Not This Time, Don Cassian
Crystal K
My adoptive brother, Don Cassian. I loved him. The rival family drugged him.
He had me pinned down. His hands on my breasts. He was hard, his eyes filled with a desperate hunger for me.
But I shoved him off. Ran out the door. And called my best friend, Camilla.
"Cassian's in the master bedroom. Get here. Now."
I locked myself in the bathroom, letting the cold water wash away the fire he’d started in me. I remembered the last time.
In my past life, when Cassian kissed me, I didn't say no. We made love all night.
I thought my ten-year crush was finally mine.
Then came St. Patrick's Cathedral. The Vitelli family's sapphire ring, passed down for three generations. The blessing of the Elders.
I had everything I ever wanted.
But the day after the wedding, I got the news. My best friend, Camilla, was dead. An overdose of antidepressants in her apartment.
I was on the phone, crying for her, when a knife went through my chest from behind.
I turned. It was Cassian, his face twisted with hate.
"If you hadn't blackmailed me with those ledgers—if you hadn't forced your way into my bed—Camilla would still be alive. You have to pay for this!"
That's when I understood. He never married me for love.
It was all because of a whisper from Camilla: "Aurora controls the family's money. She can ruin you with a phone call."
And a warning from the Elders: "Don, you must marry her. She knows too much."
So this time, I stepped aside. I let them have each other.
But why? Why did he come after me, his eyes red, looking like he'd lost his mind?
"Aurora," he begged. "Why don't you love me anymore?"