Cassia, The Billionaire's Collateral

Cassia’s Pov

“Cassia, don’t scream.”

Cassia’s hand remained on the light switch. The soft glow of the light she’d just turned on filled her small Manhattan apartment, catching the chipped coffee table, the half drank cup of water on the table, and finally, the woman stretched across the couch like she belonged there.

“Elena?”

Elena Ramirez sat up slowly, platinum hair spilling in frightened waves over her shoulders. Her blouse was torn at the sleeve, her lipstick smeared like she’d been in a fight. Still, her pale, calculating blue eyes that had once charmed everyone from professors to bodyguards were still as sharp as ever.

“God, Cass,” she exhaled, her shoulders sagging as though relieved. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

Cassia’s mouth went dry. Two years. 

It’s been two years since she had walked away from Elena’s friendship, from the parties that ended with broken glass and constant invitations to “just one favor” for her father. 

Cassia had chosen music over danger in Elena's mafia world. Elena was the only daughter to a mafia don, and she was rich too, which meant Elena grew up with everything she could ever need, Sometimes, that wasn’t a good thing.

And now Elena was standing in her apartment as if the past hadn’t scorched everything between them.

“You can’t be here,” Cassia said, with more force than she meant. Her voice shook, betraying the thundering pulse in her ribs. “We’re not friends anymore.”

Elena laughed, but it was a humorless one. “Yeah, I got that memo.”

She pushed herself to her feet and brushed past Cassia, shutting the door Cassia had left open. 

The heavy scent of her perfume clung to the air, foreign and expensive, so out of place in the modest apartment. Elena’s eyes swept the room, taking in the neat stacks of sheet music, the violin case propped against the wall, the thrift-store lamp crooked on the end table. She belonged to a different universe entirely, and her presence here felt like a jagged piece of glass embedded in Cassia’s quiet life.

“What happened to you?” Cassia asked, following her warily as Elena sank back onto the couch.

“I was robbed.” The words tumbled out too quickly, as she played with her manicured nails.

Cassia’s eyes narrowed. Elena still wore diamond earrings. “They didn’t take those?” She gestured to the earrings.

“He was interrupted.”

Cassia didn’t believe her. Elena Ramirez had never been the type of woman anyone interrupted. She carried the confidence of someone born into fear and blood, and men usually parted when she entered a room. But tonight she looked pale, and her eyes looked shifty.

“Elena, you’re lying to me. I do not want you here.” Cassia finally said, folding her hands across her chest.

Elena’s smile disappeared. “Cassia, I know we ended things badly back in college, but that’s all in the past, isn't it?”

Cassia arched an eyebrow. “In the past? You almost made me drop out from school. You were dangerous to my life, Elena.”

Elena sighed. “You needed a little adventure and fun in your life, Cassia.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “You were always locked up in your room and buried in books.”

“Which I thoroughly enjoyed, thank you very much.” Cassia frowned.

“You enjoyed hanging out with me too, remember? All those rich men who would tip you thousands of dollars, those trips, those nights spent getting drunk and finding ourselves in another country…” Elena trailed off and closed her eyes. “I miss it.”

Cassia sighed. She could not deny that. She enjoyed visiting new countries with Elena simply because she had access to her father’s private jet. “What happened to you?” 

“You’re asking what happened to me after college? Well, I got a condo in L.A, joined a charity group, and tried to turn my life around…” Elena trailed off, and then her shoulders slumped. “I…lost my money”

Cassia gasped as her chest tightened with an old, unwanted ache. They had been inseparable once, giggling through orchestra rehearsals, sharing vodka disguised in water bottles, and Elena had a trust fund with more money than she could ever spend.

“I’m sorry.”

“We can’t be friends again? Even for one night? Didn’t you miss me, even one bit, because I did.” Elena finished.

Yes, Cassia had missed her best friend, but she could not forget why they’d stopped being friends. Elena had whispered about “just one delivery” for her father’s men, as though smuggling for a cartel was a favor between friends. That night Cassia had walked out, shutting the door on Elena and everything attached to her.

Until now.

“You can stay,” Cassia said stiffly. “But tomorrow, you’re gone.”

Elena’s face softened with something like relief. For a fleeting second, Cassia glimpsed the girl she used to know, the girl who had called her sister. But that girl was gone, replaced by the woman in front of her who was just as beautiful, but also dangerous.

“Thank you,” Elena whispered.

Cassia didn’t answer. She shut herself in her bedroom, but sleep didn’t come. The city hummed beyond her blinds, and the violin leaned in its case beside her bed. Every nerve in her body remained on edge, her skin prickling with discomfort.

It was nearly two in the morning when she heard Elena’s voice through the thin wall. At first she thought her old friend was talking to herself, but the uneven pauses made her think she was on a phone call.

“No, listen,” Elena hissed into her phone. “I didn’t have a choice. He would’ve killed me.”

Cassia’s stomach knotted.

“I swear, I’m not lying,” Elena continued in a frantic whisper. “I’ll make it right, but you have to give me time. Please.”

Silence followed, broken by a sharp intake of breath. “Don’t say that. You can’t say that. He doesn’t forgive betrayal.”

Cassia pressed her face into the pillow and groaned. Elena would never change. What the hell was she on about?

The only man Elena had ever feared was her father, Miguel Ramirez, the name whispered in hushed tones in police stations and cartel corridors alike. Cassia had once promised herself she would never again be in reach of his shadow.

Or had Elena been lying? 

She turned toward the wall and squeezed her eyes shut, praying morning would come faster. At some point exhaustion dragged her under, but she woke again to the press of fingers around her hand. Cassia’s eyes flew open.

“Elena?”

Elena knelt at the side of her bed, her platinum hair glowing faintly in the spill of city light. Her grip on Cassia’s hand was iron and her eyes looked wild and desperate.

“If something happens to me…” Elena breathed. “Don’t trust anyone, and don’t tell anyone anything. Do you understand?”

“What are you talking about?” Cassia whispered, abruptly sitting up. “Are you okay? Don’t tell me you’re doing drugs again.”

Elena shook her head, strands of hair falling across her face. “Just remember. Tell me you remember, Cassia. Your life depends on this as much as mine does.”

Cassia’s hand curled into fists and she frowned, the corners of her lips turning down. “I told you not to get me involved in any shady shit. No, no I don’t remember, Elena. I will never remember, you hear me? Get the fuck out of my house.”

Cassia had not meant to blow up on her friend like that, but she was tired of Elena’s double life. 

“Cassia, you have to promise me.” Her eyes were pleading and was beginning to water. “Please…”

No. Not again. “I don’t want to get mixed up in whatever you’re involved in. Just leave, please.”

And then she left, slipping out of the room and leaving Cassia clutching the sheets, and wondering why she had not thrown her out the night before.

Cassia padded into the living room, her bare feet cold against the wooden floor, but the couch was empty. No Elena. No designer heels left abandoned by the door. Just a silk scarf draped across the armrest like a ghost of the night before.

For a moment she almost convinced herself she had dreamed it. But her couch still smelled faintly of Elena’s perfume, and her hand still tingled from where her friend had clutched it.

Damn, Elena… she whispered out loud praying that whatever Elena had gotten herself into would stay far away from her.

But sometimes, the universe doesn't answer prayers.