Chapter 17
KNIGHT
Cassia only took ten minutes to pack a bag for the trip and hug Marina goodbye.
As we walk toward the tunnel, where the yacht is docked in an underground harbor, I can feel the worry come off Cassia in waves, and her eyes are black as night.
“We’ll get through this,” I assure her.
“I know,” she mutters.
Reaching the stairs, we take them down to the tunnel, and I keep quiet as we board the yacht.
While Cassia greets the captain, I quickly walk through the vessel to make sure everything is in order.
Reaching the deck where there’s a seating area, I find Cassia standing with her arms wrapped around herself.
The yacht starts to move as I join her, and we stare ahead as the vessel is steered out of the tunnel and into the open sea.
After a few minutes, I pull my phone out of my pocket while I take a seat and start to send out messages to everyone I know.
“I thought you didn’t have friends,” Cassia suddenly murmurs.
“I don’t.” Not in the true sense.
Not anymore.
Santiago pops into my mind.
“I have one,” I correct myself. “Santiago.”
“And the men you’re contacting?” she asks.
“People I’ve served with or met along the way.”
“Can we trust them?”
I nod. “As long as they’re paid well, they’ll fight for you.” Her teeth tug at her bottom lip, and it has me asking, “Is money a problem?”
I’ve saved up a few million from all the jobs I’ve helped Santiago with.
The thought jars me, but before I can try to figure out why I’m willing to part with millions of dollars for this woman, Cassia says, “Money isn’t a problem. I’ll pay them double their asking price to ensure they remain loyal to me. Half up front and half when I’m sitting on the throne and the traitor is dead at my feet.”
My eyes lock on Cassia, and I take the anger tightening her features as a good sign. Anger is the best fuel for revenge, whereas grief only drains your energy.
Nodding, I get back to work sending out texts, and one by one, the affirmative replies come in.
When I’m done sending all the messages, I lift my head and look at Cassia, where she’s still standing and staring out over the ocean.
The wind has her dress flapping around her legs, and her hair is blowing behind her.
Right now, she’s fucking breathtaking, and I’m unable to tear my eyes away from her as my phone continues to vibrate with the replies coming in.
I drink in the sight of her high cheekbones, her full lips, and slender neck. My eyes move lower to the sexy as fuck cleavage and the curves of her breasts.
She has hips I want to hold onto while she rides me.
My teeth scrape over my bottom lip as my gaze stops on her ass.
Yeah, I’d pay millions to…
My thoughts come to a screeching halt when I realize that I’m busy fucking drooling over Cassia.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Lifting my right leg, I rest my ankle on my left thigh in an attempt to hide my hard-on should Cassia look at me.
She gasps, and her features tighten with sorrow. “I forgot Eleni’s birthday.” Turning her head, she glances at me. “It was last Tuesday. We would’ve had a party on Friday.” Her eyes widen. “Jesus. I didn’t send out cancellations. What if the guests didn’t know about the attack? What if–”
“Cassia, you were in a fucking coma last week,” I remind her.
She shakes her head again, and it has me standing up and closing the distance between us while saying, “You have bigger things to worry about than a missed birthday party.”
Her eyebrows draw together, and she looks so fucking vulnerable as she says, “Yes, but it’s easier to send out apologies than to start a war with the bastard who betrayed us.” Her breathing speeds up and tears well in her eyes. “I don’t know what to do! How…How…”
Grabbing hold of her, I yank her against my chest and wrap my arms tightly around her. With my mouth near her ear, I say, “You’re going to check on the survivors in Chile. The army you’ve hired will meet you there. We’ll form a plan and go to Athens to take back what’s yours. That’s what you have to do. Got it?”
She nods, and as I start to pull back, her arms quickly wrap around my waist, and she clings to me. Her voice is filled with desperation as she admits, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Lincoln.”
That’s all it takes.
I swear my heart swells to twice its normal size, and it fills with an insane need to protect her and the urge to possess her. It becomes pure fucking obsession.
I suck in a sharp breath as the mustard seed of affection breaks through the crack in my soul, the first living thing since everything in me died with Ronnie.
My arms tighten even more around Cassia, and I practically squash her to me as I growl, “You’ll never have to find out. I’m with you until the end.”
She turns her head and rests her cheek against my chest. “This war could take months or even years. That’s a long time to commit to.”
“I’m with you until I die,” I spell it out to her.
Her head snaps back, and she looks up at me with parted lips. “Until you die?”
“Yes, because there’s no way you’ll die as long as I’m alive.”
I promised myself I’d never care about anything again, but here I am, falling hard and fast.
Cassia’s eyebrows draw together, and tears spill from her eyes as she admits, “Besides Aunt Marina, you’re the only person I can trust.” She sucks in a shuddering breath as she gives me a pleading look. “Don’t ever betray me.”
“Never,” I promise.
“Thank you,” she gasps before pressing her face against my chest again. “I don’t know what made you decide to protect me, but thank you.”
I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.
When she was lying on the hot concrete, bleeding out and begging me to save her sister’s life, something just clicked into place, tying us together.
Every time she moves away from me, I can feel the bond between us pulling, dragging me behind her.
Yeah, I had no choice.
Just like I have no choice but to care about her.
I press a kiss to the top of Cassia’s head, and while I hold her, a new monster is born from the darkness in me, and it will destroy everything and anyone who dares to threaten her.
Cassia is the first to pull back, and glancing out over the ocean again, she asks, “How much do you charge?”
Confused, I shake my head. “For?”
“Being my bodyguard.”
I give her a disgruntled look before taking a seat and unlocking my phone.
“I’m serious,” she says, her tone firm again.
“So I hear,” I mutter as I begin to scroll through the replies. “Fourteen have confirmed, and eight of them can vouch for another twenty-seven. As the word keeps spreading, more will join.”
“God. That’s awesome,” she says, sounding stunned.
When I glance up, the surprised look morphs into a scowl, and she crosses her arms over her chest. “How much?”
“Sit down,” I mutter.
She comes to plant her sexy ass right next to me and stares a hole into the side of my head.
“I’m not going to charge you anything,” I grumble.
“You can’t work for free,” she argues, her tone climbing to a high pitch.
“I’m not.” Turning my head, I lock eyes with her.
She gives me an incredulous look. “What do you get out of protecting me?”
“Redemption.”
Instantly, her features soften, and she slowly shakes her head. “God, Lincoln.” She leans into me, a pleading expression tightening her features again. “You can’t punish yourself like this. What happened to Ronnie wasn’t your fault.”
For the first time since I lost my sister, the words form on my tongue, and they leave my mouth as I admit, “I was too late. When I got to the room, there was a fucker on top of Ronnie. He was raping my baby sister while she was overdosing on the shit they injected into her veins.” I turn my head away from Cassia. “That’s what I see in my flashbacks. The foam around her mouth and the life draining from her eyes while a man fucks her starved body.”
I suck in a shuddering breath, and another first happens as a tear escapes and rolls down my cheek. I wipe the drop away while lowering my head.
There’s only the sound of the yacht and ocean for a few minutes as I try to shove it all back into the darkness.
Instead of saying anything, Cassia climbs to her feet. She pushes my legs apart and comes to stand between them. When she presses my head to her chest, my whole body shudders.
I wrap one arm around the back of her thighs and the other across her ass and hips, gripping her tightly.
I feel her press a kiss to my hair, and her voice is hoarse as she says, “I wish I could help you.”
I clear my throat before replying, “By letting me protect you, you’re helping me. It gives me a reason to go on.”
Her palms settle on the sides of my jaw, and she nudges my head back so I’ll look up at her.
“Okay.”
I pull her down until she sits on my lap, and holding her as if my life depends on it, I close my eyes and focus on taking deep breaths.