Chapter 33: The Iron Cage

Kasimir

Alpine Ridge no longer felt like a home. It had become a fortress, locked down under the highest security.

I stood by the large window in the study, watching the guards in dark uniforms put razor wire around the walls through the thick mountain fog. Motion sensors had been placed along the stone walls, and heavy iron shutters covered every window on the ground floor.

After the attack, I wasn’t taking any chances. No one was allowed in or out, and every message and phone signal from the estate went through my private system.

Vespera was safer here than anywhere else.

But whenever I looked at her, she seemed farther away from me. Like a ghost moving through the halls of a prison I had built around her.

The heavy oak door behind me slowly opened.

I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

I heard the soft sound of her dress as she walked in. The faint smell of rain and white tea followed her, cutting through the strong smell of gun oil and cold coffee in the room.

“You’ve doubled the guards at the northern gate,” Vespera said quietly.

Her voice was cold and flat. There was none of the warmth I had felt from her on the balcony two nights ago.

She stopped beside the leather chair, keeping my large mahogany desk between us. She was wearing a dark wool sweater with a high neck. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, almost as if she was trying to hold herself together.

“Soren’s men tried to break through our security,” I said, turning to face her. My injured left shoulder burned under the bandage, but I ignored it. “I won’t give them another chance. Until my team gets Liesea safely out of Switzerland, this house stays locked down.”

“Locked down?”

A small, bitter smile appeared on her lips, but her eyes stayed cold.

“Is that what you call it, Kasimir? Or am I your prisoner now?”

Her words hit me hard. Anger immediately rose inside me.

I walked around the desk and stopped in front of her. She didn’t move away, but I noticed how quickly her chest was rising and falling. The pulse in her throat was beating fast.

“I took a bullet for you,” I said in a low voice. “I turned my entire empire upside down to protect you and your sister. So don’t stand here and tell me this place is a prison.”

“You protect me from Soren, yes,” she whispered.

She took one step closer and lifted her chin, looking straight into my eyes with a sudden courage that scared me.

“But who protects me from you, Kasimir? Who protects me from all the lies in this house?”

“What lies?” I snapped. My jaw tightened so hard that my teeth hurt.

“Look me in the eyes and tell me you’re telling me the truth!” she demanded. Her voice broke with pain.

Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

“Tell me there is nothing you’re hiding from me about my father. Swear it on your life!”

The room suddenly felt heavy and still.

My mouth went dry.

The secret was sitting inside my desk drawer the hidden autopsy report, the three-notched mark, and the terrible history between our two families.

I wanted to tell her.

God, I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to put the truth in front of her and beg her to forgive me.

But if I told her now, before Liesea was safe, Vespera would leave through those gates and walk straight into Greta’s trap.

So I said nothing.

The silence between us felt worse than any threat.

Vespera gave a quiet, broken laugh. There was so much pain and betrayal in it that something inside me cracked.

She turned toward the door.

“That’s what I thought.”

“No,” I growled.

I reached for her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back until her back hit my chest.

She gasped and tried to get away. Her hands pushed against my chest.

“Let me go, Kasimir!”

“I’m never letting you go,” I said roughly against her ear.

I turned her around and held her against the edge of the heavy oak desk.

“You’re a coward,” she cried softly. Her fingers grabbed the front of my coat. I couldn’t tell if she wanted to push me away or pull me closer.

“You keep me locked inside this house. You touch me like I belong to you, but you still refuse to tell me the truth”

“I touch you because I’m losing my mind without you!” I shouted, finally losing control.

Before she could say anything else, I leaned down and kissed her.

It wasn’t a gentle kiss.

It was full of anger, fear, and all the feelings we had been trying to hide for weeks. My hands held her face, and my fingers moved into her hair. I could taste the salt from her tears and the feeling that had taken over my heart since the day she came into my life.

For a moment, Vespera went completely still.

A small sound escaped her throat.

But then she stopped fighting me.

Her body relaxed, and when my hand moved to her waist, she didn’t push me away anymore.

She gave in, holding me with the same desperate need I felt for her. Her arms wrapped around my neck, and her nails dug into my shoulders through my shirt. She held on to me as if we were both falling and I was the only thing keeping her from hitting the ground.

The kiss became deeper and more intense. For a moment, everything else disappeared the lies, the danger, and all the darkness around us.

I lifted her onto the edge of the desk and stood between her legs. She opened her lips against mine, finally giving in to the feelings she had been trying so hard to hide.

When I finally pulled away, we were both breathing hard. Our foreheads rested against each other as we tried to catch our breath.

“Kasimir…” she whispered.

Her eyes were dark and confused. There was so much pain in them that it broke my heart.

Before I could answer, a loud red warning siren suddenly filled the room.

The security screen on my desk flashed. It cut through the normal security system and showed an urgent message from Jonas.

A live camera feed from the master bedroom appeared on the screen.

Someone was standing beside my personal safe.

It was a woman.

She was holding a special key that could open the safe. Only three people in the world had one.

Then Jonas’s voice came through the speaker.

“Herr Adler, we have a security breach inside the house! The keycard used to erase the forensic records wasn’t issued to your grandmother. It was registered under Vespera’s father’s name.”

There was a short pause.

“Someone used that keycard from inside this house ten minutes ago!”