~ Chapter 27 ~
Nico
My vision tunnels.
No one fucking touches my girl.
Cassie’s crying and shaking, and holding herself like she wishes she had on ten layers of clothes.
My hands fist at my sides and I storm past her into the room she just ran out of. The asshole she was with is sitting on the couch dabbing his face with a napkin. I see Cassie got him pretty good. Good. But I’m going to do much worse.
“Who the fuck are you?” he asks, wincing and cupping his dick.
“I’m here to finish what she started.”
“What?”
My legs eat up the rest of the distance between us in a fraction of a second, and my fist is connecting with his face before he has time to block me.
I don’t stop there, either.
I hit him again and again until his face is bloody and unrecognizable. Good. Now he’s even uglier.
Cassie asked for my help. She finally asked for my help and I’m not going to let her down.
He grunts and groans every time my fist connects with him, and it isn’t until a gentle hand wraps around my arm that’s fisting his shirt that I hold back my next strike.
“Nico,” Cassie says in a soothing voice. “Stop before you kill him.”
“He deserves it,” I tell her harshly, my chest heaving with every breath. Tears are streaming down her face and her pretty blue eyes are wide and pleading with me to listen to her. All I hear is the kill him part, though.
“I don’t want that. It’s my fault.”
“It’s not,” I growl, and hit him twice more before his head starts to loll to the side and Cassie’s grip on my arm tightens.
“Nico!” she yells. “Stop! Please!”
“Did he touch you?” I manage to ask through my haze of anger.
“No, I didn’t let him. He grabbed my arm and leg, but nothing more. I don’t want you to kill him for me.”
“You’re crying. That’s the only reason I need to kill him.”
“Nico, please. I just want you to take me home. Leave him here for someone else to deal with.”
Her hand starts to rub up and down my forearm, goading me to loosen my grip on his shirt.
“Please,” she repeats. “Take me home.”
Her eyes are still pleading with me, and I can’t deny her when she’s looking at me like that.
My hand that’s gripping his shirt opens, and she slips hers in its place.
We walk only a few steps before she stumbles in her shoes. She sniffs and swipes away a few more tears as she looks down at her feet. “I really want to take these off.”
“I’ve got you, baby.” I sweep her up into my arms and cradle her to my chest.
I expect her to tell me no, or that she can walk herself, but she just snuggles closer to me and wraps her arms around my neck.
I walk her out of there, and those who dare look our way, quickly divert their gaze when I meet theirs.
Rocco opens the passenger door of my car for me and I gently deposit her onto the seat. I close the door and tell him, “Go in there and get her things from the dressing room.”
“Got it.” He nods and heads inside.
Pulling out my phone, I call Alec. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I want Pandemonium burned to the fucking ground,” I growl out, still needing to burn my anger off.
“Okay,” he agrees without hesitation.
“There’s a guy in there with a fucked-up face who may cry lawsuit or whatever bullshit he’ll come up with for me rearranging his face. I don’t give a fuck. Can you have it taken care of if he’s brought to the hospital?”
“Of course. Should I bother asking why we’re burning it down?”
“Because I don’t want any part of it standing by the morning. After what happened to Cassie tonight…” I look back at the car where she’s waiting for me. “Don’t fucking ask for details. If I ever have to look at that building again, I’m going to burn it down myself, and it won’t be carefully.”
“I’ll have Dante come down and take care of it. He’ll find a reason to get everyone out and then take care of it carefully and quietly.”
“Good.” I hang up, and Rocco comes back with Cassie’s things just in time.
I fold myself into the car and drive off to Cassie’s house with neither of us saying a word. I’m still too wound up to trust anything that comes out of my mouth, and Cassie is curled up close to the door – as far away from me as she can get. She’s shaking from the adrenalin wearing off, and rips the mask off her face, tossing it into the back seat.
I park in her driveway and get out straight away. I grab her bag from the back seat and take her keys from the side pocket and put them in mine. I take my jacket off as I round the car and hold it out for her when I open her door.
“Put this on,” I tell her, and she shoves her arms in immediately.
She wraps it around her chest to cover herself, but when she looks down at her legs, I see more tears stream down her face. “I’ve got you, baby,” I tell her again, and lift her up into my arms where she belongs.
Carrying her to the door, I maneuver her with one hand to get her keys out of my pocket and unlock it. I carry her right upstairs and into the bathroom, sitting her down on the closed toilet seat.
“I can give you a minute to undress yourself if you’d prefer, but I’d rather help you.”
She shakes her head no. “Stay.”
Thank God, because she was going to have to push me out the door to get me to leave.
I kneel down on one leg and lift her feet one at a time to remove her heels. I don’t even know how she can walk in these things.
I turn on the water of the shower so it can warm up while I take my jacket off her. When I go for the lingerie she has on, she wraps her arms over her stomach.
“Don’t do that, Cassie. Just let me help you so you can wash him off you, okay? Don’t shy away from me like you don’t want me to see you.”
“It’s not that,” she whispers, her voice hoarse. “I’m ashamed.”
I take her face in my hands and swipe her tears away. “Never be ashamed in front of me. I’ll take care of you.”
She gives me a small nod, and I continue to undress her. Under any other circumstances, I would find her outfit the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, but not right now. Now, all I see is the raw Cassandra she keeps hidden under the layers of sass, stubbornness, and fear. All to protect herself from the world and whoever wants to get close to her, to ensure they never do.
Her veil is down right now. I see the young and vulnerable Cassandra she hasn’t let herself be for quite some time.
Once she’s fully undressed, I quickly shed my clothes and guide her into the shower. I wash her carefully, and my anger spikes when she winces as my hand glides over a part of her arm and thigh where I see marks forming.
That fucking bastard deserved more than he got for hurting her.
Turning her around, I methodically shampoo and condition her hair, and massage her scalp as I rinse her off. Cassie hums her approval, and her eyes remain closed while I turn her back to face me and the water cascades over her.
I wash myself next, then trade places with her to rinse off, and her eyes remain cast downward as I pat the both of us dry.
She won’t look me in the eyes.
I need to see hers, but I know she needs a little time to gather herself.
I wrap a towel around her and reach for another on the shelf when Cassie gasps. My heartrate spikes. “What? What’s wrong?” I ask frantically.
“Your hand,” she says, taking my right hand in hers. She holds it gently in her outstretched palm. “Go sit on my bed and wait for me. I’ll fix you up.”
I won’t turn down her undivided attention, so I do as she says, and find her room down the hall. I sit on the end of her bed and look around. Her room is made up of neutral colors. It’s quite different than how I see her. She’s vibrant and full of spice and life, so I can only assume this is her safe space. A calm place where she can retreat to and none of the outside noise she deals with crosses over that threshold.
Cassie hurries into her room with her arms full of first aid supplies and a worried look marring her beautiful face. She drops to her knees in front of me and dumps the supplies on the floor. She takes my hand in hers again and starts to dab a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide over my cuts.
I hadn’t realized how torn up my knuckles were before this moment, because frankly, I didn’t, and still don’t, care. But now I can see how I ripped my knuckles open on that prick’s face. I don’t even feel it yet, but Cassie thinks I do, because her brows are pinched together in deep concentration and she’s biting her perfect puffy lower lip as she dabs carefully so she doesn’t hurt me.
She blows cool air over my knuckles, and I feel the breeze blowing off the last cobwebs around my heart. She’s fucking got me. She’s taking up all the space in me she can, and I never want her to leave.
Cassie stays focused while she dabs on antibacterial cream with a cotton swab, and then gently covers the wounds with a large piece of gauze before wrapping my hand in bandage tape to keep it in place.
I would tell her it’s not necessary, but I like her fussing over me.
When she finally looks up at me, I’m punched in the gut with how crushed she looks. “Thank you for saving me. You got there at just the right moment.” She launches herself into my arms and I hold her tight. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything,” she says in my ear. “I shouldn’t have left you, I shouldn’t have lied, and I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark about everything that’s going on with me. I don’t want to lie to you ever again, and I promise I won’t.”
“Piccante,” I croon. I stand and she locks her legs around as I carry her around the bed to lay us down. “Piccante.” I push her wet strands of hair over her shoulder and cup her cheek. “I’m sorry for what I said to you. You didn’t deserve that.”
“I did. I messed up. I messed everything up.” Her throat works around a swallow. “I thought I had to do everything on my own because he’s my brother, which meant he was my problem, and mine alone. But I guess it took what happened tonight to realize how stupid I was being. I was begging for you in my head, Nico. And then you appeared.” The corners of her lips lift just the slightest. “Why did you come for me when you knew I was there?”
“I wasn’t going to let you go so easily. I think we both assumed some things about the other and it stood in our way. I assumed getting you fired would be the end of it, and when it wasn’t, I was mad at myself, not you. I should’ve known. I should’ve made you accept my help.”
“Nico,” she says softly, in a calming voice that sits well in my soul. “It’s cute that you think you can make me do anything.”
The small chuckle that leaves me takes me by surprise and her small smile widens. “Yes, that’s true.”
“But I shouldn’t have been so stubborn. I’m going to work on that.”
“Does that mean you’ll finally let me help you? Because money means nothing to me. There’s always more money to be made, but there’s only one you. And I need you, Cassie.”
“You do?” The spark of hope in her voice is endearing.
“Yes, Cassandra. I do.”
“I need you, too,” she tells me, brushing her fingertips across my cheek. “I need you more than you know. More than I’ve said or shown you. I’ve thought about you every day since I left you after our weekend together. I actually dreamt of you coming to me. That you would just show up and kiss me and tell me you just had to have me,” she says wistfully, laughing to herself like it was a silly thing to say.
I rub my thumb against her cheek. “I should’ve done that.”
“Everything happens for a reason. Our story was meant to be written this way.”
“Two puzzle pieces finally finding the perfect fit?”
She gives me one of her sweet smiles that makes my heart fucking grow with how much I love seeing it. I want to make sure I give her a reason to keep smiling like that.
“Yes. Exactly,” she whispers, and her eyes water again.
“Please don’t cry, piccante.”
“It’s because you’re being sweet and I’m happy.” She caresses my cheek. “Don’t worry.”
“I’ll always worry about you. I want to make you happy, not sad. I don’t want to cause you pain.”
“We don’t know the future, Nico. Maybe you or I will do something stupid one day, thinking we’re helping the other or trying not to worry them. The only way we can combat that is with honesty. I promise to be honest with you, even when it’s hard.”
“I appreciate that. I promise to always be honest with you, too. Which is a good segway in telling you that after I found out your brother was in trouble with the McLaughlin family, I’ve had someone watching over your house every night to make sure no one came to harm either of you while you were the most vulnerable.”
“That’s really sweet,” she says, surprising me.
“It is?”
“Yes.” She laughs, then sobers quickly. “Is that how you knew I was dancing again?”
“It is.” I nod. “It’s also how I knew you were there again tonight.”
“Since you saved me, I’m glad you had me followed. Are you still going to have me followed now?”
“Not if you’re with me all the time to keep you safe myself.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, I’m more than okay with that,” she says, leaning forward to plant a kiss on my cheek. “I’m scared for my brother, Nico.”
“What happened today? You made the drop with the money at Lucky’s Pub, but you came back alone.”
“I gave them the $3,000 in cash I had and then wired them the $85,000 I got for the car you gave me.” Her eyes shift away and I urge her back to look at me with a little nudge of her jaw.
“Hey, it’s okay. You know I did it on purpose, right?”
“Yes, I know. I figured it out when you didn’t ask me why it wasn’t in the driveway.”
“I was surprised you didn’t march right over to me to either hand me the keys or the money you got for it just to spite me.”
“I knew you’d refuse the keys, and I chose to accept the gift, telling myself the argument wasn’t worth it.”
“You’re so fucking cute.” I give her a quick kiss on the lips and her cheeks turn pink with a pretty blush. “Keep going. What happened when you were there?”
“They told me my dad wasn’t who I thought he was. My dad wasn’t a nice guy, but I never thought he was a bad guy. He told me he was going to turn state’s evidence on the family because they framed him for some stuff. He said the three of us would go into witness protection and move out west to start over.
“He lied to me, Nico. He was killing his way to the top. And the supposed FBI agents we were with at the motel when he was killed were just hired muscle to protect him while he did whatever he was doing. I mean, how was he going to explain his lies to me if his plan worked and we were still in Boston and he was boss?” I can see the panic in her eyes taking over. “Was he going to get rid of Sean and I? Did he even want us? Was he going to ship us off somewhere and pretend he’d meet us later and then never show? Or worse?”
“Shh, baby.” I rub her back until she relaxes again. “I’m so sorry, Cassie.”
“And Sean knew. He found out last year when he met those guys and he never told me.”
“How does one bring that kind of thing up?”
“I know. But still… Everything I know and remember about my dad is a lie. I thought he wanted to keep his family together and was doing what he could to make that happen. I thought he loved us.”
“He did, Cassie,” I assure her. “He just fell into the trap of greed and power the life we live puts so tauntingly in front of us. It can make even the strongest succumb to it more often than not.”
“Does that mean you’ll fall into that trap? Or someone else in your family? How do you know when someone is genuine or not?”
“There are men who work for us that have tried to be greedy, but we shut them down when we find out. And we always find out. They don’t pose much of a threat because only the immediate family holds the power positions, and we all know our roles in the family and businesses. We’ve been through some tough shit together since we were kids and we respect each other too much to think one is better than the other. We get paid the same, too, so there’s no greed to chase.”
“Okay.”
“I told you we’re not the same as the McLaughlins, or even any of the other three families?”
“Three?”
“Yes. There were five, including us, until recently. Now, there’s only four.”
“Did you have something to do with that?” she asks bravely.
“Yes,” I tell her honestly. “They deserved to be wiped out. They were behind my father and uncle’s deaths, and ruined Angela’s life. She’s with my cousin, Luca. Her story isn’t mine to share, though.”
“Oh,” Cassie says softly. “Then they deserved it,” she concludes.
“Trust me, they did.”
“I trust you.”
“Do you trust me to help you out of the situation you’re in?”
“Yes.” Her eyes water again. “Sean owed $85,000 originally. I sold my car and he gave them $5,000. Then when he got beaten up, he told me they wanted an extra $20,000 for the inconvenience of having to find him because they thought he fled. So, I had to find a way to come up with $100,000. Because you insisted on tricking me, I was lucky enough to have $88,000 to give them. Now, they’re keeping him until I can pay another twenty. Interest again, of course.
“That’s why I had to find another job, and that’s why I agreed to go to that room tonight. I didn’t want to last night when I was first asked, and I didn’t want to tonight either. But I thought I had no other choice, and that stupid manager said all I had to do was talk to the guy. I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want. But it escaladed pretty quickly and I…”
Cassie’s breathing comes quicker and I pull her closer. “I’ve got you now.”
She takes in a deep, shaky breath. “I know.”
“And I’ll get your brother back for you. I don’t want you to worry about it anymore.” I rub small circles up and down her back, and she relaxes further under my touch.
“Only if you let me pay you back somehow.”
“You can pay me back by being mine. You’re all I need.”
“Nico,” she says softly, raking her fingers through my wet hair. “No one’s chosen me like you before. I’ve never been first.”
“Get used to being first, piccante.” I tilt her chin up and give her a slow kiss that grows into more pretty damn quickly when she pushes me onto my back and straddles me.
Her hips rock against me, and with the only thing separating us being our towels, I rip hers away from her body and roll us back over so I can pull mine free and line myself right up to her waiting pussy.
I thrust inside her, all the way to the hilt in one motion, and her mouth tears away from mine to let out a moan that has my dick so hard, I could pound nails into wood.
I fuck her hard so I can hear that throaty moan again.
I fuck her hard so she knows she’s mine.
I want her to know this is how it’ll be for the rest of her life.
Her orgasm comes on fast and without warning, and her pussy seizes around me, flooding my cock with her come.
I fuck her through it, and the wet sound of us slapping together is driving me fucking wild and drives me to fuck her even harder.
Cassie gasps and moans, and claws at my shoulders while her body builds to another orgasm.
“Get used to being first forever,” I tell her, and her wild eyes meet mine as she comes apart for a second time.
The pure fucking bliss on her face is because of me, and I pump into her twice more before I’m right there with her, spilling my come into her and staking my claim. No other man has done that, and no other will ever again.