Chapter 23
Cassian
Three weeks had passed since I'd knelt in the park and asked Isla Quinn to marry me. Three weeks of waking beside her, half-convinced it was all a dream.
But this morning, watching her sleep in the sunlight streaming through half-drawn curtains, I knew it was real.
Isla slept beside me, her dark hair spread across the pillow, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. The engagement ring I'd bought the day after she said yes caught the morning light.
Mine.
The word didn't feel possessive anymore. It felt like a privilege. Like responsibility. Like the weight of being trusted with something precious.
I'd spent most of the night just watching her breathe, still half-convinced I'd wake to find the proposal had been a dream. That she hadn't said yes. That I hadn't been given this second chance I didn't deserve.
Small footsteps pattered down the hallway. A soft knock on the door.
"Cass awake?" Leo's whisper carried through.
I carefully extracted myself from the bed, trying not to wake Isla.
I opened the door to find Leo in his dinosaur pajamas, Rex stuffed under one arm.
"Morning, buddy," I whispered. "What are you doing up so early?"
"Had good dream 'gain." His face was bright with excitement. "Happy one! Mama and Cass and me?"
Something in my chest expanded at his pure joy. "Yes, it’s the three of us."
"Make pancakes? Lelebrate?"
I glanced back at Isla, still sleeping. "How about we let Mama sleep a little longer? We'll make them super quiet, like pancake ninjas."
Leo giggled, pressing his hand over his mouth. "Pancake ninjas!"
We tiptoed to the kitchen, and I lifted him onto the counter. He took his job seriously, carefully measuring flour while narrating how ninjas had to be "very, very quiet."
"Cass?" Leo's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Marry Mama soon? 'Morrow?"
I smiled, cracking eggs into the bowl. "Not tomorrow. These things take time to plan."
"But you gonna?" He looked up at me with those eyes—my eyes—full of hope.
"I really am. I promise."
"Good." He nodded solemnly, then brightened. "I be in wedding?"
"Would you like to carry the rings?"
His face lit up. "Yes. I be careful. Won't drop 'em."
"I know you wouldn't." I ruffled his hair, leaving a flour handprint. "You'd be the best ring bearer in the world."
We worked together in companionable silence. Two months ago, I hadn't known he existed. Now I couldn't imagine life without him.
"Something smells good."
I turned to find Isla in the doorway, sleepy and rumpled in my shirt, her hair a beautiful mess. She looked at the kitchen—flour everywhere, Leo carefully arranging forks, pancakes slightly burned on one side—and smiled.
"Make pancakes!" Leo announced. "Ninja pancakes!"
"I can see that." She moved to the counter, standing close. "And you left me some?"
"Yes, Mama. Ninjas share." He was utterly serious, making both of us laugh.
We ate breakfast together, Leo chattering about his dreams and plans, occasionally announcing that we were "a real family now" as if he still couldn't quite believe it.
I couldn't either, if I were honest. But Isla's hand found mine under the table, squeezing gently, anchoring me to the moment.
After breakfast, Leo wanted to build an "epic castle" with his blocks. We spread out on the living room floor, the three of us constructing an elaborate fortress with towers and bridges.
"Dragon lives here," Leo explained, positioning his plastic dinosaur at the highest tower. "Scares bad guys."
"Smart dragon," I said, helping him balance another block.
"You like dragon. Scare bad guys," Leo said matter-of-factly.
Isla's eyes met mine over his head. I saw the emotion there. That our son saw me not as a monster, but as a protector.
"I'll always protect you," I said, meaning it with every fiber of my being. "Both of you."
"I know." Leo went back to his castle, already distracted by the next challenge.
The morning turned into afternoon. We ordered lunch, watched one of his dinosaur movies, and built more castles that he gleefully knocked down just to rebuild.
Normal family things. Things I'd never imagined doing.
Things I never wanted to stop doing.
That evening, after Leo was bathed and put to bed, Isla and I stood together in his doorway.
"He was happy today," Isla said softly, her hand finding mine.
"He was." I brought her hand to my lips. "Were you?"
She turned to look at me."Yes. Ridiculously, impossibly happy." A small smile. "It scares me sometimes. How happy."
"Me too." I pulled her closer."Like it's too good to last."
"Then we'll just have to make sure it does." She wrapped her arms around my waist, resting her head against my chest. "Together."
"Together," I echoed, the word feeling like a vow.
We stood there in the quiet hallway, holding each other, listening to our son's steady breathing.
The penthouse that had once felt like a fortress now felt like a home.
The life I'd built on control and violence had somehow transformed into this—pancake breakfasts and block castles and a woman who loved me despite everything.
"Come to bed," Isla whispered, taking my hand.
I let her lead me to our bedroom, closing the door softly behind us. She turned in my arms, her hands sliding up my chest to link behind my neck.
"I love you," she said, like she was still getting used to saying it freely.
"I love you too." The words came easier each time. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For seeing past what I am to who I could be. For giving me this." I gestured around us."I don't deserve it."
"Yes, you do." She pulled me down for a kiss, soft and sweet. "You deserve to be happy, Cassian. To have a family who loves you. To be more than just the Don."
"I'm trying to believe that."
"Keep trying." She smiled against my lips. "I'll remind you every day until you do."
"What are you thinking about?" she asked, tracing patterns on my shirt.
"That I almost lost this. Almost threw it away because I was afraid." I tightened my arm around her. "And how grateful I am that you were brave enough for both of us."
"I wasn't brave. I was terrified." She propped herself up on one elbow, looking down at me. "But I was more afraid of living without you."
"What we are," I corrected, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "What we will be."
"What we will be," she agreed.
But she didn't settle back against me. Instead, she stayed propped up, her eyes searching mine in the dim light.
"What?" I asked, my hand finding her waist.
"I'm just looking at you." Her fingers traced the line of my jaw. "Really looking. Because three weeks ago, I didn't think I'd get to do this. Didn't think you'd let me."
"I was an idiot."
"You were scared." She leaned down, her lips brushing against mine. "But you're not anymore. Are you?"
"Terrified," I admitted. "But not of this. Not of you."
"Good." She kissed me properly then, soft and slow and full of promise.
When she pulled back, her eyes held something that made my breath catch.
"Because I want you. All of you. Not just the man who makes pancakes and plays trains.
I want the man underneath. The one you're still learning to show me. "
My hand tightened on her waist. "Isla—"
"Show me," she whispered, her voice low and seductive. It wasn’t a request; it was a command, one that sent a shiver down my spine. I took a step toward her, my heart pounding in my chest. Her words were a challenge, a call to the man I kept hidden beneath the tailored suits and calculated smiles.
The man who didn’t trust easily, who feared vulnerability like a poison. But Isla—she saw him. She wanted him.
Her fingers slipped under my shirt, cool against my heated skin, and I shuddered as she pulled it over my head, tossing it aside like it was nothing. Her gaze raked over me, hungry and unapologetic, and I felt exposed—not just physically, but in a way that made my chest tighten.
She wanted all of me, and I was terrified of giving it, but her gaze anchored me, pulled me closer to the edge.
“Show me,” she repeated, her voice a low, seductive command.
I stepped closer, my hands finding her hips, pulling her against me so she could feel how much I wanted her.
Her breath hitched as my lips brushed hers, teasing, before I deepened the kiss, tasting her desire, her need.
Her hands slid down my back, her nails digging into my skin, and I growled into her mouth, primal and raw.
She wanted the man underneath, and I was going to give him to her—all of him, no holding back.
I lifted her, pressing her against the cold marble wall, her legs wrapping around my waist as I ground against her, my cock throbbing against her core. She moaned, her head falling back, exposing the curve of her neck.
I nipped at her pulse point, biting hard enough to leave a mark, and she gasped, her nails digging deeper. “Cassian,” she panted, “please.”
I slid my hand down her body, past the curve of her breast, past the swell of her hip, until my fingers found her wet heat. She was already dripping, desperate, and I smirked against her skin, my thumb circling her clit as I teased her, slow and deliberate.
“Impatient, bella?” I murmured, my voice rough. “You want me to fuck you against this wall, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she hissed, her legs tightening around me. “Now. I need you now.”
I stepped back, setting her down, and her eyes flashed with frustration, but I silenced her with a kiss, my tongue demanding, dominant.
When I pulled away, I hooked my fingers into the waistband of her panties and tore them off, the sound vulgar and perfect. She watched, breathless, as I dropped to my knees, her thighs parting instinctively.
I pressed my mouth to her core, my tongue plunging deep into her wetness, and she cried out, her hands tangling in my hair. “Fuck, Cassian—”
I lapped at her relentlessly, my beard scraping her sensitive skin, my fingers sinking into her thighs to hold her steady.
She was close, so close, and I wanted to make her scream my name.
I suckled her clit into my mouth, teasing it with my tongue, and she shattered, her body trembling as she came apart on my lips.
I drank her down, greedy, possessive, until she was a quivering mess in my arms.
“Bed,” I commanded, hoarse, lifting her effortlessly. She nodded, dazed, and I carried her to the edge of the mattress, laying her down gently before stripping off my pants. My cock was hard, leaking, and I stroked it once, slowly, before positioning myself between her legs.
She reached for me, but I grabbed her wrists, pinning them above her head with one hand. “Not yet,” I growled, pressing the tip of my cock to her entrance. “This is my show.”
I thrust into her in one slow, deliberate stroke, filling her completely, and she gasped, her body arching off the bed.
I held her down, my hips snapping as I pounded into her, relentless and primal.
The sound of skin slapping skin filled the room, mixed with her moans and my curses.
I was close, so fucking close, but I wanted to push her over the edge again first.
I released her wrists, gripping her hips instead, and flipped her onto her stomach. She whimpered as I pulled out, but I silenced her with a slap to her ass, the sound echoing off the marble walls.
“On your knees,” I ordered, and she obeyed, her hands braced on the bed, her ass raised for me. I spread her cheeks, admiring the sight of her tight hole, before sliding back inside her, the angle hitting her deep.
“Cassian,” she whimpered, “I’m—”
“Come for me,” I snarled, thrusting harder, faster. “Come on my cock, bella.”
She screamed my name as she fell apart again, her walls clenching around me, and that was it—I was done. I pulled out, flipping her onto her back, and she reached for me, but I grabbed her hands, pinning them above her head again.
“Not yet,” I repeated, stroking my cock as I loomed over her. “Watch me.”
I jerked myself off, rough and desperate, until I was spilling over her, my cum coating her breasts, her stomach, her throat. She moaned, her fingers tracing the lines of my seed, and I groaned, my body trembling. I collapsed beside her, pulling her into my arms, my heart pounding against her back.
“You okay?” I murmured, brushing her hair from her face.
She turned to me, her lips curved in a satisfied smile. “More than okay,” she said, her fingers tracing the lines of my jaw.
Later, much later, we lay tangled together in the darkness, her head on my chest, my fingers tracing lazy patterns on her bare shoulder.
"I love you," she murmured, half-asleep.
"I love you too." I pressed a kiss to her hair.
Through the baby monitor, I could hear Leo's soft breathing. My son. My family. Safe and whole.
I'd built an empire on oil, steel, and blood. But lying there in the dark, Isla's warmth against me, Leo's steady breathing through the monitor, I realized none of it mattered. Not really.
This was the only empire worth building. This love—messy and terrifying and absolutely essential—was the only power I needed.
I thought of my father, who'd chosen the business over his family until it destroyed him. Who'd died alone and bitter, surrounded by wealth but empty of anything that mattered.
I wouldn't make his mistakes. I would choose them—Isla and Leo—every single day.
"I spent my life building an empire," I whispered to the darkness. "But you're my real legacy. Both of you. And I'll spend the rest of my life making sure you never doubt that."
Isla stirred, her arm tightening around me. I pressed a kiss to her hair and closed my eyes, finally allowing myself to believe.
This was real. This was mine. This was worth everything.
And I would never let it go.