Page 36 of Sinful Obsession
My mind was a battlefield.
Who was this captor?
Why had I been thought dead?
Why was Cassian so determined to claim me, despite a divorce, despite a betrayal he believed I’d committed?
I almost wanted to rip my hair out—just to see if pain could jolt my memories back. If tearing at my scalp might shake something loose. A name. A date.
But all I had was the pounding in my skull and the four men circling me like wolves.
“Charlotte,” my father said gently, stepping forward with a face I didn’t recognize but a voice I couldn’t forget. “I know you’re traumatized. I know you’re scared. But please... come home. Cassian will destroy you.”
“You’re right,” I said quietly, staring at them all one by one. “Cassian will destroy me. But I’d still rather be with him than stay with any of you.”
The words settled like broken glass in the silence, cutting through the pretense of family
The three men exchanged a look—one of calculation, not concern. Artem took a step forward as if to touch me, but Cassian was faster. He placed a firm, possessive hand on my lower back and shifted slightly, blocking his path.
Artem didn’t flinch.
“I’m Artem Vasiliev,” he said, lifting his chin like a king presenting terms. “Heir to the Russian Bratva in New York. Your father is one of the most powerful mafia bosses in the East. And Luca here—” he gestured toward the one-eyed devil standing like a statue “—he will inherit the entire Moretti empire as soon as we remove Cassian from power.”
He paused. “Which we will. Before December, Cassian will be nothing. You are better off on our side.”
“No, thank you,” I said flatly, refusing to be bartered between men like a trinket.
Cassian’s jaw twitched. I saw his hands curl into fists, then slowly relax. Over and over. Like he was holding back the urge to maim all three of them right there. And I could tell—it took everything in him not to act. Something was at stake, something bigger than bloodlust.
What the hell was it?
Artem leaned toward Luca and whispered something. Luca took a beat, thinking, before turning to whisper into my father’s ear. Whatever they said made the older man smile.
Then my father spoke—his voice was more venomous than warmth. “Even if you walk out of here with her now, Cassian... it won’t last. We will take her back from you. Sooner than you think.
My father took a step forward. “And when we do, we’ll do things to her that even your twisted imagination couldn’t conjure.”
A cold dread slid down my spine. I wanted to move closer to Cassian, but my feet wouldn’t budge.
“You have two choices: Let her come with her real family, so we can help her recover. Heal from the mess you dragged her into. Or hold on to her—the same woman who betrayed you. The same woman who got your sister killed. The one who left you to rot in prison.”
Elodie was Cassian’s sister? The accusation hit like a bullet, shattering my composure.
Luca’s voice sliced in. “We’ll rip her from your arms eventually, you know this, Cassian. If not us... then the man who kidnapped and married her while you were rotting in a cell will.”
My heart stopped.
Cassian didn’t flinch.
Luca’s words dripped like acid. “Why, Cassian? Why the fuck are you still holding on to her?”
He threw a hand toward me like I was filth. “After everything she’s done to you?
I didn’t even know who I was anymore. But the tension in Cassian’s body made me nervous.
Cassian slowly looked down at his watch, then back at them. His voice was calm, but steel-cut.
“This,” he said softly, “is exactly how much of your nonsense I can entertain. Unless you want this place to become a bloodbath, step back—all of you.”
