Chapter 24 Allegra #2
He plucks the phone out and signals for me to stay where I am, so I do. I can’t not. My heart is racing, my stomach in knots.
“Password,” he says without looking at me. He can’t read the text, but he’ll see the notification on the locked screen. When I don’t answer him, he raises narrowed eyes to me. “I said password.”
“0243.”
He punches it in, still holding on to the clutch in his other hand as he scrolls through the messages. His jaw tenses, he’s clenching his teeth. Another text comes through as he tucks the phone into his pocket and shifts his gaze to me.
“Let me guess,” he starts, then looks to Jet. “You delivered this to her earlier today. When she was with Elenora.”
“How…” I start, but Cassian holds up a finger to me to be quiet. He tosses the clutch aside and looks to Jet.
“Those soldiers you bribed won’t be walking come tomorrow morning.”
“Oh my God,” my hands fly to my mouth. “Cassian, you can’t—”
He turns to me and the look in his eyes is enough to shut me up. “What do you think this is, Allegra? What do you think we’re doing here?” he asks, taking a step toward me. It takes every ounce of strength in me not to back away. “Do you think we’re playing some fucking game?”
His words are fueled with a visceral rage. A moment later, he’s standing inches from me, and my back is against the wall.
“Tell me, Allegra. What game is it you think we’re playing? Some murder mystery? A soap opera maybe with me cast as the villain?”
“Cassian—”
“Tell me what fucking game!” he demands, making me jump.
“It’s not a game!” I cry out, tears blurring my vision as my heart races. When I try to scoot away, he slams a fist into the wall. I jump, afraid. Truly afraid.
“Fucking. Tell. Me. Am I the villain?”
“No! Get away from me!” I shove at him, but he doesn’t budge.
“And him? What role is he playing?”
“Christ, leave her alone,” Jet says. “It wasn’t her fault.” He comes toward us.
“Oh?” Cassian shifts his gaze to Jet, then back to me, fury in his eyes, fury and something else. Betrayal. “So you cast Jet as the hero then? Is that it?”
“I didn’t cast anyone! I’m not playing any game!”
“Because let me tell you something about my stepbrother, Moth.” He grips my arm and tugs me to himself. “He’s no hero.” He hisses through clenched teeth.
“Let her go,” Jet says, stepping toward us. “I brought her the phone. She didn’t know anything about it. And if it’s any consolation, she doesn’t trust either of us.”
Cassian doesn’t look at Jet and I see the betrayal in his eyes. I see how tired he is. How weighed down.
“Well, you may have given her the phone, but she accepted it, and she kept it hidden from me, isn’t that right, Allegra?”
“You’d have taken it from me!”
“Damn right I would. A cell phone can be tracked.”
“Tracked? Jesus. I didn’t do anything. I’m not running away. Nothing. I’m here, aren’t I? You can read my fucking texts. Oh wait, I forgot, you already did, asshole.”
He snorts, shifts his grip to my wrists, holding them at my back in one of his hands. I stop wriggling. I won’t get free. Not until he decides to let me go.
“Tell me something,” he says, finally turning to Jet. “What did you intend with your betrayal, brother? Always wanting what’s mine, aren’t you?”
Jet’s eyes narrow and I know what Cassian is saying is true, at least in part. He takes a deep breath in, exhales, picks up his glass and finishes his drink. “Fuck you, Cassian.” He slams the empty glass down so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t crack the tabletop. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“No. Stay,” Cassian says, his tone lower, but no less dangerous. Some men are like that. Most dangerous when they appear calm.
Jet and Cassian stare off for a minute.
“I said sit, brother, so I can give you what you want,” Cassian says, and I feel him gathering the skirt of my dress in one hand. I look down as the material slides up along my calf, my thigh.
“What are you doing?” I ask, half-turning.
He shifts his gaze to me, eyes searching mine.
Imploring. For a long moment, the only sound in the room is my hectic breathing, the pounding of my heart.
I watch Cassian all the while, watch his strange eyes, because they do betray him.
They do show his heart. And what I see makes mine crack a little.
“Allegra,” he says so quietly, it’s no more than a whisper. “You deceived me.”
I shake my head because his words are no longer angry. Anger is easy. Anger I can meet. This? This is something else. Something that hurts.
I open my mouth to tell him I didn’t mean to. I wouldn’t.
But I did. I know I did. I knew it the instant I accepted the phone and then again, each chance I had to tell Cassian, and I didn’t tell him.
“You betrayed me. You are my enemy.”
A tear slides down my cheek.
He watches that tear and for a moment, I think it’ll be okay. I think I can explain. Make him understand because I never meant to deceive him. What Jet said, it’s true. I’ve fallen for him. I’ve fallen in love with Cassian Trevino.
“Cassian—”
“But that’s on me. My own fault for believing anything else would be possible,” he says in that same tone, except that now, the look in his eyes is different. Now, that softness is gone. That vulnerability. All that’s left in its place is an icy resolve that makes me physically shiver.
He turns back to Jet who is still standing there, watching us. For a moment, I’d forgotten he was there at all.
“Sit,” he tells Jet.
Jet looks from him to me then back. He sits and narrows his eyes on Cassian.
Cassian nudges me forward, toward Jet.
“What are you doing?” I demand, turning, wriggling to get free. “What the hell are you doing?”
He pushes me forward and I’m not expecting it. I’m caught off guard and would fall if it wasn’t for Jet catching me as my hands close over his thighs. I meet his forest eyes, my face inches from his. He slides his hands to my wrists, holds on.
“You liked it when he looked at you before, didn’t you?” Cassian asks as he raises the skirt of my dress higher.
“No! Stop it!”
I fight, but Jet’s hands are like handcuffs around my wrists so I can’t straighten, can’t pull away.
“Look at him.”
I shake my head.
“Look at him. So he understands. So you do.”
“Understand what?” I demand. “That you’re insane?”
“So you both understand that you, Allegra, belong to me. That you belong only to me.” My dress is up to my waist now and when I feel him take hold of my panties, I know what he intends to do because there can only be one thing.
I fight with all I have to get free and somehow, some way, I pull one wrist from Jet’s grip and when I do, I make a fist, and I don’t think. I don’t waste a second. Instead, I slam that fist into Jet’s crotch.
The instant I do, his other hand loosens enough that I slip free and straighten, my dress sliding back down my thighs.
I stumble backward and mean to headbutt Cassian, but he has just that sliver of time to dodge me.
He’s fast. He’s always been faster than me, but hell, he’s a mafia boss. Of course, he knows how to fight.
I whirl on him, but he’s still got me caged in his arms. I can’t swing at him, it would do no good.
He’s ready for me. So, I dig my nails into his face, burying them deep with a roar that is years old.
An animal cry that I have held inside me for five long years.
I break skin and I scratch until he grips my wrists and pulls my hands from his face and somehow, we’ve turned, and he’s got me pressed against the wall.
He’s breathing fast now too at least. At least I have that.
“You fucking asshole. I thought you were different. I thought… I fucking thought,” I’m crying and can’t get the words out.
Because what did I think? That he cared about me?
Jesus. I’m a fucking idiot. “You asshole! You’re the fucking traitor!
I will never, never forgive you for what you just did. What you were about to do!”
He snorts, drags my arms over my head and shifts his grip so he’s holding both wrists with one giant hand. With the other, he grips my jaw, fingers digging in.
“You’re violent, Allegra.” His eyes narrow and he leans in close and like the beast he is, he inhales like he’s scenting his prey.
Well, he can fuck right off because I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I will not play good fucking victim ever again!
Five bloody marks on one side of his face. Four on the other. A remembrance why I would rather die than let anyone make a victim out of me again.
“But you know what?” he continues. “I like that about you. I like your fight. It means you’ll survive once I’ve broken you.”
I spit at him, and he flinches. When he looks at me again, I press my back into the wall. He is still bigger than me. Stronger than me.
His eyes search my face, and I feel the effort it’s taking him to hold back.
“And as far as your little game, let me tell you something, Little Moth. Let me tell you something about our world. There are no heroes. We are all villains.”
All I can hear is the roaring of blood in my ears.
“Enzo!” Cassian barks, never looking away.
The door opens and in my periphery, I see Enzo enter.
“Take Allegra home. Tie her to my bed. And stand guard over her until I get there. She’s a tricky one. Can’t be trusted.”
“Fuck you,” I say.
“No, Allegra, you’re the one who’s fucked.”
With that, he tugs me away from the wall and hands me roughly off to Enzo. I’m marched out of the room, barely registering that Jet is still there. That before the door closes, Cassian circles on him.