Page 26

26

Cassian

A headache gripped my head like a vise. I could barely speak from exhaustion, but I forced a smile when Landon handed me a cold beer.

Since leaving home, I hadn’t slept a wink, caught between fear of what my father would do to my mother, and worries about him tracking me down and dragging me home.

As I’d left my iPhone in my bedroom, my father had no way of contacting me. He was almost certainly back home by now, ready to welcome his guests for the annual Christmas Eve drinks party.

He’d be livid with me. Beyond livid. This was the first time I’d openly defied him. I wondered what excuses he’d offer to his friends when I failed to appear. No doubt it would be something along the lines of,

“Cassian’s decided to go on a last-minute skiing break.” roll eyes “Kids, eh? Ungrateful little shits.” wry chuckle.

His friends would commiserate, share stories of how entitled their own brats were, and then they’d drink and play poker.

It was the same old shit every year.

Thea’s sister sat opposite, staring at me as I sipped my beer. She was Thea’s twin, except for the eyes. Instead of dark, almost black eyes, hers were lighter, more chocolate.

“Are you Thea’s boyfriend too?” she asked innocently. Landon snorted and coughed to hide his amusement while Dario scowled. I took that to mean he hadn’t resolved his differences with Thea. Good.

“No,” I replied, forcing another smile. “Just a…” What was I, exactly? A friend? No . Fuck-buddy? No . “Just someone from college,” I went with.

“Is college like school?” the girl asked. Milo had told me she was 12, but because she’d never been to school and had spent most of her life locked in the house, she seemed younger. She was also tiny, like a little doll.

Maybe I shouldn’t have come. Being here complicated things. I could have booked a hotel somewhere. Taken a flight to Dubai. Or the US. Holed up for a few months while I came up with a plan to oust my father from his blood-soaked throne.

But instead, I’d chartered a private jet to Dublin at enormous cost because, despite living a life of unbelievable privilege since my birth, Milo, Kyril, and Landon were my only friends.

They were the only people I trusted not to betray me to my father. He’d find me eventually, but if I played my cards right, I could make arrangements to sever my ties to the man and rescue Mom from his clutches.

The money I now had access to would definitely help. I’d stopped off in London to verify the account details. The Wealth Manager at Coutts had let me have the details of my new account.

The poor guy had almost collapsed when he confirmed my identity and checked the balance. Thanks to the power of compound interest and decades of profitable investments, I was obscenely wealthy.

I had a feeling my father would lose his shit when he figured it out.

Oh well .

“College is like school for grown-ups,” Dario explained, interrupting my inner monologue. The gentle tone of his voice took me by surprise.

The man I’d grown accustomed to in the short time we’d spent sharing the apartment at Abernethy was bad-tempered, prone to violent outbursts, and the last person I’d trust with a vulnerable child.

“I’d like to go to college one day,” the girl said, looking sad for a moment. “Papa never let me attend school. He told me I wasn’t allowed to leave the house.” The way she said the words, like it was perfectly normal to ask a child to remain locked up, made my head pound ever harder. “I hate him,” she added as an afterthought, a frown scrunching her pretty face. “I hope Thea kills him soon.”

My jaw dropped at the casual way she talked about her sister murdering her father. Maybe we ought to organize some therapy for the girl. It sounded like she had a few issues. Possible psychopathy being one of them.

No wonder she and Dario had formed a bond. They had a lot in common.

“Dinner’s ready,” Milo announced, distracting the girl and thus ending the awkward conversation.

“Is it cake?” she asked hopefully. “I love cake.” A small chuckle of amusement escaped. Just like Thea .

“Not cake, Verity,” Dario said. “Something better than cake.”

“Is there something better than cake?” She didn’t look at all convinced.

“Yes, stew.” I tried not to laugh as Verity pouted at hearing we were having stew.

“I don’t like stew,” she muttered.

“Stew is good for you,” Milo countered, placing a small plate in front of her. He’d arranged the food to look like a smiley face, with green beans as hair, two sprouts as eyes, and mashed potato in a curved line for a mouth. It was both surprising and also cute.

Verity giggled and picked up a fork.

Landon dropped down into the chair next to me and grinned as Milo placed a plate in front of him. “Do I get a smiley face plate too?”

“No, you’re an adult,” Milo replied in his serious voice, completely missing the fact Landon was teasing him.

“Damn, that’s unfair.” Landon laughed.

Verity laughed even harder. It was hard to work out who was the more mature one, Verity or Landon.

Then the door at the back of the room opened and Thea walked in, hand in hand with Kyril. Our eyes met and everyone else faded away.

She looked the same, but different. A little less curvy, but that was hardly surprising given what her father had done to her. Milo had told me some of the details about her ordeal when we messaged.

It made my blood boil to think of her being locked in a cell for well over a week. What kind of father would do that to his daughter? Oh, wait . A man like my father, who had no problem sending his wife to a shady medical clinic that carried out questionable treatments on vulnerable people.

From the defiant way Thea held my gaze, it was obvious she expected me to hurl more accusations her way. The last time we’d seen each other, I’d been angry. Hurt. Furious. Betrayed.

Now I was none of those things.

It had taken a while, but from what I’d learned from Milo and Kyril, Thea was as much a victim in this as we were. Dario was still firmly on my shit list, which was something I planned to tell him once we had a moment alone, but Thea wasn’t my enemy.

“Take a seat, baby,” Landon said, patting the empty chair beside him.

Verity’s gaze flicked between Landon’s hopeful smile and the way her sister leaned into Kyril. She looked almost amused, which made me see for the first time that perhaps she wasn’t as immature as I first thought.

“Milo made stew,” she announced before forking up some meat. “It’s not awful.”

Thea smiled softly at Verity. “Good. Make sure you eat it all.”

I noted the way Kyril kept hold of her hand as she walked across the room. They’d grown closer. My fierce, unhinged friend was far more relaxed here, which was interesting.

He caught me watching them and smirked. Smug asshole . Thea pulled away to take a seat next to Landon, who looked delighted. Kyril scowled briefly, then moved around the table to sit next to me.

Dario kept his head down. He acted like a kicked puppy, which was odd. The obnoxious guy from college who’d made it his life’s mission to irritate the fuck out of us was long gone.

As I picked at the food on my plate, I noticed how his watchful gaze swerved in Thea’s direction every few minutes, which told me all I needed to know. The guy was still obsessed with her.

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Landon asked.

Thea’s head bobbed up. She seemed tense, like a rabbit ready to flee at a moment’s notice. Was that because of me?

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. It’s Christmas Day. We need to do shi… stuff.” Landon winced at the near miss.

Thea shrugged. “Dunno. Ask Milo. He’s the planner here, not me.”

“I have everything in hand,” Milo confirmed. “Dinner will be served at 1 PM.”

Landon snorted. “Does Martha Stewart need any help?”

“Who’s Martha?” Verity’s fork paused half-way to her mouth, while Thea sighed.

“Landon’s joking, Ver. Ignore him.”

I focused on my food while the conversation ebbed and flowed. Every few minutes, Thea’s gaze drifted over to me. Was she waiting for me to launch a verbal attack? From the tension in her body, I guessed so.

The food was delicious but my appetite stuttered and died. Exhaustion rode me hard. I desperately needed to sleep, but before I headed to bed, Thea and I needed to talk.