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หน้าหลัก / Mafia / Step Brother's Deadly Obsession / บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

บททั้งหมดของ Step Brother's Deadly Obsession : บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

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81

Naomi’s Pov The next morning came too bright. Too loud. Too… normal. I hated it. Nothing inside me felt normal after last night. My whole chest felt like someone had pulled a thread loose and left it hanging, waiting for the rest of me to unravel behind it. I dressed slowly, half-distracted, half-annoyed with myself. My hands shook a little when I buttoned my shirt. I told myself it was from the cold. It wasn’t. When I stepped into the hallway, Cassian was already there. Standing by the railing. Drinking coffee. He looked like he’d been awake for hours. He didn’t hear me at first. He looked tired in a way that made my heart do that stupid thing, squeeze and soften all at once. His hair was messy, his eyes shadowed, and the sun from the window hit the side of his face like it didn’t know he was the kind of man you shouldn’t shine on. Then he turned. Our eyes met. And something inside me… paused. He didn’t look away. He didn’t pretend last night didn’t happen. He didn’t lo
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82

Naomi’s Pov; By evening, the base felt too tight. Too many people, too many whispers, too much movement. The kind of crowdedness that didn’t come from bodies but from pressure invisible, quiet, heavy. Everyone sensed a shift. They didn’t know it was personal. They didn’t know it had nothing to do with the mission and everything to do with the way Cassian had looked at me in that warehouse, like I’d just peeled open something he had spent years burying. I stayed busy. Checked inventory. Cleaned my gun twice. Helped Mara reorganize surveillance footage. I wanted to outrun my own thoughts, but they kept catching up. It didn’t help that I could feel Cassian’s presence even when he wasn’t in the room. That was new. Scary. Unavoidable. And every time I passed a doorway or rounded a corner, some part of me wondered if he might be there not because I needed him to be, but because some part of me wasn’t ready to admit I wanted him close. Rubio found me in the tech room, wires and
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83

Naomi’s Pov I woke up feeling heavier than usual. Not tired, just full. Full of things I couldn’t name yet. Full of everything Cassian didn’t say last night and everything he almost did. The space he left behind on the observation deck stayed with me, following me down the hall, into the bathroom, into my clothes. I felt him like an aftertaste, lingering long after he was gone. I splashed cold water on my face to clear the heat that kept rising to my skin. It didn’t work. Nothing cleared him. By the time I walked downstairs, people were already moving around: Mara scrolling through footage, Rubio checking weapons, two of Cassian’s guards discussing new intel. Everyone was busy with their roles. Everyone seemed normal. I didn’t. Rubio spotted me first. “You look like you slept on a question.” “Something like that,” I muttered. He paused, studying me. “You and the boss are… weird today.” I shot him a glare. “We’re always weird.” He gave a slow shrug. “Yeah, but now it’s the k
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84

Naomi’s Pov The ride back to the base was quiet, but not empty. The silence between Cassian and me felt warm, like something had settled in it, something neither of us was brave enough to name yet. His hand stayed close to mine on the console, not touching but not retreating either. When we pulled into the underground parking, he finally moved it. Not far. Just enough to remind me the world outside the car still existed. Rubio hopped out and muttered something about checking the perimeter. He disappeared before I could ask if he needed help. I think he left on purpose, giving space he wasn’t supposed to know we needed. Cassian stayed in his seat for a moment, one hand gripping the steering wheel, eyes closed like he was thinking too hard. “You alright?” I asked. He didn’t answer right away. Then he opened his eyes, and the look in them made my chest tighten. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. I nodded once. “Same.” We both stepped out of the car. The air inside the garage wa
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85

Naomi’s Pov The wind at the docks tasted like rust and river water. Cold enough to sting, loud enough to hide footsteps if someone wanted to get close quietly. Cassian didn’t speak as we moved through the shadows. His pace, his posture, the angle of his head told me everything. He was on the edge. Not angry. Not panicking. Just wound tight in a way that made the air feel different around him. I followed close. Too close, maybe, but I didn’t care. The night felt fragile, the kind of fragile where anything could go wrong if you breathed too hard. Cassian raised a hand, signaling for silence. We stopped behind a stack of steel crates, the smell of oil and damp metal rising around us. I leaned in slightly. “You hear something?” He didn’t look at me. “Footsteps. Two. Maybe three. They’re pacing.” I peered through the narrow space between crates. The flashlight beams were faint, moving like slow ghosts across the dockyard. “They’re checking angles,” Cassian whispered. “Pattern l
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86

Naomi’s Pov By the time we got back to the base, the air felt like it had weight. Heavy. Thick. As if the darkness from the docks followed us inside. Cassian walked ahead of me, tense and silent, shoulders pulled tight like he was holding something in place that kept trying to break loose. Rubio and Mara were already in the war room when we stepped in. Rubio’s face was flushed, hair damp with sweat. Mara had her hands on her hips, breathing hard. “What happened at the airstrip?” Cassian asked. Rubio tossed a folder on the table. “Everything. Or nothing. Depends on how you look at it.” Mara crossed her arms. “They were there, but they weren’t loading anything. No cargo. No trucks. Just a few guards and a plane that never took off.” “A decoy,” Cassian muttered. “Exactly,” Rubio said. “They wanted us to split. Wanted us chasing shadows.” I took a seat, still feeling the ghost of Cassian’s hands on me from earlier, the way he’d pulled me back, held me against him as the world c
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87

Naomi’s Pov The railyard looked dead from a distance. Like it had been forgotten by the city years ago. Rusting tracks. Graffiti-covered freight cars. A sagging chain-link fence that swayed every time the wind breathed too hard. But dead places sometimes made the perfect hiding spot. The Syndicate knew that. Cassian, Rubio, Mara, and I sat in the surveillance van across the street, headlights off, windows tinted. The only light came from the monitors in Rubio’s lap, all pulled from the cameras we’d placed earlier. Cassian stood behind us, arms crossed, shoulders tense, eyes never leaving the railyard. He looked like a storm pressed into a human body all sharp edges and quiet fury waiting to be released. “We’re dealing with at least four guards,” Rubio muttered. “Maybe six. Hard to tell with how they move.” Mara zoomed in on a corner of the yard. “There’s a shipping container by the old office. That’s new. Wasn’t here last week.” Cassian leaned forward slightly. “Zoom more.”
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88

Naomi’s POV We barely spoke on the drive back. Not because there was nothing to say but because there was too much. The sight of those girls in the container stayed glued behind my eyes. Their small hands. Their quiet breathing. Their fear trying to hide under blankets that couldn’t hold anything warm. Cassian gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles went white. I’d seen him angry before. I’d seen him furious. I had never seen him quiet like this the kind of quiet that feels like the inside of a storm right before it strikes. Rubio rode in the back, tense and restless, tapping his foot against the floor. Every now and then he’d curse under his breath, like he needed to release the anger before it ate him alive. When we pulled into the base, Cassian didn’t wait for the engine to stop. He pushed out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Not at me. Not at Rubio. Just at the world. I followed him. I didn’t know why. Maybe because something in my chest was still ta
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89

Naomi’s Pov The war room lights felt brighter than usual, too sharp, too unforgiving. Mara spread blueprints across the table maps of the railyard, the surrounding streets, an old sewer line, and an emergency access road the city forgot existed. Rubio paced behind her, muttering calculations under his breath. Cassian stood at the far end of the table, hands braced on the wood, head down like the weight of the mission was sitting on his shoulders. Nobody said a word about how he’d cracked minutes ago. Nobody had to. We all felt it. I stood beside him, not touching, but close enough that my arm could feel the warmth radiating off his. It grounded me. Or maybe I was grounding him. I didn’t know anymore. Mara cleared her throat. “We need three entry points. North, east, and through the abandoned office.” Rubio leaned over the map. “East side has the most cover. North is cleaner but too exposed. Office is risky, but if we time it…” “We move in pairs,” Cassian said sharply, cuttin
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90

Naomi’s POV Nights before missions are never quiet, even when they look that way. The halls were dim, the lights on low power, the air-conditioning humming softly. But inside me? Nothing was quiet. Every sound felt louder. Every thought sharper. Every breath heavier. I walked back to my room after the planning session, but sleep wasn’t even a possibility. My body was restless, my mind too full. I changed into a loose T-shirt and sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the wall like it might give me answers. It didn’t. All I kept seeing were the girls in that container. And Cassian’s face when he saw them. Something in him had fractured. Not in a dangerous way — in a human way. A way he didn’t know how to handle. A knock sounded on my door. Soft. Slow. Not urgent. Just… there. I stood, heart rising to my throat, and opened it. Cassian. He didn’t barge in. Didn’t fill the doorway with command or authority. He just stood there, hands in the pockets of his sweats, hair slight
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