Page 14

“I’m here for you, Cassandra,” he says simply.

For a second I just stare at him. Then I laugh again, cold and sharp.

“Yeah, okay, creep. Try Tinder next time.”

He doesn’t smile at that, doesn’t flinch. He just continues to watch me in that weird way that makes me feel hot and cold at the same time.

“I’m not joking,bella. You’re mine,” he says, voice like steel wrapped in silk.

“No,” I say automatically. “No, I think you’re very much mistaken.”

“I never make mistakes.”

“Well, you made a mistake today, coming here. I’m not your anything,” I hiss, my pulse hammering in my throat. “You’re insane.”

A glimmer of possession flashes in his eyes. “You will be, one way or another.”

He reaches out like he’s going to touch me and I jerk back. He lets his hand fall to the side, the same maddening smirk curving his mouth.

“Come with me, Cassandra,” he says it like it’s a suggestion, like I have a choice.

My blood boils, “Over my dead body.”

Something in his expression darkens, just for a second, a shadow passing over that carved face.

“I’d rather we didn’t have to resort to such extremities. Careful what you wish for,bella.”

Oh my God, he’s crazy! I look at him, dumbfounded. A part of me knows he means it. That he wouldn’t hesitate to kill. Anyone.

Meanwhile Chloe’s sidled up even closer to me, her hand wrapping around my arm like a vise. She’s trembling. Or is that me?

“Don’t be scared, Cassandra. Frankly none of this would be happening if you’d only been informed prior to this meeting. I blame your father for that oversight,” he says, his tone mirroring sadness I know he doesn’t really feel.

“Her father never wanted this for her,” my uncle bursts out.

“He signed the deal. And in doing so promised Cassie to me. Mark my words, Miguel, there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me from having her. Her father tried his best to renege on our deal and now he is dead. I stayed away for so long to avoid bloodshed, don’t test me.”

My head swims. I don’t understand anything that’s happening here right now. I’m about to ask for an explanation when there’s the sound of men rushing towards us. Before I can blink, there’s about 10 men surrounding us, holding guns. They outnumber our security detail and they look intent on using those guns in their hands.

The men behind Luciano raise their guns as well. The mean one points his at Maxine’s temple.

My heart rate increases.

“If it’s bloodshed you want, Luciano, then so be it,” my uncle says soberly.

My eyes widen. His eyes find me again, gaze still searing and all too terrifying.

“Is that really what you want, Cassandra? Your friends will die, your uncle will die. You’ve just finished burying one loved one, you don’t want to bury the rest, do you?”

Another endless minute of helplessness and the inevitable realization that there’s nothing I can do.

“Stop,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.

“What’s that,bella?” he asks, sadism in his tone.

I glare at him, my eyes narrowed into slits. The urge to punch that smug look off his face fills me.

“I said stop! Let my friends go. Don’t hurt anyone. I’ll come with you.”