Page 57 of Sinful Obsession
I glanced at the silver band on my wrist, its hum a mocking whisper, then back at him. “Thank you,” I said softly, though suspicion lingered.
A heavy silence fell before I broke it. “When will you tell me how I supposedly killed your sister?”
“You didn’t kill her directly,” he said, his voice rough. “You were just the reason she died.”
“After I stopped stalking you to deal with her kidnapping, it took me forty-eight hours to track her down. I slaughtered every man holding her—she wasn’t harmed, not a scratch. I planned to send her back abroad for safety, but she asked about you. I told her you’d gone to another city for some space because our relationship was straining you mentally.”
My brow furrowed, a pang of unease twisting in my gut. “Was it?”
He nodded, his eyes distant. “She wanted to come with me, to keep you company while I gave you that space. I agreed, but by then, you were already gone—kidnapped. It hit me: whoever took you used Elodie as a distraction. I went after suspects—your father, my brother. Made mistakes, nearly sparked a war. But they had no connection.”
I leaned forward, my hands clenching in my lap. “Then what happened?”
“Unknown to me, the ghost who took you contacted Elodie. Promised to deliver you if she brought my black card. She stole it from me and went alone. I found out too late—just her body.”
My face paled, horror washing over me. “I’m sorry about Elodie, Cassian. Truly. But I’m innocent. You’re punishing me for her choices?”
“Technically, I haven’t punished you yet,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. “It’s just a threat. Elodie... she was everything to me. The only family left.”
For the first time, vulnerability cracked his mask—shoulders slumping, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “When we were kids, our father was a monster. Beat us both, but I took the worst to shield her. Once, he came at her with a belt for spilling milk—I was ten, she was seven. I stepped in, took the lashes until my back was raw. Told her it was a game, that I was her knight.”
I watched him, my own heart aching despite everything.
His hands trembled as he continued. “I swore I’d give her the best life—sent her abroad, away from this world. Protected her from it all. And now she’s gone because of you... or whatever web we’re tangled in.”
His voice broke on the last word, and for a moment, the powerful mafia boss was just a broken man, grief raw and exposed.
I wanted to reach out, but the bracelet—and the secrets it guarded—held me back.
Chapter 9
CHARLOTTE
A week had passed and Cassian hadn’t spoken of punishment. Not a word, not a glance that carried the threat he’d promised.
His silence was louder than any threat, a storm brewing behind those dark, unreadable eyes. And me? I hadn’t tried to leave.
Not because I didn’t want to, but because Ethan, my only lifeline, hadn’t given me a clear path out.
Every call to him went unanswered, followed by cryptic texts:Working on it. Don’t alert Cassian.
As if I’d be foolish enough to tip off the man who held my life in his hands.
Cassian was changing, though, in ways that unsettled me.
He no longer barked orders or loomed with menace.
Yesterday, I caught him watching me as I read in the library, his gaze not cold but burning—obsessed, hungry, like I was a puzzle he’d kill to solve.
And last night, when he carried me to bed after I’d fallen asleep on the couch, his hands lingered, gentle but possessive, tucking the blanket around me with a care that felt too intimate for the distance between us.
Yet the chasm remained, a silent wall of secrets.
Last night, while he slept beside me, his breaths deep and even, I did something reckless.
I reached out, my fingers trembling, and plucked a strand of his dark hair from the pillow. I tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans, a secret for the DNA test I’d run once I was free.
It made no sense—Cassian as the father of my child?
