CHAPTER NINE #2
“My life was pretty normal before all this. After I graduated from college, I started working for my dad’s company.
It was pretty easy. I studied business management in college because I knew I’d end up inheriting Solis Holdings eventually.
I started working, I climbed up the ladder pretty quickly.
People will tell you that it’s because of nepotism, but that’s bullshit,” she says, pointing a finger at me.
“I have no doubt,” I say, smiling.
“Anyway, yeah. Working at the company was fairly ordinary. I went there every day. I did my job and then I went home. I hung out with my friends, I went to parties. All normal, ordinary things.”
She has this faraway look in her eyes. Lost, all too familiar.
“To answer your question, I’ve never really had anything I’ve been passionate about to be honest. Before all this, I think the most interesting thing about me was that I lost my mum to cancer. Now I’m going to be a mob boss’s wife,” she says on a disbelieving laugh.
“You were anything but ordinary, Cassandra,” I say softly, “Even before all this.”
She’s silent for a couple of seconds.
“Cassie,” she breathes.
“What?”
“Call me Cassie. Cassandra sounds stuffy. Plus it reminds me how much I don’t like you. Call me Cassie and I’ll call you Damien.”
“You don’t want to remember how much you don’t like me?” I question.
“I’ll probably always hate you, Damien,” she replies getting to her feet. “I’m just saying I don’t need the constant reminder. Good night.”
I look up at her. All her grace, all her strength. It’s incredible that she considers herself anything other than beautiful, full of light. She’s like a beacon that calls to lost souls. They’re inevitably caught in her web, unable to escape. And she doesn’t even know it.
“Good night, Cassie.”
I watch as she leaves the room, my gaze never leaving her sexy frame until she disappears from sight.
***
I get a call very early the next morning. I wasn’t asleep. When you’re the head of a mafia empire, sleep is an elusive beast most of the time. I’d been perusing the progress of some business deals while strategizing how to take down my enemies.
Which is when my phone starts to ring. It’s an unknown number but I pick it up regardless. The number can always be traced later if it turns out to be something dangerous. I have the best hackers in the city on retainer.
“Damien Luciano,” I say upon answering.
“Luciano. This is Miguel Solis,” the person on the other end states.
My eyebrow arches, “Solis, I wasn’t expecting a call from you.”
“Well you left me no choice considering you kidnapped my niece and cut off all her contact with the outside world.”
“Cassandra’s fine,” I inform him.
“She’ll be much better when you allow her to return home. She doesn’t belong in that world, Luciano. You’ll only end up destroying her.”
“Where she belongs doesn’t concern you, Miguel,” I grit out. “Tell me, why are you so desperate to get her out.”
“Because she’s my niece and I care about her?” he says like it’s a foregone conclusion.
“Perhaps,” I agree quietly. “Or maybe you’re desperate because you know her fathers’ will can’t be read without her presence. You’re antsy because you’re running out of time you need to swoop in. Maybe claim her inheritance for yourself. Get rid of her even.”
There’s silence on the other end for a couple of seconds.
“I’m not going to listen to your vile accusations, Luciano. All I want is Cassie’s safe return home.”
“She is home,” I say evenly. “And believe me, I won’t let you use her to get what you want.”
“Use her?” he scoffs. “You mean like you did?”
“I didn’t use her. Cassandra was promised to me. This—” I pause, the weight of my words deliberate, “ this is what honor looks like, Solis. Her father knew it. That’s why he came to me. Not you.”
He begins to speak, but I don’t stop.
“Now that he’s gone, don’t you think he’d want her with someone who understands loyalty? Someone who can protect her? Men like you move with impulse. No reason. No restraint. But me? I move with precision.”
I can practically hear him fuming on the line, but his feelings are irrelevant.
“I chose Cassandra because I knew she was strong enough to be a don’s wife. Her father knew it too. He offered her to me with one condition—if anything ever happened to him, I would keep her safe. And that’s exactly what I intend to do. Even if it means protecting her from you.”
“She's not your wife,” he fires back.
“Not yet. But she will be in less than a week. I’ll send you an invitation. You should come, provided you won’t cause any trouble.”
He chokes on a breath, “A week?”
“Yes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do. Goodbye, Solis.”
He tries to say something else but I hang up before he can. I’m not worried about him at all. Miguel Solis has always been irrelevant. More of a dog begging for scraps from his elder brother’s table. He stuck by Gabriel all his life. Enjoyed his success without working for any of his own.
It’s all pathetic if I’m being honest. But people like that can be dangerous. And completely untrustworthy. He’s one of the reasons I brought Cassie here when I did. She has no idea, what lengths I’d go to in order to protect her.
Even from those she considers family.