“I never... loved... You!” I struggle to get each word out as he is crushing my throat. Why do I have to poke the beast? I could have just kept my mouth shut, but no. I am an idiot.
He grips my throat tighter and slams my back into the wall, my head colliding with the brick. The room is spinning, and I can see sparkles dotting my vision. Darkness is starting to creep into my vision now. He is completely denying my body of oxygen this time. I claw at his wrists to try to loosen his grip, but he hardly notices. This is it. This is how I am going to die. He is going to kill me. My body slumps against the wall; I don’t have the energy to fight. I close my eyes as darkness swirls behind my lids.
My body drops as he releases my throat. I fall to the floor, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. I cough and heave as my lungs try to function. I can see his shoes coming into focus in front of me. He is pacing back and forth. I lean my body against the wall for support, trying to focus on the room to keep myself from having a full-blown panic attack right now. My face is soaked again from crying. I don’t think I have ever cried this much in my life. My sobs come out with little gasps as I try to calm down.
He squats down to get at eye level with me. I am able to notice things I didn’t earlier, like the scent of whisky on his breath. His eyes look bloodshot, as if he didn’t sleep. Is he that paranoid about Jayme and Lucian? Jayme seemed harmless when we hung out, but I still can’t wrap my head around the factthat he is part of the mafia. That Theo is a crime lord. And that Lucian is working for Jayme’s family of criminals. My thoughts are spiraling as I feel Theo’s hand gently cup my chin.
“I’m sorry, little one. You just... you make me so furious. I don’t know what...” The doorbell rings, cutting him off.
Theo pulls out his phone to check the cameras.
“Fucking Hell!” He is pissed. “It appears your knights in shining armor have found you.”
“Lucian...” I gasp, my voice still not back to normal.
“Damnit!” He stands and goes walking over to the end table by the couch and pulls out a gun.
“NO! Please don’t. You said you wouldn’t hurt him.”
“I said I would stay far away from him. Not my fault that he shows up on my fucking doorstep.” He clicks the safety off and checks the magazine.
“Please, don’t. I’ll do anything. Please!”
“Anything?” He asks, lowering the gun.
“Yes. Anything. Just don’t hurt either of them.”
“Fine. I’ll make you a deal, Cassandra. I’ll let you go for now. I’ll give you three days. Find out as much information about the Morelli’s as you can, pack the rest of your shit, and say your goodbyes. After three days, I’ll come and get you. Then, you will be mine. Completely. No more fighting. No more talking about your past. Nothing. Just mine. You will love me and only me. And in return, I promise never to hurt Lucian. If Jayme gets caught in the crossfire, that is out of my control, but I will make sure everyone in my organization knows not to touch Lucian Ryder.”
Time stops. Can I really do that? Give up everything: my life, my friends, my future? Yes. There’s no other option. I love Lucian, and I can’t stand to watch him die because of me. If this is what it takes to save him, then so be it.
“Fine, deal.” I try to stand, but he backhands me hard, sending me into the wall again.
“Of course, you easily break when it comes to him. I don’t understand it. He doesn’t love you like I do. He can’t give you everything that I can give you. You don’t belong to him yet would do anything for him.”
My jaw feels like it was hit with a bat. I might not have to deal with this for long if he keeps this up. He will eventually kill me. I stand as tall as my busted and bruised body will let me.
“Do we have a deal, Sir?” I stretch out my hand to him.
“Deal. Now get the fuck out of here and tell no one about what is actually going on. For all they know, we had a wild weekend, and now you are going home. That’s the story you stick with. Understood.”
“Yes, Sir.” I turn to walk away, but he stops me. Tangling his hand in my hair again, pulling me flush against him.
“And don’t you dare try to run? I have people everywhere in this state; you won’t get 5 miles without me coming to get you.” He viciously warns.
I am only able to nod my head. He releases me, and I walk toward the front door. The banging and ringing are getting louder. My head is pounding, and my chest hurts. Everything hurts. I still can’t breathe correctly; my throat feels like it is still gripped. I feel warmth on the back of my head. I think it is bleeding again, but I won’t stop and check.
I finally reach the door; I don’t look behind me. I know he is there, watching, waiting to see what I will do. I breathe as deeply as my lungs will let me, exhaling as I open the door. Lucian and Jayme are there with their guns pointed at the door. They lower them as soon as they realize it is me. I try to stay strong, but I can’t. I break. I fall into Lucian, and thankfully, he catches me, dropping the gun to the ground. I start to lose consciousness, mybody finally giving in now that it thinks I am safe. The last thing I hear is Lucian’s voice, shushing and trying to calm me.
“Shh, it is ok, Cass. I’m here. I got you. You’re safe.”
Safe... that’s something I will never know again. I traded my soul to the devil to save the only man I have ever loved. I just hope the devil keeps his promises.
51. Lucian
When that door finally flung open, and I saw her, it was like the air was finally allowed back into my lungs. I could breathe again. She fell into my arms, crying and mumbling unintelligible words. I slide into the backseat with her in my arms. She passed out as soon as she fell into my arms when she walked out of that door. Jayme had his gun trained on Theo the entire time, but Theo just let her go. It made no sense. I got a good look at her when we were in the back seat. My poor Cassie. She looks so pale; her eyes look sunken in with dark circles underneath. Her face not only has scratch marks all over it, but she has a huge swollen bruise under her right eye; more bruises are covering her jaw, throat, and collarbone. Her lip is split, and her nose was bleeding. The knot on the back of her head is larger now, and it is bleeding again. Her delicate hands look like she fought hard. They are all cut up, bruised, and caked in blood. One of the nails is even pulled back. What the fuck did he do to her.
He was fucking smiling as we took her away. Like he was proud of what he had done to her. I was going to go back and try to take a shot at him, but Jayme stopped me. He warned that if I did, a war would start. We also have to pretend that Cassie was the victim of assault and robbery. Jayme said that all the cops were in Theo’s pocket anyway, so her pressing charges would just get dropped, and he would have more reason to come after her again. I wanted to go on a rampage of destruction against him for what he did to her. Jayme said we have to be patient andthat we will be dealing with Theo personally. Maybe I am cut out for this life after all because all I want to do right now is watch the life fade from his eyes after hours of slow, agonizing torture. I want to hurt him. I want to feel his bones break under the damage I do to him.
