43. Caden
Caden
The heavy beat of the club vibrated the wall at my back, my knee bent as I stared at the sky in the slim street behind Thorns.
Placing the cigarette between my lips, I pressed my head back against the brick.
You couldn’t see the stars against the light pollution and smog, but still I searched for the constellations my grandfather had taught me as a kid.
He’d loved sailing, travelling the world at his own pace.
He drank too much, gambled worse, and burned through every penny of his inheritance before finally dying with debt collectors circling like vultures.
But he was a man that lived by his own rules, and not ones set by the aristocracy.
And he’d been one hell of a grandfather.
Dad hated him for it. Probably because he’d spent his entire life clawing everything back through the city’s darker underbelly.
Dirty deals meant faster money, and faster money meant he could keep feeding my mother every luxury imaginable.
As if enough diamonds and designer labels could stop her from spiralling when she refused to medicate.
As if her demons didn’t howl as loud if he gave her everything she could ever want.
It was why he was so hard on Sebastian when he came to live with us, pushing therapy and pills for his CPTSD, because apparently it worked for Mum for a long time.
But that was before I was born.
The thing about my father was that, beneath all the greed and ruthlessness, he loved with a terrifying kind of devotion. He’d have burned everything he’d built, surrendered every title and fortune, for the woman he loved.
And maybe that was his greatest weakness. Because no matter how fiercely he loved my mother, no matter how much he gave her, cared for her, sacrificed for her, it was never enough.
It was bitterly ironic.
The same father, whose one true love nearly destroyed him, now wanted me to marry.
Selene thinks marrying you to Vivienne would solve her reputation problem in the Underworld.
Maybe not as ironic as a woman forcing my hand in marriage with her daughter by drugging me into submission.
The universe, it seemed, had a particularly cruel sense of humour.
“You’re supposed to be resting.”
I glanced sideways as Sebastian stepped into the street, the club’s music overwhelming until the door shut closed behind him. “I was resting,” I said, flicking ash onto the pavement. “Then I got bored.”
“That tends to happen when people survive near-fatal overdoses.” He looked entirely unaffected by the cold.
“I’m touched by your concern, but it wasn’t anywhere near fatal.”
His mouth twitched faintly, though it vanished almost immediately. “What are you doing, Cade?”
“Looking for Andromeda.”
“Not the best season for it, and you know that’s not what I meant.”
I side-eyed him as he squinted at the sky.
“What you doing with Aeris?” he asked.
“Mind your own fucking business.”
“Stop being a cunt and answer the question.”
Dragging a hand down my face, I let out a long breath. “I already told you. She’s mine.”
“Yours as in you get to twist the knife when you’re done with her”—Sebastian’s gaze sharpened—“or more?”
“More,” I said without hesitation.
A dark, knowing laugh rumbled from his chest. “Does she know that?”
“Does it matter?”
“She’s not going to let you take care of her, you know that, right?”
I shot him a flat look. “Are you being an arse because I gave you shit about Ara, or were you just born this way?”
Sebastian stepped closer, his voice dropping. “Cade … she’s blackmailing us.”
“Your point?”
“She’s been Selene’s weapon for years,” he pressed. “She’s survived by being smarter, faster, and more ruthless than everyone around her. What makes you think she won’t turn on you the second she gets the chance?”
The truth was that I didn’t have a clean answer. Aeris was dangerous—I’d known that from the first moment she tried to blackmail us—but so was I, and the thought of anyone else touching her, hurting her, controlling her … It made me fucking violent.
She was mine.
Whether she liked it or not.
“You’ve always been the most level-headed out of the three of us,” Sebastian said, dragging a hand through his hair. “But this is impulsive.”
“Maybe I’m taking a page from your book.”
He gripped my shoulder, squeezing hard. “I hope she gives you absolute hell,” he said, a ghost of a smile curving his lips. “That’s if she doesn’t kill you first.”
I flipped him off as he headed back towards the club. The music swallowed him instantly, leaving me alone again with the cold night air and the sinking realisation that I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.
Jesus Christ.
Frustrated, I flicked my cigarette to the ground and crushed it under my heel.
“Mr Ackworth.”
I stilled, flicking my gaze to the right where the skinhead with the multi-coloured eyes stepped into the light. Renley Elkins, the prick that had a thing for Aeris and was one of Selene’s snakes. He must have been waiting, his gun aimed at my chest.
“You think that’s wise, mate?” I asked with a raised brow.
“Miss Blackwater’s waiting.” He lifted the gun, aiming for my head.
A beat passed, my anger rigid. Renley gestured for me to lead, walking us towards the mouth of the alley where a large SUV waited.
Renley dug the gun into my back, the door opening automatically. Selene was inside, her smile slick as she sat with her manicured hand on my father’s knee. The moment I climbed in and took the seat opposite them, his eyes locked onto mine.
I checked him once over—taking in his clenched jaw, crusted blood, and bruised cheek—before I met Selene’s gaze.
“We finally meet,” she said, her tone almost warm as Renley slipped in beside me, the gun now aimed at my stomach. “Apologies about the force, but you can never be too careful.”
The car began to move, slowly joining traffic.
“This is a mistake,” I warned.
“Only if I lose,” she said, sounding amused. “As you can see, I’ve been in discussions with your father regarding an arranged marriage between yourself and my Vivienne.”
“She’s threatening to expose me,” Dad said calmly, although rage vibrated beneath his words.
“That’s right, I have enough information to bury your father and his company with a matter of a single phone call.
All his deals, aired out like dirty laundry,” Selene said with a flippant wave of her hand.
“He’ll be arrested for money laundering, and this time the charges will stick.
That’s if one of his more brutish clients doesn’t take out their frustrations on him first, of course. ”
“So, what? I marry your daughter or you’ll expose my father?”
“Life’s full of tough choices, isn’t it?” she chuckled. “But I’ll make myself clear … You will marry my Vivienne, because if you don’t, not only will I go after your father, but I’ll hurt Aeris in ways she will never recover from.”
I gritted my teeth, my nostrils flaring. “Why the fuck would I care what you do with Aeris?”
“Oh, I think we’re both too intelligent to play this game, right?” She tilted her head, smile sharpening. “So … do we have a deal?”