Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Naomi
I closed my eyes, pressing the bridge of my nose as I finished reviewing the updated budget in my onsite project office on the outskirts of the Incognito development.
I missed Cassius and wanted nothing more than to call him to find out when he’d return to Vegas from his trip to meet potential investors. For the last two weeks, we’d lived like virtual strangers. I’d broken the connection we’d forged, and I wasn’t sure if anything could repair it.
Sex seemed to be the only thing that remained the same. No, that wasn’t true. It had grown more intense. We brought what we didn’t have in our daily lives with full force into the bedroom. If only that were enough.
I missed my over-the-top lover and friend, the one I talked to about the stupidest shit.
On top of everything, Papa still hadn’t figured out that I’d never let him force me to pick between him and Cassius. His stubbornness, his need to fit me into some box of the perfect daughter, the one who lived the ideal life he wanted, would never happen.
What I hadn’t expected in all of the drama was the support of my crazy, over-the-top traditionalist aunties. They wanted me to be part of the family rather than be excluded because of Papa’s hard ways.
However, Papa wouldn’t budge, no matter what anyone told him, and decided unless I called him with my decision, he wouldn’t speak to me. He’d destroyed something between us with his ultimatum.
And because I’d let Papa into my head, I’d fucked up with Cassius.
Now I had to figure out a way to fix things with him, but I had no idea how to do it since the only time I saw Cassius was on the job site or when he slipped into bed to screw my brains out.
God, this was such a clusterfuck.
“Are the rumors true, or is it speculation?” Henna Lykaios asked as she entered my office.
Lifting my gaze to hers, I studied her for a minute. A visit from the boss could be a nice distraction from my personal life.
“It depends on what you’re asking about.”
A slight smile touched her lips, and she strolled in on her five-inch designer heels and took the seat across from my desk. Henna embodied everything I desired to become one day, badass to the core.
Her life hadn’t started easy. As the daughter of one of the most notorious Ponzi scheme organizers in the world, she’d grown up on the hit list of more than her fair share of people.
She’d used her street smarts and take-no-one’s-shit attitude and made her riches at a poker table.
And then, she’d applied her knowledge to real estate with Lykaios International.
Now in her forties, she’d grown even savvier, bringing in what she called “the next generation” to take her company to a different level. What I’d learned from her over the years was to continually evolve or become obsolete.
“I heard a certain next-door neighbor of yours spends considerable time in your company.”
There went any hope of a distraction.
I pursed my lips, schooling my expression to give nothing away.
“Yes, we spend time together.”
“And?”
I wasn’t going to make it easy for her. In the many years I’d known Henna, she never crossed the line between personal and professional, mentor and mentee.
However, with Cassius being someone she viewed almost like a son, she’d come here in a capacity we’d never treaded in.
“What do you want to know, Henna?”
Henna pulled out her phone and set it in front of me. Front and center sat a picture of Cassius and me in Ibiza at one of his clubs. Sweat covered our faces, and we looked utterly lost in each other as we danced.
“Cass thinks that using Dimitri keeps his connection to the Lykaioses under the radar, but it doesn’t.
A local contact of mine sent me the picture and asked if Cass was off the market.
When I asked for details, I learned the two of you were seen all over the place, and you weren’t discreet about it. ”
I swallowed, feeling the turmoil of the last few months boil up. “You set up that meeting in your office.”
“I did.” The unapologetic way she answered had me holding in a wince.
“Why?”
“Cass is mine as much as the rest of the Lykaios children. My protective side had to see if your motivations were in the right place.”
I clenched my teeth. “Did you learn anything?”
”Absolutely. Cass fucked up royally.” She held my gaze, and when I didn’t give any response to her statement, she continued, “You hadn’t a clue who he was.
I saw the devastation on your face when I introduced him to you.
I heard about your poker face, but that day the look in your eyes could have cut him in half. ”
Oh, I remembered that moment vividly.
I’d walked into Henna’s office, and there Cassius stood in his tailored suit, polished beyond anything I’d ever seen him in before.
The man who’d spent the morning making me scream his name wasn’t the person I knew, but a fraud.
“Why didn’t you say anything that morning? Why did you go through with our meeting and the overview of the Incognito project?”
“Because you were ready to terminate our business agreement, no matter the cost. Tell me I’m wrong.”
My gut reaction to seeing Cassius was to walk away from the build-out of Incognito and any future contracts with Lykaios International. The ramifications to the company or Tarak didn’t matter at that moment. All I wanted was a separation from anything to do with Cassius.
“You aren’t wrong,” I admitted.
“Hence the reason I had to keep you from making any rash decisions. As I said, you were ready to slice Cass in two. In the end, you still ran. You should have stayed for the opening.” She flipped to another picture. “I’d apologize for keeping an eye on you, but it would be a lie.”
The image showed me boarding my flight that night, my eyes puffy from the tears I’d shed and sadness covering my face.
Instead of responding to her statement, I asked, “Did you know he planned this project takeover?”
“It was more of an I’ll believe it when I see it. Cass is stubborn and doesn’t like to draw attention. We offered him this position years ago, but he’d rather run his clubs and play the money game in the background.”
“When did he decide to move?”
“A year ago, but as I said, all of us were waiting to see if it would happen. Until we learned of you, then everything fell into place.”
He’d set everything in motion so long ago and had kept it from me.
“He could have told me a year ago who he was.”
“He should have told you from the beginning. But the Lykaios men don’t always make the right decisions regarding the women they fall in love with.
” Henna’s attention shifted to her wedding rings, a slight smile touching her lips before she shook her head.
“Until now, nothing has motivated Cass to leave the island. He has a home and family here but not the kind he wants.”
You’re my family.
“Why are you coming to me now?” I asked as the weight of everything between Cassius and me sat heavily on my shoulders.
“Because I know something happened that is making the both of you miserable.”
“Are there problems with my job performance?”
“You know very well it has nothing to do with your work. You’re as professional as always. Do you honestly think people haven’t noticed that you are a couple? Or that recently, you haven’t been seen together?”
“I’m not sure what you want me to say.”
“Do you love him?”
I stared at her, the back of my throat burning. After a few seconds, I nodded. “Yes.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Let me guess. Your parents.”
“It’s more my father.”
Henna nodded. “As someone who’s dealt with complicated family dynamics, let me give you some advice.
Cutting yourself off from love because it is a safer road and living your life to please other people will only make you miserable in the long run.
If your father came around for your sister, he will come around for you too. ”
I shook my head. “I take it you’ve investigated my family and know all about them and how we operate?”
“As I said, I wanted to know everything about the woman who had Cass turned inside out.”
“Hate to break it to you, but Cassius isn’t the type of man to be easily swayed to do anything, especially not by me.”
“Is that what you believe or what you want to believe? From where I’m sitting, you hold all the cards when it comes to Cass. You thawed his ice-cold heart. You are the reason he uprooted his life and moved across an ocean. You are the one who can decide if you have a future together or not.”
“It doesn’t bother you that I’m with him?”
“Why should it? I’m the daughter of a notorious embezzler. I have no place to judge anyone. Plus, Zack and I were rivals, and then he stole my company out from under me, and I still married the asshole. If it’s love worth fighting for, then everything else will eventually fall into place.”
“And if Papa doesn’t come around?”
“Then you’ll have Cass, the rest of your family, and the Lykaioses by your side. It’s as simple as that.”