“I’ll stay until we’re square. But after that? It’s up to you, Oliver. We can try to make it work on my terms. Or else…”
As her voice trailed off, Oliver moved towards her. His touch was gentle but firm as his fingers surrounded her arm.
“Or else?”
Cassandra also stood firm.
“Or else that’s it.”
Oliver’s eyes blazed, and for a second she thought that he might be capable of hurting her. But then he simply hung his head.
“I’ll take care of you, Cassie. Just give me a chance.”
That worked both ways. Cassandra kissed both of his eyes before she pulled away.
“You give me a chance.”
She saw him struggle under the request. Cassandra was asking him to place his best-laid plans at her feet and just hope. If he could do that, there was the chance.
Oliver turned away and grasped the handle of the front door. She didn’t want him to go. But she couldn’t stay.
He finally looked back at her.
“Can’t do it, Cassandra. I’m… I’m sorry.”
She felt that her heart would burst.
“When Jeff gets back, he’ll take you home. Take whatever you want. I won’t hold you to the agreement.”
He turned the handle, and he was gone. Cassandra felt the ache of something worse than Adam’s blows seeping into her soul.
It was over.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
She watched him head down the drive until he was at Faye’s side. Cassandra saw him tell her the story of the past few minutes. Faye appeared to listen carefully and finally took his arm. At least he’d have Faye for some kind of comfort. Cassandra was grateful for that.
A part of her wanted to rush from the house and take everything she had said back. But even that would serve no purpose. He wouldn’t believe her now. Cassandra had made her bed. And he would no longer be in it.
Faye pulled the car to his side. She saw Oliver glance back at the house. He saw her in the window and wiped his face as he climbed into the passenger’s seat. Faye sped away like lightning.
With Oliver gone, Cassandra slowly ascended the staircase. She entered their room and fell to the bed. She could still smell him in the sheets, and she folded the linens around her. It was a poor substitute for his embrace, but she took it and decided to linger for as long as she was able. She knew that Jeff would come back first. And then she would leave this house to never see him again. Cassandra cried at the thought of it.
But there was no other way.
She remained in the bed until her tears dried out. Then, with a sorrowful sigh, she started to pack up. She wouldn’t take the gifts. They were a product of a dream that was slipping away from both of them. Cassandra only gathered what she had brought and stepped into the simple gray skirt and matching sweater that she had worn upon her arrival. She looked at her face, bruised, in the glass.
The yellow diamond still hung on its chain around her neck.
Cassandra fingered it and thought of Oliver’s hands and the times he had clasped it in place. Maybe it was a leash of sorts, but it was the one thing she wanted to keep. She tucked it under her collar and felt her heart beat at the feel of it just above her breasts. Cassandra turned away from her image and sat at the edge of the bed, her bag under her hand.
Where was Oliver? Where was Jeff? Cassandra grew weary with the waiting, and she fell back against the rumpled bed sheets. Despite the good night’s sleep that Oliver had so intently watched, Cassandra’s eyes closed again, and she the room went dark.
She dreamt of him. Oliver returned with the epiphany of a changed mind. He had forgotten all of his fears and agreed to her terms. Cassandra imagined him holding her close and voiced the promise again.
She could stay safe if he just believed.
Cassandra felt hands that she believed were Oliver’s stroking her face. He had come back! He was giving her a chance. She kissed his fingers and started to reach for him.
But when her eyes opened, it wasn’t Oliver’s face welcoming her hopeful gaze.
It was Adam.
Cassandra registered his presence and immediately started to struggle under his hold. Adam held her fast, but Cassandra didn’t relent.
“Let me go!”
She kicked and continued to scream. Adam’s hands seemed stronger than her will, and he placed a cold hand over her mouth.
“Shut up. You’re all alone here. I saw the kid drive Iris out of town. I saw your husband with some girl hitting the bar. The same place where he did this.”
He pointed to slash that had barely scabbed over in a zigzag of torn flesh and damp blood. So that’s where Oliver had been.
Now he was nowhere to be found.
Adam pulled a knife from his pocket and touched the blade to Cassandra’s quivering lips.
“Now you don’t want me to have to do the same thing to you. Do you?”
He took hold of her waist and pressed her body to the last place she wanted to be.
Closer to him.
“Do you?” he asked again.
Cassandra could feel the tip of the knife ready to slice her face open. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“You can talk now. I need the words.”
Cassandra forced herself to look at him. She knew her eyes were pleading for release. But Adam could wait forever on the edge of his knife.
She couldn’t stand him holding her and gave him what he desired most.
“No,” she said.
Adam slipped his tongue into her ear. She was already crying at the prospect of what was about to happen. There seemed no way to stop it. His lips were on her neck and he fingered the chain and the gem that she wanted to keep.
“Nice. He give this to you.”
She could do nothing but nod.
“Guess you’re important to him.”
Cassandra suddenly found her voice.
“Yes.”
He smirked and tore the yellow diamond from her throat and kicked it to the corner. Cassandra cried at the loss and wanted it and Oliver with her again. She could think of nothing else as Adam pulled her up and surveyed the space where he had simply held her. She could feel the knife against her back.
“Looks like you two partied hard,” Adam said. “He good at that?”
Cassandra’s mind could barely process what was happening let alone his question.
“What? I don’t—”
“Does he make you feel so special?”
She could do nothing but nod. Oliver did that and more. But if he had just stayed, then he would have cut Adam off at the pass and stopped what Adam was about to do.
His hands grew rougher as her tugged her hair.
“Who does he think he is?”
Cassandra met his eyes.
“He’s everything you’re not!”
And then his fist slammed into her face.
Cassandra was dazed as he pushed her back into the bed. His rank breath lingered over her throat, and he laughed he pressed his mouth to hers. She tried to deny his kiss, but the need for air led to his tongue on hers. She bit down, and Adam cried out. She tried to take the chance to escape, but caught her wrists and had her back under him. He hit her again, and Cassandra fell deeper into the bed. She could still taste Oliver in the sheets.
This couldn’t happen. Not here.
Adam reached under her skirt and roughly tore her stockings from her thighs. He forced her to her back and bound her hands to the headboard with three brutal tugs. All of Cassandra’s struggles were in vain as she became his prisoner. She cried out for help, for someone to hear what was happening. He slapped her hard and ripped the silk sheets. The torn piece was in her mouth before she could scream again, and he slipped her skirt down to her ankles. He tore off her sweater in the same vicious motion. Cassandra quivered as pressed his hands to her sides and started to tongue her naval. She writhed as he peeled down her panties. Once he had her naked, he lingered over her and started
to undo his belt. Cassandra desperately shook her head and tried to spit the makeshift gag loose. She almost had it out when Adam stuffed it back where he wanted it and pulled her hair.
“You be good,” he said. “And who knows? Maybe you’ll have a few new tricks to show him.”
Where was Oliver? She glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It could be minutes or hours until he returned. She wanted it to be seconds. She wanted him here because without him she wasn’t safe.
Adam pried her legs apart and forced himself into her. Cassandra screamed through the gag at his entry. She slammed her eyes shut and prayed to wake up from the nightmare. Or to just be somewhere, anywhere else. She felt her tears fall to her cheeks.
She just wanted it to be over.
Before it even started, Adam was gone, and Cassandra opened her eyes to see how it had happened. Oliver had Adam by the throat, and he pounded him into the wall. Again. And again. Oliver’s eyes were ready to kill and would have but for Faye. She was on his heels and tried to pull Oliver away from his dazed victim.
“Leave it, Ollie! He’s not worth it.”
Cassandra closed her eyes again. She was still enslaved to all Adam had wanted to do to her. But the end was in sight.
“Ollie!”
Oliver released Adam’s throat and slammed his fist into his stomach. Adam collapsed in a heap, but Oliver had him back on his feet and tossed him to Faye.
“Take him. Keep him confined if you have to. He’s answering for all of this.”
“My pleasure.”
Faye did as she was told and dragged Adam’s moaning form from the room. Oliver wiped his brow and caught his breath.
Cassandra moaned under the gag.
He was at her side before she could make another sound. He plucked the gag from her mouth.
“Oh, God. Cassie?”
She was sobbing as he gently undid her bindings. Her arms were free and sore and around his neck. She cried into his shoulder as he held the back of her head and tried to wipe the terror away.
“It’s okay, Cassie. I’m here. I’m right here.”
Cassandra sobbed against him and buried her face into his chest. He whispered assurances into her ears.
“It’s over. I’ve got you.”
She lifted her face to his and tasted the blood spilling from her nose on her tongue. She saw him shredded at the harm that had come to her and what had just been prevented.
“Oliver.”
He folded her close and stroked her hair.
“Cassie.”
She trembled against him. Oliver wrapped the torn sheet around her. The cold and the horror were slipping away.
Oliver lifted her face to his.
“Where were you?” she asked.
He tenderly caressed her cheek.
“Being stubborn. I’m… I’m sorry.”
She rested against his arms. Maybe it was better with him. She should just stay and let him take care of her.
“Oliver? I want—”
He shushed her with a slip of air between his lips and his gentle hands running down her back.
“Whatever you need, Cassie.”
She looked into his eyes. What she needed right now was to show Adam that she was anything but his victim. Cassandra moved from Oliver’s embrace and pulled the robe over her frame.
“Cassie?”
She took his hand and they made their way down the steps.
Faye was already on the phone with the cops, and she had Adam disabled and disarmed, stuffed into a corner of the great room. He was tied with pieces of drapery, not going anywhere. Cassandra approached him slowly and waited for his gaze to meet hers. When she had his eyes, she managed to smile and spit in his face. Then she kicked his side. Adam groaned.
“You scum. You pig!”
She was on the floor, slamming her fists into him. Faye lifted her away from and guided her back to Oliver’s waiting arms. He held her close. When she looked over his shoulder, Cassandra saw Oliver ready to kill. She had to love the part of him that broke under any threat to her.
He had seen worse. Lived through worse.
Could this be different?
“Take her upstairs,” Faye said. “I’ll deal with the fuzz.”
Oliver obeyed and guided Cassandra back to their room.
Cassandra fell into Oliver’s embrace. He held her close.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Cassie.”
Was he apologizing for what had almost happened or for leaving in the first place?
At that second, Cassandra didn’t care. His hold was gentle, and she rested against him.
“How did you come back?”
Oliver lifted her face to his.
“I needed to see you. But not… not like that.”
He looked to the bed, and she could feel him trembling above her.
Oliver pulled her closer, and Cassandra felt safe in his arms. She stayed in his embrace until the sounds of sirens and Faye explaining the intruder into cuffs rose, then exploded and evaporated into the first light of the moon. Faye appeared at the door with a simple nod, and Cassandra saw Oliver silently thank her as she moved into the depths of the house.
“Iris?”
It was a question that an demanded answer.
He touched her face.
“Jeff called. She was worried when there was no sign that he was back. She said he was still here. I…”
It was an effort for him to form his next statement.
“I shouldn’t have left you.”
Cassandra could see Oliver scrambling against the clock to race back before further harm came to her. It was everything he hadn’t intended. But it had happened. He could do nothing but hold her closer.
“Cassie, he… I shouldn’t have let him touch you. I should have stayed. Are you sure you’re all right?”
She nodded. He moved to kiss her, and she remembered Adam’s mouth on hers. Oliver was distressed as she pulled away. But he took her hand and seemed to just accept her presence.
“You need to rest.”
Cassandra shuddered at the sight of their bed. Oliver led her away from Adam’s near conquest and placed her at the foot of the guest beds.
“Do you want me to stay?” he asked.
She nodded and he slipped to her side. His hands were tender and chaste as stroked her cheek.
“It’s okay, Cassie. And now you’ll stay.”
Cassandra started to speak but at that moment she could do nothing but linger in his eyes. He seemed to accept her silence as a yes and smiled.
She didn’t have the heart or the strength to crush his spirit. Not at that moment. Maybe never?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
She had drifted off and ultimately woke to find him gone. For a moment she worried that Faye had failed in what seemed a superhuman effort in subduing Adam, and Cassandra sat up. She held her breath as the door slowly opened. Oliver appeared with a tray of food. He set it by her side.
“Hungry?”
Despite the tray of the freshest fruit, Cassandra had no appetite.
“No. Thanks.”
Oliver waited a second before accepting her refusal and taking the tray way. He returned to the bed and took her hand.
“It’ll keep. Your friend’s friend is in the back of a squad car. He won’t bother anyone anymore.”
Cassandra’s mind shifted back to Iris.
“Where’s—?”
“Jeff’s setting her up at the Empire. At my expense of course. Thought she could use it after all she’s been through.
No doubt Iris was soaking in his suite and looking ahead. For the moment, she was free of all worries. Cassandra knew she’d have to speak to her, face her again, and explain her own choices.
“At least… at least you’ll stay now. Right?”
He had essentially nullified their contract. Was there another clause that she’d failed to read?
“I— I thought we were done.”
“Forget I said that. I have.
Let’s just start again.”
Did he really mean that?
“Okay. Oliver—”
“What that animal tried to do... I’d do anything to cut it from your mind. But facts are facts, Cassie. I came back. I rescued you. You need me.”
She turned away from him and felt his light had on her back. Now who was the one twisting all that was horrible into some kind of turn on? When she saw him enter the room, when he pried Adam from her trembling body, Cassandra was nothing but grateful. But didn’t he see…?
“And I need you. What do I have to do to show you that?”
Cassandra pondered the question.
“Oliver, he never would have come back if you hadn’t gone after him.”
Cassandra fought the urge to look at him and waited for the feel of him leaving her side again. She only felt his breath, warm and soft, against her neck.
“Maybe,” he finally said. “But I wouldn’t have had to do it if you hadn’t gone to Iris.”
That was also true. Maybe. Or maybe if it hadn’t been Adam and Iris’ worst choice ever in boyfriends, it would have one of Oliver’s disgruntled underling or a stalker who’d followed her from the city or just a random act of violence that neither one of them could ever predict and barely prevent.
Danger was life.
She turned to look at him.
“You can’t stop every bad thing you’re scared of.”
“I can try.”
And she knew he would. Cassandra reached for his face.
“I believe that. I believe you.”
He appeared to relax. Cassandra’s fingers moved down his cheek.
“But, Oliver, everything you wanted to stop still happened. Under your watch.”
“Cassie, don’t.”
“Shhh. You can’t control the world, Oliver. You can’t control what happens to me.”
She shifted up, her hands still on his face.
“Do you still want me to stay? I mean really?”
He quickly nodded. Cassandra took his hand and led him from the bed, from the room.
“I do, too.”
He moved to take her in his arms. Cassandra held him back but kept her grasp around his fingers.
The Bound Bride Page 16