28. Casey
Three days pass before things start feeling almost normal again.
Not really normal. Nothing between Adriano and me has felt truly steady since Jasper ambushed me and dropped his bomb.
I hate that he’s ruining the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.
That he’s tarnished something so beautiful.
Yet, I’d rather know than be blindsided again.
We fall into this strange, careful rhythm around each other inside the brownstone with both of us pretending not to notice it.
He gives me space even when it’s obvious every instinct in him hates doing it, and I hate how much I miss the easy intimacy we had before all of this.
The casual touches. The stolen kisses in the kitchen.
Falling asleep with his arm heavy across my waist.
Now everything feels deliberate and measured. Like we’re both trying not to step wrong around something fragile.
He still looks at me the same way, though. That part never changes. Sometimes I catch him watching me across a room with this quiet ache in his expression that makes my chest hurt because I know exactly what it means, even though he hasn’t said the words.
I miss you.
I’m sorry.
I love you.
And the worst part is—I still love him enough that none of those things feel easy to ignore. I want to find a way to make this work between us. I just don’t know how.
Adriano kisses the top of Letty’s head before leaving for work and his hand brushes lightly against my back as he passes me in the kitchen, hesitant enough that it feels more like a question than a touch.
I let him because I need it just as much.
The look he gives me afterward stays with me all morning.
Maybe that’s why the strange feeling settles in my stomach the second I stop outside Letty’s preschool.
I know something is wrong almost immediately.
The kind of instinct that starts low in your stomach before your brain catches up properly. My mom always said you had a gut feeling for a reason, and you should never ignore it.
By the time I pull Letty’s car seat straps loose outside the preschool, that feeling has settled heavily between my shoulders.
“You’ll pick me up after later?” Letty asks seriously as I help straighten her coat.
“I always pick you up at 3pm and today is no different.”
“I know.” She tilts her head thoughtfully. “I was just checking.”
I laugh softly despite the knot sitting in my chest. “Very wise.”
She beams immediately before throwing her arms around my waist hard enough to nearly knock me backward.
The affection still catches me off guard sometimes. I’ve always cared for all my charges as a nanny, but this little girl owns my heart in every way.
“Go have fun,” I tell Letty, smoothing her curls back from her face.
She grins before racing toward the school doors with the rest of the children, her little backpack bouncing against her shoulders.
I stay there for a second watching until she disappears inside safely.
The cold bites sharply at my cheeks as I pull my coat tighter and turn back toward the street.
And that’s when I hear him.
“Casey.”
Every muscle in my body locks instantly.
No. No. No.
Slowly, I turn.
Jasper stands two feet from me on the sidewalk beside a dark sedan, shoulders tense beneath an expensive coat that no longer fits him quite right.
His eyes look worse than before; wild, bloodshot, and moving around desperately with dark circles under pale skin.
Fear crawls sharply down my spine. “Jasper,” I say carefully, taking a step back.
“You need to come with me.”
Ice floods instantly through my veins. Yeah, that’s not happening. “No.”
His jaw tightens hard enough to pulse. “Don’t make this difficult.”
My own pulse begins hammering violently now as he points a gun at me that’s half hidden by his body.
People move around us on the street.
Parents, teachers, and innocent children.
Normal life continues completely unaware of the fact that my ex-boyfriend is pointing a gun at me like something has finally snapped inside him.
“You need help,” I say quietly, backing up one step instinctively.
His gaze sharpens immediately. “You think this is a game?” he hisses, spittle flying from his mouth.
“I think you’re scaring me.”
Something flickers across his face then.
Guilt maybe or shame perhaps, but he doesn’t lower the gun.
“He took everything from me.”
The words crack out of him rough and broken.
My stomach twists painfully. “Jasper, please.”
“You were supposed to stop him.”
“I didn’t even know about it.”
“Bullshit! You wanted to see me squirm for embarrassing you.”
The shout turns heads nearby now, parents looking nervous as they move their children closer to them.
My pulse spikes harder.
I glance instinctively toward the school entrance.
Big mistake, because when I look back, Jasper is closer and he has the gun pointed at my belly beneath his coat.
Hidden enough that nobody else notices.
Every sound dulls instantly beneath the roar of blood in my ears.
“Jasper, this is a mistake.”
Adriano will kill him for this.
“Get in the car,” he says quietly.
My body goes ice cold. If I get in that car, I’m as good as dead, but if I don’t, he could end up hurting an innocent person.
I shake my head a little. This isn’t Jasper. Not the Jasper I knew, at least. This is someone cornered and unraveling and dangerous in a way I don’t think even he fully understands anymore. “Please,” I whisper.
His expression twists sharply. “Don’t make me do this here, Casey.”
Fear slams hard through my chest, making me feel like I can’t catch my breath.
Because I believe him.
Not that he wants to hurt me.
But that he genuinely might.
I glance around for help that isn’t coming. I have no other choice. I climb into the car, wishing I hadn’t been so insistent that Adriano’s security give me space by the school gates.
The warehouse smells like damp concrete and gasoline.
My wrists ache where the zip ties bite into them behind my back. I’m not sure exactly where I am because Jasper put a hood over my head. His evolution from charming businessman into comic book villain seems complete.
Jasper paces twenty feet away, muttering under his breath while dirty winter light filters through cracked windows somewhere overhead.
I still can’t fully process this. Every few minutes, my brain seems to reset slightly. Like surely this cannot be happening. Surely this is a misunderstanding. Jasper is a cheating piece of shit, but this?
But then my wrists hurt again.
Or Jasper turns around with that frantic look in his eyes.
Or I remember the gun.
And reality slams back hard enough to make nausea roll through me. Part of me is grateful he didn’t drug me. At least I have full function of my body and mind. I can’t see an opportunity to run. But if I do, I’m taking it.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I say quietly after what feels like hours.
Jasper laughs harshly without looking at me. “That’s funny coming from you.”
My throat tightens, but I force myself to continue. I need to try and get through to him before he does something neither of us can come back from. Not that I owe this asshole anything, but still, I don’t want to be the reason he ends up dead. “I never did anything to you, Jasper.”
That finally makes him stop pacing.
Slowly, he turns toward me.
“You left me.”
The sheer disbelief that moves through me almost temporarily overpowers the fear. “You cheated on me.”
“It meant nothing.”
I wiggle my wrists as we speak, trying to loosen the ties. It only causes me pain, but still I carry on. I need to keep him talking. “You had a baby with another woman!”
“It was one little mistake. A man has needs, Casey, and when your little problem made you touchy, you pushed me away.”
Fuck this guy. “You mean when my insides felt like they were being ripped out and I was rolling on the floor in agony?”
Jasper rolls his eyes and huffs. “You were being dramatic. All women have periods and most don’t act like you.”
I give up. There’s no explaining endometriosis and the pain it causes. Not to someone so willfully ignorant. “Fine. Whatever.”
His jaw clenches violently. “You think he actually loves you?” he snaps suddenly. “You think men like Adriano Mancini love people? He owns them.”
The words hit harder than they should because part of me has been asking myself exactly that question ever since I realized what Adriano had done to him.
Not whether he loves me.
I know he does. Even without the words, I know he loves me.
I love him too. That’s not the issue.
It’s whether love from a man like Adriano can ever exist without destruction attached to it.
Jasper starts pacing again.
Agitated, and sweaty despite the cold outside. The sunlight is telling me that it’s been a few hours since I was taken and the drive was short, so at least I know I’m still in Manhattan. Jasper’s a fool. The Mancinis have too many contacts in this city for me to remain hidden for long.
“He took everything,” he mutters. “Everything. Accounts are frozen. Investors gone. The fucking Feds are after me because of him.”
My stomach twists harder.
Adriano was right. The Feds don’t go after people without evidence.
Adriano. God, I wish he were here.
A memory flashes suddenly through my head: making the jewelry and him joking about my ring finger as he tied a piece of string around it. My chest aches sharply because even furious with him, I still want him here with me. I always will.
When Adriano realizes I’m gone, the entire city will move.
That thought should probably terrify me too. Instead, it makes my eyes sting unexpectedly.
Jasper notices immediately. “You love him.”
Not a question.
The truth settles heavily between us. I don’t answer. I don’t need to, and he doesn’t deserve that truth from me. Not when I haven’t even told Adriano yet.
Something bitter and broken twists across his face. “He ruined his own life for you,” he says quietly. “Do you even understand that?”
Before I can question that, he hits a button on his phone and holds it to his ear.
I watch him like a hawk, wondering who he is calling, dread knotting my belly. Then Jasper smiles slowly. The expression is completely wrong, devoid of any joy.
“You seem to have lost something, Adriano,” he says, looking directly at me now.
Fear crashes violently through me all over again.