Page 9 of Midnight Danger

The carpet was different coloured tiles that meant it could be changed quickly. There was no doubt in my head the bodies were already in his interrogation room down the hall with the damaged monitor and carpet tiles. All this in under ten minutes.

Her gaze scanned the room, and I noticed her legs shaking.

“Let’s get you home.” She jumped when I wrapped my arm around her waist.

“I…”

“Come on, baby.” I shot Jordan a weighty glare on my way past. He replied with a shit-eating grin. Trust him to play psychological games.

I’d alerted him with the panic button on the controller earlier before I set it down. This place was rigged with cameras and discreet alarms everywhere. All of them would be wiped by the morning.

Cassandra let me lead her from the building, her steps wobbly. There was no way I was getting her home on my bike, but we kept cars here that no one knew existed. She didn’t say a word the entire way back to her apartment. All the fight had drained out of her when she walked out of that room and there was no trace that anything had happened.

In her apartment, she stood at the kitchen sink, her fingers gripping the edge of the counter. “I think you should go.”

Every word cut through my soul. If I left now, there would be no way to repair or fix this. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Cassandra slowly turned to face me. “You can hide bodies and remove monitors, but we both know what happened tonight.” Her eyes closed for a few seconds. “I can’t do this.”

Right now, I didn’t care if I had to beg and plead with her, I needed to stay. I grabbed her hands, my fingers lacing through hers. “I’m not going anywhere,” I repeated.

Her gaze met mine wearily. There was fear in the depths of her eyes that broke something inside me. She was afraid because of me.

“How many?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“How many what?”

“How many men have you killed? How many lives are destroyed because you played judge, jury, and executioner?”

I learnt a long time ago that keeping track of details like that wasn’t good for your soul. It tended to eat away at you. “Not tonight,” I replied. “We can talk about this all you want tomorrow. Right now, I just need to hold you. He was going to fucking kill you, Cas. Did you really expect me to just stand there and let him?”

Her eyes widened until I could see myself in them.

“When are you going to realise that I protect what’s mine? He put his filthy hands all over you and threatened to rape you. He’s lucky to still be alive.”

Her gasp was nothing more than a startled breath. She opened her mouth to say something else, but I shook my head. “Tomorrow.”

My soul was weary with all the shit we had to deal with.

“You need to go,” she whispered, her head lowering.

Anger blazed deep in my chest. No one ever got to see the real me, to know who I was behind the public mask. My hands pinned her wrists to the counter behind her. “You don’t get to freeze me out,” I said in deadly tone. “I told you months ago that if you accepted me, you had to take all the pieces of me, and you agreed.”

She squirmed. “I never thought that murder was included.”

“I didn’t murder anyone tonight. You should have read the small print, sweetheart, because it’s too late to back out now. You’re mine.”

This was the part where she was supposed to be disgusted and angry. Instead, a light ignited at the back of her eyes that scorched into my cold soul. My lips claimed hers, and even though she struggled against me, I felt her reaction. Neither of us could resist the other. As pissed as she was right now, she still felt something for me. I could work with that.

“Fuck you,” she hissed when we broke apart.

“Only you’re upset right now, I’d take that as an offer.”

Her right hand wiggled free and she slapped my face. Cassandra was a hellcat with a temper to match my own. I wanted to put her over my knee and spank her for her outburst, but it wasn’t every day you saw three men killed in front of you.

“I’ll let you off with that tonight, but remember, I hit back. Next time you slap me, be prepared for me to warm your ass cheeks until you can’t sit on them.” I grabbed her chin between my fingers in the way we did during submissive training. Her body automatically stilled in response.

Our eyes locked and I knew she wanted to rebel, to lash out at me because she’d been thrown into a world of darkness and pain. Cassandra had been the sunshine in my life since she arrived in it. There was no way I would let her go now that I’d found her.

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