Page 8 of Midnight Danger

“No,” I gulped out. “I want to go home. Alone.”

His silence engulfed me, and I felt his chest expand and deflate. “I’m not leaving you alone right now, Cas.”

There were some sights in this life that couldn’t be unseen, some sounds that would be forever engrained in your memory, and some smells that would forever stain your soul. Blood and gunpowder were an essence I hoped I’d never experience, yet I could still smell them.

I no longer knew who I was or what was happening. The man I was falling hopelessly in love with didn’t even blink when the gunshots rang out. He calmly continued strangling the man who’d been trying to do the same to me.

My emotions and thoughts were in turmoil. I wanted to run but was terrified the psychopath with a gun would follow me. All those weeks a murderer had been sleeping in my bed and I had no idea what to do about it…

***

Chapter Three

Xavier

I felt her slipping away from me, even as I held her in my arms. I should have left her safely at home, but I wanted Cassandra to be a part of my life. If I’d ever guessed our alarm-tripping was a trap, I’d never have brought her.

Grabbing her face, I stared into her wide green eyes in the dim light. “Listen to me, baby. Those men would have raped and murdered you. They would have happily beat me into a pulp and cut every one of my fingers off to send to Dad. They were not good men.”

A huge tear formed in her eye and trickled down her cheek. Another followed.

“Nothing else matters but keeping you safe. Please don’t cry.” Fuck, her tears nearly destroyed me, clawing at the inside of my chest like a wild animal trying to escape. I’d never been a good man, Uncle Lucas showing me how to defend myself so I could try to live a normal life.

“They’re dead,” she repeated, her teeth chattering and bottom lip wobbling.

Technically, that monstrous motherfucker who’d put his hands over her was still alive. I wasn’t going to point out that he would be dead once Jordan finished extracting information from him. Right now, I felt like going in there and beating the crap out of him all over again. It was a rare occasion that I needed to resort to using a weapon, but Jordan didn’t have the same opinion. He could turn just about anything into a weapon. Cassandra was lucky he decided to use his gun instead of beating the guy to death with a chair.

“Are the police on their way?” She buried her head into my chest.

We’d arrived at the first crossroads of our relationship faster than I’d ever wanted to. “The police won’t be coming.”

She stiffened, her head slowly coming up. “Those men are dead.”

“Our security firm will deal with the fallout.”

“They have families who need to know what happened to them.” Her hands left my shirt to brace herself on the table I’d set her on.

“Cas…” I didn’t know what to say, because no one had ever got this far into my life before. “I live in a world filled with predators and villains. There will be no police and no investigation. Tonight never happened.”

Her eyes were huge saucers as she stared at me like I’d spontaneously started speaking a different language.

“I need to go.” She tried to push past me.

“Cas…”

“No!” Her finger came up to point at me. “What they did was wrong, but two wrongs don’t make a right.”

She hauled the door opened and stopped to stare at the main office. The bodies were gone, and the scent of bleach hung in the air. Jordan moved fast. By tomorrow morning, the best crime scene investigator in the world wouldn’t be able to find a trace of blood or gunshot residue in here.

“Where are the bodies?” Cassandra demanded, her spine straight.

“Hey, cupcake. What’s up?” Jordan sauntered into the room like he’d just popped out for a cigarette.

She swivelled to where the monitor had been—the one that had taken the shot aimed at her. My heart had nearly stopped earlier when I saw how close she’d come to being injured.

Her hands landed on her hips. “What did you do with the bodies?”

“What bodies?” Jordan asked innocently. “You feeling okay?”

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