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“What?”

“Call me Cassie. Cassandra sounds stuffy. Plus it reminds me how much I don’t like you. Call me Cassie and I’ll call you Damien.”

“You don’t want to remember how much you don’t like me?” I question.

“I’ll probably always hate you, Damien,” she replies getting to her feet. “I’m just saying I don’t need the constant reminder. Good night.”

I look up at her. All her grace, all her strength. It’s incredible that she considers herself anything other than beautiful, full of light. She’s like a beacon that calls to lost souls. They’re inevitably caught in her web, unable to escape. And she doesn’t even know it.

“Good night, Cassie.”

I watch as she leaves the room, my gaze never leaving her sexy frame until she disappears from sight.

***

I get a call very early the next morning. I wasn’t asleep. When you’re the head of a mafia empire, sleep is an elusive beast most of the time. I’d been perusing the progress of some business deals while strategizing how to take down my enemies.

Which is when my phone starts to ring. It’s an unknown number but I pick it up regardless. The number can always be traced later if it turns out to be something dangerous. I have the best hackers in the city on retainer.

“Damien Luciano,” I say upon answering.

“Luciano. This is Miguel Solis,” the person on the other end states.

My eyebrow arches, “Solis, I wasn’t expecting a call from you.”

“Well you left me no choice considering you kidnapped my niece and cut off all her contact with the outside world.”

“Cassandra’s fine,” I inform him.

“She’ll be much better when you allow her to return home. She doesn’t belong in that world, Luciano. You’ll only end up destroying her.”

“Where she belongs doesn’t concern you, Miguel,” I grit out. “Tell me, why are you so desperate to get her out.”

“Because she’s my niece and I care about her?” he says like it’s a foregone conclusion.

“Perhaps,” I agree quietly. “Or maybe you’re desperate because you know her fathers’ will can’t be read without her presence. You’re antsy because you’re running out of time you need to swoop in. Maybe claim her inheritance for yourself. Get rid of her even.”

There’s silence on the other end for a couple of seconds.

“I’m not going to listen to your vile accusations, Luciano. All I want is Cassie’s safe return home.”

“She is home,” I say evenly. “And believe me, I won’t let you use her to get what you want.”

“Use her?” he scoffs. “You mean like you did?”

“I didn’t use her. Cassandra was promised to me. This—” I pause, the weight of my words deliberate, “ this is what honor looks like, Solis. Her father knew it. That’s why he came to me. Not you.”

He begins to speak, but I don’t stop.

“Now that he’s gone, don’t you think he’d want her with someone who understands loyalty? Someone who can protect her? Men like you move with impulse. No reason. No restraint. But me? I move with precision.”

I can practically hear him fuming on the line, but his feelings are irrelevant.

“I chose Cassandra because I knew she was strong enough to be a don’s wife. Her father knew it too. He offered her to me with one condition—if anything ever happened to him, I would keep her safe. And that’s exactly what I intend to do. Even if it means protecting her from you.”

“She's not your wife,” he fires back.

“Not yet. But she will be in less than a week. I’ll send you an invitation. You should come, provided you won’t cause any trouble.”