5. Nazai
CHAPTER 5
NAZAI
“ W hat did you call me over here for?” Emmet sat on the couch and pulled his laptop out of its bag. Emmet took more after my mom but had my dad’s bronze skin color. Most people thought he was a pretty boy, but he was the definition of looks could be deceiving. He kept his tight curly hair cut low. He was on the leaner side and the tallest out the four of us at six five. I had called him after finding out who Cashlynn was and demanded that he meet me here. My house was about twenty-five minutes outside the city, but the good thing about taking over was when I said come there was hardly any room for complaints or objection.
“I need you to run a name for me,” I said, sitting next to him.
Opening my phone, I checked the camera in the hall upstairs. I had Luke stationed outside the bedroom to make sure the kid didn’t come out. When he first woke up, he was confused and looked frightened seeing the three of us. He cried for his sister but he was a compliant kid and calmed down once I told him his sister would be okay as long as he listened.
“Who is it?” Emmet was a professional hacker in the family. He also owned his own P.I firm. There wasn’t a shadow someone could hide in that he couldn’t locate. He was overly intelligent when it came to computers and I hadn’t seen a firewall or security system he couldn’t hack.
“Cashlynn Cavana.” Emmet looked confused.
“Why do you need to learn about her?” His brows squished together. “Wait, isn’t she the girl with a bounty on her head? The Rhodes put a price on her head, right?”
Along with being intelligent, Emmet had a photographic memory. The little shit used to annoy the hell outta me with it too.
“Yeah, that’s her.”
Emmet shifted his attention to his computer and started tapping the keyboard. “What’s she gotta do with anything?”
“She’s hanging naked in my basement right now,” I said calmly.
Emmet sputtered and stared at me wide eyed. “What the fuck? Why is she chained up in the basement? Wait, you’re not about to try to tap into sex trafficking when you take over, are you?”
I frowned. “Don’t play with me.” I waved him off. “She broke into my house and now I need to know why. Her parents were trained assassins and rumor was they were training her to join the business.”
My dad had issues with her parents over a job. I never knew the root of their issues, but my dad loathed the family.
“The last known info about her is her parents being murdered in a robbery at their house seven months ago. It’s just her and her kid brother now.”
“That’s public knowledge. Dig deeper,” I told him, cracking my knuckles. I glanced at my phone and switched to the cameras in my basement. Thankfully I had it soundproofed so I didn’t have to hear her yells. The cameras installed had night vision so I was able to see Cashlynn. Her head was lowered and she had to be in pain since it had been a few hours that she’d been hanging. I smirked.
“A month ago, she took five thousand dollars out of the bank. After that, she went off the grid. She’s gotten deposits in her bank account but no transactions have been made on her end. It’s like she disappeared.” Emmet tapped his keyboard a couple more times.
I pulled on my beard. That sounded about right. That was around the same time the bounty on her came out if I remembered correctly.
I stood up. “Stay here. Keep digging. I want whatever you can find on her and her parents and on the Rhodes too.” Emmet looked confused again but nodded. Out of all of my brothers, he was the quietest but probably the deadliest.
“Are you planning on using her?”
I smirked at my youngest brother but didn’t answer.
“Let’s go, Jackson.” I headed for my foyer then the front door. Cashlynn caught my eye and now I was intrigued to learn even more about her.
____
“Mr. Tavarez, this is so unexpected.” I stared at Neil Rhodes who had a shocked expression on his face. He was the father of Cashlynn’s ex-fiancé, Maddox, the man who’d put the bounty on her head. I knew little about him except he distributed drugs under Major. Apparently, they oversaw one of Major’s larger territories. The family was loud and flashy, however.
Neil fidgeted under my gaze. “Are you gonna invite me in?” I raised a brow.
His brows shot to his hairline and his eyes bucked. “Oh yes, sorry sir, please come in.” He stepped back and opened his door wider.
I stepped in the house with Jackson at my side and followed Neil. He had a nice size home with a large, open entryway.
“We can talk in here.” He opened a door that led to an office. “Miranda, get our guest something to drink!” he called out to the lady approaching us.
“No need, I won’t be here long,” I assured him.
Stepping inside I looked around the office then headed for the chair closest to me. Jackson stood alert at the door, his arms crossed and eyes focused on Neil.
Neil walked around his desk and took a seat, clearing his throat. “What can I do for you, sir?” The reputation of my family wasn’t one to take lightly. While we might not be as sinister as some others, we had built the reputation of taking care of problems.
I lifted a brow. “You look uncomfortable? Is there a reason why?”
He swallowed visibly hard and shifted, clearing his throat again. “No, sir. It’s just neither you nor your father have ever made a call that you were coming to my home; so I’m not sure what’s going on.”
“Cashlynn Cavana. You know the name, correct?”
Neil’s eyes darkened and his face hardened. “I do,” he answered stiffly. His back straightened as he sneered through gritted teeth.
One corner of my mouth lifted. “What’s your issue with her exactly? Last I heard she was engaged to your son.”
It was clear there was more to Cashlynn than what met the eye. Knowing who her parents were and seeing how she handled herself with me had me more intrigued about her. She was a beautiful woman, but it was clear that beauty shouldn’t be mistaken for weakness.
“That bitch almost killed my son. Stabbed him and nipped his spine. He’s currently in a rehabilitation center trying to recover from the mobility issues she caused. We welcomed her and her brother into our house after her parents died and she tried to take my boy out!” His face reddened and twisted in anger. Veins bulged from his forehead. Neil was a couple inches shorter than me, his body held muscle. He reminded me of a body builder that skipped leg days one too many times and were top heavy.
I stayed silent for a second. “And what made her suddenly want to kill her fiancé?”
His eyes grew sharp. “She’s a rabid bitch that needs to be put down. A psycho just like her damn parents.”
I stroked my beard. “I see.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, do you?”
A smile crossed my face. “I do.” Leaving it at that, I stood. “Cashlynn is currently under my protection, meaning she’s off limits to touch.”
An astonished look formed on his face. “But Mr. Tavarez! My son.” I shot him a glare, causing his mouth to snap shut.
Truthfully I didn’t know much about The Rhodes, but they were ass kissers, that was clear. Neil was known to blow smoke up peoples’ asses to get ahead and Maddox wasn’t much better.
“If anything changes, you’ll be the first to know.” I turned to leave, nodding at Jackson who opened the door for me.
Coming here gave me a little more clarity about the girl who was chained in my basement, but it wasn’t enough to get a full picture. Cashlynn was a firecracker and obviously not afraid to use force if need be. She was a wild card and I still wasn’t sure why she’d broken into my house or what she wanted. Maybe it was time to have another conversation with Ms. Cavana.
____
Stepping on the last step, I laid eyes on Cashlynn who looked like it was a struggle to even keep her head up. She was still naked and while she wasn’t the shapeliest woman, she had a nice figure on her. Slim waist, nice childbearing hips, toned thighs. Her medium-sized breast looked like two melons. She had a couple of scars on her light brown skin that looked a couple years old, but still her skin was smooth like whipped butter.
I approached her slowly. My nose twitched at the smell of urine coming from her. I glanced down, seeing the puddle under her, causing my mouth to twitch.
“If you’re here to kill me…” she started in a raspy, strained tone but I cut her off.
“I’m not here to kill you.” I grabbed the chair and placed it in front of her, taking a seat. “I spoke with Neil Rhodes.”
Her eyes were emotionless and her face was blank as she stared at me. I almost missed the small twitch of her mouth.
“You stabbed his son.”
“Fuck him and his son.” I had to give it to her, Cashlynn was tough. She hadn’t cried or begged for mercy since she’d been here. Outside of worrying about her brother, she hadn’t shown any emotions.
I licked my lips and straightened my spine. “If I were to give you up to the Rhodes, they’ll kill you and your brother would be forced into the foster system alone, correct?” Fire lit in her eyes, causing me to smirk.
“I’ll blow that damn house up before I allow that. This one too.” Her fiery spirit was one reason I chose her.
Normally I had a meek woman on my arm, someone to shut up and look good when I needed her to. Cashlynn was far from that. She had a burning personality, smart mouth, and was good to look at. Taking her in made my dick jump. Whenever she spit her malicious words my way or narrowed those honey-colored, doe-shaped eyes as if they could cut me in half, I had the urge to force her to her knees and stuff her mouth with my length and fuck her throat until she was a crying mess, begging me to stop.
A chuckle left my mouth and I narrowed my eyes, adjusting myself and clearing my throat. “Most people who are being held prisoner wouldn’t toss out threats. I could kill you and chop your body up right now and no one would know or miss you, but your brother.” My voice came out as a low growl.
Her nostrils flared. “Good thing I’m not like most people.”
“A wildfire, indeed.” I shook my head. My eyes ran over her body. “I have a proposition for you.” I changed the subject. Maybe I was losing my mind. Maybe the pressure of having to give up my life as a single man was getting to me, but it seemed like fate dropped Cashlynn in my lap and I was answering it.
She didn’t reply right away, instead she tried to tug on the cuffs holding her. Her strength wasn’t as strong as before which made sense. She had been tied up for almost six hours.
“Marry me and the threat against you will go away. You’ll be under my protection and I’ll make sure you and your brother are taken care of.”
“Marry you?” she choked out after a couple seconds. Her face still and eyes unwavering.
“Yes. I need a wife and you need that bounty gone. It’s a win-win.”
She licked her dry lips and inhaled a deep breath, causing her chest to rise. Her eyes burned into me and as she tucked her lips into her mouth “Why me? How do I know I can trust you’ll keep your word? For how long?”
The smile on my face grew and my head tilted an inch. “You don’t.” I scraped my bottom lip with my teeth. “But becoming a part of my family means you’ll be protected and looked after. The Tavarezes look after their own and once in, it’s for life .”
“And if I say no?” My jaw clenched. No wasn’t a word I heard often, especially from a woman. If I’d offered this to anyone else, they would have jumped at it before I could finish my sentence.
Pushing off the chair, I approached her and gripped her chin roughly, making sure she saw how serious I was.
“If you say no then I hand you over to the Rhodes and you’ll be killed, leaving your brother with no one but himself to look after him if I don’t toss him to the wolves too, that is.” A crude smile formed on my face.
The idea came from left field but it worked. Cashlynn was on the run and needed help, even if she didn’t want to admit it. I needed a wife and was running out of time. While I didn’t want to get married, something about the fire in her caught my eye and intrigued me. On the outside, she was beautiful and tempting. If the circumstances were different, I wouldn’t hesitate to bed her. On the inside, it was clear she was a spitfire ready to set anyone she saw as a threat ablaze. She was indeed a flame that needed to be tamed.
Hatred penetrated her glare.
I shoved her head back and stepped back. “I’ll give you some time to think it over. But tick tock, Ms. Cavana. I’m not a very patient man.”
Spinning around, I headed for the door. Cashlynn was strong spirited; that was clear to see. Having more time to herself in the dark should be enough to break her and have her bending to my request.