold over her, and I intend to break it.
“Kalyn,” Finn greets as he shuts his laptop, twisting in his chair to get a better look, I’m guessing. “It’s nice to see you again. Didn’t expect you to be here,” he says, his words filled with questions as he glances between her and me.
“I-I didn’t expect to be here,” she murmurs, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, her hands twisting in front of her, and the thought I had in the car returns. Is she going through withdrawals? “Cassian said I was going to stay here for a bit.”
“I see,” Finn responds as I grab a couple of bottles of water from the fridge before handing one to Kalyn. Her hands are shaking as she takes the bottle from me, her eyes wide as they land on mine when she sees that I notice her problem.
I gesture to her, taking in the way she’s trembling like a fucking leaf. “Has he been doing this to you?” I ask, gritting my teeth as I wait for the answer, but even as I ask her, I know what the response will be, and that does nothing to calm my anger.
“I… He doesn’t do it all the time. I mean, when he’s angry, or if he needs me to listen,” she informs Finn and me in a hushed whisper. Her cheeks turn bright red as she confesses, and shame flickers in her eyes when she looks at me. “I-I find it difficult to say no, to fight it.”
“How did he find you?” I ask, my hand gripping the water bottle so hard, I expect it to shatter any moment. “How did he know that you were in such dire straits?”
“We met at a party; it was after the release of my first movie,” Kalyn says as I guide her to a chair. She settles in, opposite Finn, beside me. Once again, the scent of her perfume assaults my senses, but I keep my focus on her words. “He was charming, asked me out, and I said yes. It was so lonely in Hollywood with Dad working and my mother at her job, which seemed to always keep her busy.”
“And the parties he took you to, were they all at a certain club or someone’s house?” This comes from Finn as he opens his laptop once more. There’s something about my brother that I’ve always admired; he loves a good mystery. And he’s probably got ideas of Paulo’s reasons for ensuring Kalyn was under his control.
“Well…” she ponders this for a moment before nodding, “yes, he has a few clubs in town that he used to frequent, and I’d be with him. Other times, it would be one of his homes—he had three— which we would end up at.”
“And you never remembered the night before when you woke the next morning,” Finn says. It’s not a question because he’s nodding, sure of himself; he’s clearly figured out Paulo’s plan.
“N-no,” Kalyn says, “I would always wake up with a hangover, and I thought perhaps it was the shots from the night before, or…” Her voice cracks, and silence surrounds us, but Finn’s tapping on the keyboard confirms my brother is already working out how we can get our vengeance for Kaly.
He finally stops typing, then spins the computer around to
face us. “Were these the clubs and houses you were in?” There are photos on the screen of some exclusive-looking places. The houses are huge. People filling up the space, all dressed in the finest designer brands and holding glasses of alcohol. I don’t doubt these were raucous, but what bothers me is that in each of the photos, there are men dressed in all black, as if they’re security.
Most times I’ve been to parties with celebrities, the bodyguards would spend their time outside. None of them were ever indoors. The reasoning was that if there was something to use as blackmail, it wouldn’t be seen by the staff.
“Yes,” Kaly whispers before taking a sip of the chilled water. “I remember a few of those. I just don’t know what happened. I recall arriving; all the guests would flock around us, mostly talking to Paulo. But after a few minutes of being there, my brain would go fuzzy, and I would wake up in bed.”
There’s one question I want to ask, I need to ask, but I know the answer will ensure I’ll be flying into a fit of rage and racing out the door to kill the fucker. But Kaly has to tell us.
“Were you ever in pain the next morning? Not a hangover, but physically,” I hiss, my hands fisting on the table, nails digging into my palms to attempt to appear calm when I’m anything but. “Was there ever any indication you were involved in…” I can’t finish the sentence because I know if I do, I’ll lose it.
“I-I…” For a long moment, all I hear is silence; it’s deafening. Kalyn’s focus is on the water bottle, her shaking fingers tugging at the label.
I’m so tense, my shoulders ache from being bunched up, and my arms are shaking from trying to rein in my anger. I could so easily kill.
“There were a few times I thought we’d done things the night before. He wasn’t always rough, or violent, but I knew something very bad had happened.” Her confession has me shooting to my feet. Finn is quick to react to me, his hand on my shoulder, gripping me so tight it hurts as his fingers dig into my muscle in warning. Then Kalyn whispers, “I’m sorry.”