Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“Now Allegra,” Cassian says.
I look back at Cassian whose eyes have narrowed to slits.
“Fine. Asshole.” That last part I mutter under my breath as I walk away, but it doesn’t go unnoticed. Cassian is on me in a second, tugging me to him by my hair, his other arm banding over my ribs so my back is flush with his front, my head tilting upward, his face right there.
“What did I tell you about that smart mouth of yours?” he asks, the spikey short hairs along the hard line of his jaw scratching my skin.
“You’re hurting me,” I say, trying to pull his arm off. The weight of it is making it hard to breathe. All the same, I hate the fact that my mind makes a note of his aftershave. Of how his body feels against mine. How big he is. I hate that when I look at his mouth, all I can think about is how his tongue felt on me.
“Am I?” he asks, not loosening his grip. He leans his face closer, makes a point of inhaling. “I’m starting to think you like it,” he whispers so only I can hear.
“You’re mistaken,” I say, nudging my elbow against his injured side in warning.
“Be careful, Little Moth. Be very careful.”
I turn my face a little. “Just let me go.”
“Answer my question. What did I tell you about your smart mouth?”
“That you would put it to good use,” I say, answering his question.
“And you remember what I’d hate to do?”
My heart pounds, sweat pooling under my arms, panic rising in my belly. “Let me go. Please!”
“No, that’s not it. Although I do like the polite way you asked.”
“Cassian,” Jet says, coming toward us and placing a hand on Cassian’s shoulder.
“Do you remember or do I need to remind you?” Cassian asks, ignoring his brother. My breaths are coming in gasps, but it’s not the restriction of his arm across my chest. It’s panic.
“Hard to forget a threat like that,” I tell him, reminding myself that playing good little victim doesn’t help. It only makes them want to hurt you more.
“Cassian,” Jet snaps. “Let her go.”
“Then don’t taunt me,” Cassian says.
“Hey. You’re hurting her,” Jet says.
That gets Cassian’s attention. He looks down at his arm as I claw at it, then at my face as I try to calm my breathing. He loosens his grip, but it’s a minute before he releases me. The instant he does, I stumble out of his reach drawing in a lungful of air. I see how his forehead is furrowed, his eyes narrowed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I yell.
“Go to your room!”
“I don’t have a room!” I tell him again.
Cassian takes a step toward me. Jet rushes to block him, his back to me.
“Be smart. Get the fuck out of here. Now,” he tells me without looking at me.
Cassian’s jaw is set, eyes locked on me over his brother’s shoulder. I decide not to stick around. I hurry back to his bedroom, slam the door, then go into the bathroom where I can lock myself in. I lean my back against it and listen to my panicked breaths, trying to calm myself, not sure how that all just went so completely sideways.
8
CASSIAN
“Is she the reason you left so quickly last night?” Jet asks.
I watch Jet watch Allegra disappear. When the door slams shut, he looks at me, raising his eyebrows, waiting for my answer.
“My reasons are none of your business,” I say, not liking him surprising me here like this. Not liking him looking at her. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Talked to my contact this morning and thought you might be interested in what she had to say.”
His contact is the woman who tipped him off that the call that led to the raid and seizure of my shipment came from Moretti.
I take a deep breath in and exhale. “I am,” I say, and turn back to the kitchen where I pour Jet a cup of coffee, top mine off then lead the way to my study. Once we’re inside, I close the door. “Sit,” I tell Jet, but remain standing, leaning against my desk and sipping my coffee. The Little Moth is still taking up too much space in my mind and I need to focus.
“I can come back. You seem… distracted.”
“I’m not. Sit.”
He shrugs and takes a seat on the couch. “They found something in that shipment that’s apparently got them looking in a different direction. A group out of Russia.”
“What?” I ask, surprised. I safeguard shipments so they can’t be linked to me should they be seized. It’s happened before. Ultimately, it’s an odd game, even if there’s no snitch, it can happen. In this case, the Feds managed to link it to me. That’d be Moretti’s doing because I know for a fact they wouldn’t have found evidence in the shipment. Them showing up at the casino was a flex. My stepbrothers aren’t involved in mafia business. They wouldn’t know anything to give anything away. That was the Feds sending me a message.