LOGINReina’s POVSix months.That’s how long it’s been since the night everything went to hell. Sometimes it still feels like yesterday. It still feels like it was yesterday officer Rodney gave me the mission to be a spy in Cassian’s world. It still feels like yesterday that I was caught up in the inheritance struggle with Lucy and Andrew.Felt like it was yesterday Cassian used me as a bet in a game of chess.I’m in the car now, the morning sun slipping through the window. Abby’s sitting beside me, giggling at a cartoon on her tablet. That sound…her laugh…makes every scar, every nightmare from that night worth it.Yeah, I’m a wife now. Cassian and I got married two weeks after the attack. We wanted a small gathering but it turned out to be the wedding of the century. Uncle Pete, Andre, Joshua and his wife, Cassian’s brother…it was a truly healing moment.Crazy, right? But after everything that happened, waiting felt stupid. We’d already survived the worst. What else could possibly scare
Cassian’s POV“Jonah, what the fuck are you doing?” Elias barked, his voice sharp and trembling with rage. “Are you fucking blind? Point the gun at him, not me!”But Ethan didn’t move. His hands shook slightly, but the gun in them stayed trained on Elias. His eyes…moist, furious, and broken…glimmered in the dim light of the burning corridor.“You lied to me,” Ethan shouted, his voice cracking under the weight of emotion. “All this time I’ve been following your orders, killing for you, thinking I was fighting for justice for our family…but you lied!”Elias scoffed. “Lied? About what, you stupid cunt?”“Yeah, that’s what you do, right?” Ethan bit back, trembling. “Talk down to me. Treat me like some useless trash. Have you ever thought that maybe I don’t want to do this anymore? That maybe I don’t want to be your shadow anymore?”“Oh crap, here we go again.” Elias rolled his eyes, lowering his gun slightly. “Put that useless feeling aside, Jonah. We’ll talk about it once this mission is
Cassian’s POVAn opera filled the hall…high, bright, ridiculous in the middle of a blackout. Someone had the stereo on full blast. The sound cut through the panic like a sharp blade.“They’re here,” I said out loud before I even knew I had said it.Lucas barked into his radio. “All positions…now! Perimeter tight! No one leaves the compound unless I say so. And someone turn on the fucking backup power supply!” His voice was the kind that forced men to move without thinking.I turned to Reina. She stood in the doorway, eyes raw, tears streaking down her face, trembling like a blown-out candle. I gripped her shoulder so hard she flinched.“Hey, baby,” I said, keeping my voice flat. “You have to listen to me. You’ll go with Leon.” I began to pull her toward the hall but she was already shaking, crying.“No—no—no. I’m scared. Where’s Abby?” Her voice broke.“I’ll find Abby,” I said, because I meant it. “Now go with Leon and hide.”“Come hide with me,” she whispered, and a dry laugh escaped
Cassian’s POVThe house felt like it was shaking with my rage. I couldn’t breathe properly. My pulse was pounding in my ears as I stormed into the study, every step heavy with anger.“Find her!” I roared, slamming my fist into the table so hard the pens rattled off the surface. “Search every corner of this fucking estate. I want to know who’s missing, who hasn’t checked in, who the fuck opened that door!”Lucas was already barking orders into his radio, his voice sharp and controlled. “Mobilize everyone. I want every guard, every driver, every kitchen hand accounted for in the next ten minutes. Whoever’s missing is our rat…the same bastard who released Ethan months ago.”That name hit me like a slap. Ethan. My jaw tightened. “The same person who released Ethan released Candy?” I repeated under my breath, my mind racing. “What the hell do they have in common? Why would anyone risk their life to free those two?”Lucas was pacing, his phone pressed to his ear, giving instructions left an
Cassian’s POVWeeks had passed since that day…weeks that felt like a slow, crushing weight. Candy was locked up in a room under guard. I made sure of that myself. God I almost killed her myself. But then, she used Abby like a gun to my temple.Reina was barely breathing most of the time. One minute she had been pregnant…the next, she wasn’t. The doctors said it was a miscarriage. She’d lost a lot of blood that day.After that, she became a ghost. She stayed locked in our room, staring at nothing. She didn’t speak unless forced. She barely ate. I had to make her shower, force food into her. I watched her sit for hours, blank-eyed, and nothing hurt me more. The part of me that used to move through the world without thinking was gone. Now every second was a knife… I left her that morning. I didn’t act fast enough. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I kept slapping myself across the cheek, muttering words until I could feel the sting. Or blood.I didn’t sleep more than an hour at a time. Every s
Cassian’s POVAll that filled my head even as I emptied the clip into the traitors in that room was Reina. Their bodies hit the floor and the meeting continued around me…reports of laundering, a few sub-circles stepping out of line. I had a meeting with Antonio, Lorenzo and Alfred. Oh and I bragged. I bragged real hard. I can’t believe I fucking promised to give Reina over to Lorenzo when I was done using it. Damn I was so stupid.The meeting was intense. The cracked walls all had to be cleaned up, and I did it without blinking. But even with blood on my hands and the taste of adrenaline in my mouth, every pistol crack echoed Reina’s laugh, her smell, the way she’d looked at me yesterday.Gosh I’m fucking obsessed.I’d been thinking straight through it all…I was going to marry her. Not tomorrow, not “sometime.” As soon as I could make it real. As soon as I could tie up the loose ends.Elias and Ethan haven’t been found yet.I’d already called planners, sketched a list in my head. J







