جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

For the past few days, Matthew had been coming to the office, a rare occurrence he wasn't happy about, but he had no choice. The mission to rescue Cassie was crucial to Aser.Today was the D-day. Aser couldn't remember the last time he felt so intensely aware. Not during his first hostile takeover, not when he took a risk other businessmen shunned, not even when he branched out on his own. For the first time in his life, he was nervous."Are you nervous, Alpha?" Matthew had asked that morning. Aser gave him a long, bored look."Why would I be?" Matthew gave him a look of disbelief but remained silent, not wanting to exhaust his daily word count.They both knew he was lying. He was terribly nervous because this was about more than him. Her safety was on the line. The plan was perfect, but Aser had to acknowledge the possibility of human error. Any of the ten or so people on the job could make a mistake. If it were possible, he would have done it himself."All is going to be well," Matt

Aser let out a relieved breath. He had been saved by the bell.The unspoken question, the one Cassie was truly curious about, remained a silent wedge between them. She was too afraid to voice it, fearing an answer she might not be able to stomach, and he volunteered no information. They were at an impasse, something none of them were willing to do anything about.When Aser asked if she was hungry and led them to the kitchen, Cassie expected him to have provisions for a cook or perhaps a fridge stocked with prepared meals. Nothing prepared her for the sight of the tall, handsome man rolling back the sleeves of his shirt to his forearms, revealing muscly, corded hands. Tattoos snaked up the visible length, disappearing beneath the fabric.He carefully handed Maria back to her, and the little girl actually pouted, clearly comfortable in his hold."Baby, are you hungry?" Cassie asked her daughter."Yes, Mama.""Alpha Aser is cooking for us. He’s a nice man. Say thank you, Alpha.""No need

When Aser told Cassie he was going to London, too, she assumed he was merely going there to help her settle in, but to her greatest surprise, he was still in London two years after he helped her escape the hell of her marriage by flying Maria and her out of the country.When they first landed, he put them up in a hotel penthouse for the first month. Cassie didn't have to lift a finger at all. The hotel staff handled everything she could ever need. Two weeks in, she was starting to get bored out of her mind. Maria was restless, too. They would wake up, eat, and then go sightseeing. All those things would be perfectly okay if they were on a vacation, but he had promised he would let her work for him.Cassie hated that she was being a liability on him. Also, they barely got to see him. If they were not being catered for, she would have assumed that he had abandoned them. By the third week, she was fed up with living like that, so she called him to tell him they needed to have a serious c

For the first two years, Cassie, Maria, and Aser fell into a pretty easy routine. In the morning, Cassie got her daughter ready for school. Then, she got ready for work. Aser was used to waiting patiently for her in the morning. He used that time to look at the market or check his mail.Aser would drive them to work, and on the way over, they would talk about work. Aser might ask for her insight on an issue at work, and nine times out of ten, he would usually go with her input. That was how valuable she was to him.They were past the days of pretending they didn't come to work in the same car. The other employees were now used to their dynamic. The first time they arrived together and then went home with her daughter in the same car, it set rumors off. Cassie tried to put some distance between them, but Aser was firmly against it."We are adults, Cassie. We can do anything we want.""But we are not doing anything.""Yet," he added in his head, but loudly he said, "Exactly. We're not

On Aser's insistence, Cassie took the day off from work to pamper herself. As she cleared out her office, Sasha, her favorite coworker, knocked and came in.She stopped when she saw her putting on her coat. "You're ready to head out so soon, boss?" Sasha asked playfully. After two years, Cassie still found it weird that she was being referred to as "boss" by men and women that were much older than her. She was the youngest in her department at 23 years old, yet she was the boss.None of her coworkers called her by her name despite her insistence that they all address each other informally to create a friendly workspace."Yes, I have a date?" It came out as a question because she was not sure if it was a date or not. "You're not sure? With whom? Well, I don't even have to ask. It's with the big boss, isn't it?""How did you even know that?""You think the big boss would let anyone else but him take you to dinner? And yes, it's a date.""Right?" Cassie didn't even want to know what Sas