“Cassie.” He lifted his hands to cup her chin. Tipping her face to look at his, he placed tiny pecks from one corner of her mouth to the other.
Cassie placed a hand against his chest. “I know you’re a very wealthy man, and you say you love me, but why am I here? And how are you doing all this?”
“Sweetheart, I promised you answers.” Ian explained how his feelings grew from the brief encounter six years earlier. “When I saw you in that bathroom, a piece of my heart cracked. I know I sound like a caveman, but I should have protected you. I am so sorry.”
He explained what happened in the hospital. “After the potassium, I decided then and there that no one is going to hurt you again.”
Her face paled. “God, how can you do that? That’s not fair to you.”
He moved to the chair beside her. “That is part of who I am. I understand I can’t place you in a cocoon. I don’t want to take away your sense of who you are. But until you can fight for yourself, I will keep you safe. You need to know everything about me. No secrets between us. As part of the Chase Group, Kieran and I own and operate Chase Security.”
“I know.”
“Well, there’s a special division buried within. I sometimes do work with your Uncle Luke as well as other government agencies. Sweetheart, Kieran and I own the Eagle’s Talon.”
Cassie coughed hard and braced her chest. “The black file, it’s real? I’ve heard rumors in the Bureau, but I figured it was a myth.”
In a terrible British accent, Ian said, “Part of my secret agent mystique.”
“Frumph.” Cassie snorted.
“Does it bother you? I mean, what the job entails? Sometimes skirting the edge of the law? The secretive nature? The crazy hours?”
“That’s the first easy question anyone has asked. No. Ian Chase, you make me feel safe. I need you to bear with me. I mean no disrespect to my family, but you’re the first person to do that. Everybody who was at the grave yesterday, are they Eagle’s Talon? Martin?”
“Yes, sweetheart. You are my priority.”
Cassie patted her heart at his words, and Ian lifted her hand and kissed it. When she picked at her food, he waited her out, watching the gears moving in her head.
Her voice was teasing, with a pitch-perfect British accent, but her face was earnest. “Okay, Mr. Chase, spill.”
“Mr. Chase, huh?”
“Yes.” Cassie maintained the accent.
He continued to hold her hand. “You can see through me? Huh. Please understand, I hate telling you this, but I promised you no secrets. The medical examiner confirmed that Sebastian was one of your attackers from six years ago.”
“He told me I would ruin everything. I still don’t understand.”
“The best theory is that the other people involved in your attack are running scared. They have no idea what Sebastian told you.”
“People?”
“We know you had two sets of bites.”
“William’s DNA?”
“Waiting on the results.”
“There’s more?”
“The night of your first attack…did you change before you met Garett?”
“No, I went straight to Reston.” When Cassie’s pulse increased beneath his fingers, he saw something flash in her expression.
“Sweetheart, we found evidence you never went to La Luna.”
“But that would mean…Garett lied.” She closed her eyes.
