Page 41 of The Devil After Dark

forty

LIANA

There was a physically painful ache in my chest after last night and what happened with Cassio. Him leaving felt like a swift blow, knocking my fantasy of being with him voluntarily out of grasp. He had proven my worst fear—being with him was not safe.

Five in the evening came quickly today and I waved to Ivan as he left. It would be another night in the office alone. I didn’t want to go home anyway. Staying in the office gave me the illusion I could distract myself from thinking about Cassio.

By seven I was just loitering. There was no more work for me to finish, but I could not bring myself to leave.

I heard the lift doors open and my chest tightened in fear as I stood from my desk to see who was here.

The building should be locked since there were no meetings scheduled, which meant it was likely Cassio.

I wasn’t sure I was ready to talk. I steeled myself to face him.

This was so much worse than Cassio. Dimitri exited the lift and spotted me immediately. How the fuck had my ex figured out which province I lived in let alone where I worked? “You are looking well, babe,” Dimitri said casually as he walked towards me.

I backed into my office. Could I run away? How weird would it be if I just screamed and ran? “How did you find me?” I practically stammered. I had taken painful measures to leave Dimitri and start over. He hadn’t reached out in years.

“Babe. I have been searching for you. I messed up back then and I needed to see you,” Dimitri replied as he reached me and slid his arms around me in a hug. My body involuntarily responded, my arms slowly lifting in an awkward return of his embrace.

He pushed past me and admired my office. “I saw you in the news and got on a train immediately. Looks like you’ve done well for yourself. How about we grab dinner?”

“No, thank you,” I spit out quickly.

He rounded my desk and approached me again.

I couldn’t move my feet. His hands slid to my waist, then one reached up so his thumb could stroke my cheek.

“For old times sake?” he asked. Then he leaned in and captured my lips in his.

My blood turned cold with his kiss. I was panicking and I could not move.

“Please leave,” I whispered when he slowly pulled away from the kiss.

Dimitri had fucked my mind up so badly. He was the reason I had stayed away from dating.

I could never trust that someone actually loved me after the hell he put me through.

I had spent countless nights waiting for him at home only for him to be off with other women.

He manipulated me into thinking he loved me and that it was okay for him to stick his dick in anyone he wanted.

And then there was the part where he had physically hurt me and tried to convince me it was all a misunderstanding.

It had not been a misunderstanding. My hands began to tremble.

“I have been searching for you for years and when I find you, you want to kick me out? Can we at least get closure? Let me have you one last time. For old times sake. Let’s grab dinner.

It will give us both closure. Then I will leave if you still want me to,” he argued.

That smooth tone of his trying to lure me back in to what? One last fuck?

“Please leave,” I repeated and tried to step towards the door, but he stepped as well, blocking me inside my own office.

“We were so good together,” he started and I backed away. His hand snatched my wrist and pulled me flush against his body. “I need you, Liana. Things have been shit since you left. You made my world so much better.”

“It’s time for you to leave,” a man’s voice from the hall said.

My eyes snapped up to see Zac. Thank the gods Zac was here—oh fuck. What would Cassio do to me when he found out I had kissed another man?

“This isn’t your business,” Dimitri said through his teeth in response. Zac’s stance and posture told me he was used to dealing with men far worse than Dimitri.

“It’s time for you to leave,” Zac repeated as he lifted his shirt, exposing a holstered gun.

Dimitri dropped my wrist and huffed a cold laugh at Zac. Then he looked at me and shook his head. “We will have this conversation later,” he said and turned, leaving without looking back. When the lift doors closed behind him I finally felt like I could breathe a little.

“Thank you,” I whispered as I turned to Zac. I felt so ashamed I dropped my eyes to the floor. I couldn’t look at Zac. I should have felt relieved, but panic was filling my chest. Zac would tell Cassio. And there was no way Cassio would respond well to what happened.

“It’s time for you to go home. Come on,” Zac responded flatly. My shoulders sagged as I gathered my things and followed Zac to the car.

CASSI O

There was a man entering Liana’s office after business hours.

She didn’t have a meeting on her calendar either.

When I realized Liana was staying late, I immediately sent Zac to her office.

There was no way I was risking her catching a ride with someone else again.

He should be getting there any moment. My magic turned wild in my blood as I saw Liana recoil from the man as he advanced on her.

Then he fucking kissed her. I furiously typed a message to Zac.

Get inside fast. There is a guy with Liana.

Moments later I saw Zac on the camera feed. I sighed in relief when the man left without further altercation. I pulled an image of him from the video feed and sent it off to my tech guy. I would have an answer on who the stranger was soon.

Liana’s abusive ex-boyfriend … ex-fiancé.

The man in Liana’s office was her piece of shit ex.

He left a digital trail trying to find her after she left him five years ago.

It did not take much digging to find out they had been engaged and he fucked around the entire time.

There were literal receipts from him paying for prostitutes and drugs.

And then there was Liana’s medical report from when they had been together too.

A broken rib and black eye along with other suspicious bruises.

The physician had also noted concerning behavior between Liana and Dimitri when she was at the hospital, but without Liana saying something or more evidence, the injuries could not be confirmed they came at the hands of Dimitri.

Zac had gotten there just in time. Who knows how Dimitri would have escalated the situation. Zac had informed me Liana had been panicky and nearly cried on the way home. Tonight was the last night that piece of shit would lay hands on her.

LIANA

A warm body slid up to my back. Arms wrapped around me and my eyes snapped open. Warm kisses pressed against my neck below my ear a moment later. “It’s me, Angel,” Cassio whispered against my skin and my body relaxed. It was Cassio.

My relief was wiped clean in an instant as I realized he was probably here because Zac told him what happened. “Cassio … I didn’t know he was coming …” I stammered. Did Zac see Dimitri kiss me? Would he think I kissed him back? My heart was racing.

“Shh, baby. It’s okay. You’re safe from him now. He will never hurt you again,” Cassio replied. His hand turned my chin and he kissed me gently.

Hurt me? Dimitri had over stepped tonight, but he hadn’t hurt me. Turning up at my work was concerning and frightening, but he hadn’t hurt me. “What did Zac tell you?” I asked cautiously.

“He didn’t have to tell me, I watched the whole thing,” Cassio’s voice was still barely above a whisper as he kissed me between his words. He had watched? Of course, he put cameras in my home, I would not put it past him to have cameras in my office.

“You’re not mad?” I asked. I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was waiting for him to snap.

His hands held my chin firmly as he looked into my eyes. “You did nothing wrong, Angel,” he said with conviction. “He will never touch you again.”

Our sex had been slow and tender and thorough.

I had even woken up in his arms in the morning.

We were figuring this out. I could do nights and mornings like this.

He was showing me he could be reasonable even after a questionable situation.

I was floating on a renewed sense of hope for my relationship with Cassio as I walked into work.

Ivan and Stephan were huddled at Thea’s desk when I arrived at the office. “Morning!” I said brightly as I walked by.

“Hey, Liana …” Thea started. Her tone made me turn back to her. Something was wrong. “What was your ex’s name again?”

My entire body tightened. “Dimitri,” I said cautiously. Did she know he came to the office last night? Ivan and Stephan looked at each other like they were hiding something. “What’s going on?” I asked tentatively.

“Is there any way he was here in the city? I know you haven’t seen him for a while …” Thea said, not answering my question.

“What is going on?” I asked again, my voice rising with my panic. What had Dimitri done? Had he come by the office this morning?

“A guy was found dead in a hotel room this morning … he was murdered and it was pretty brutal,” Stephan blurted out.

“His name was Dimitri Acker,” Thea added.

My world tilted. I was hot and cold at the same time and my hands started trembling as I took a few strides to Thea’s desk and leaned over to see her computer screen. “Don’t look,” Ivan said and pulled me back. “You don’t want to know.”

“How was he killed?” I stammered.

“They don’t know yet, but parts of him were cut off,” Stephan said carefully.

“Stephan!” Thea hissed.

“What?” Stephan hissed back. “She asked!”

“I did ask,” I confirmed, my voice shaking. “What happened to him?”

Stephan looked cautiously at Thea and Thea looked at me. “His hands were cut off and so was his tongue,” she said quietly. I was going to throw up. “His eyes were gone too.”

My stomach turned and my body hunched forward as it tried and failed to empty its contents. “I … I need to leave,” I gasped and pushed away from Ivan.

“Liana!” Thea called out as she scrambled from her desk. But I was already in the lift. I slammed my finger on the button for the bottom floor and pressed my back to the wall as I forced air through my nose. This was not happening.

He will never touch you again. Cassio’s words from last night echoed in my head. Dimitri would never touch me again because Cassio had murdered him. He had murdered him then came to sleep in my bed and fuck me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried not to vomit.