by Jacey Ward
He didn’t respond, the battle in his mind continuing as he made his way out of his office toward the washrooms.
He hated that everything Bethany said was right, that there couldn’t possibly be a future for them. There was nowhere to go where they wouldn’t be found by the Corpus. There was a reason he had turned off his phone for days, after all—he’d wanted to block out the reality that was going to plague them as soon as he was forced to deal with what they’d done.
There was only one legal way that Evander could think of so that he and Cassie could be together – but if he was caught, his punishment would be the same.
It’s worth the risk. She’s my mate. I’m sure of it.
The question was, would Cassie feel the same way when he told her what he was thinking?
She’s been through enough without me dumping this on her too. I need to walk away from her, at least until it’s safe. Maybe we can revisit the issue later…
“Hi. Is anything missing from your office?” Cassie rounded the corner and stared worriedly. Evander knew he wasn’t going to tell her about the message in the computer.
Your job is to protect her, not make her life more complicated.
“No,” he replied. “Not a thing. Let’s get out of here.”
She exhaled and nodded.
“Yes,” she agreed. “I don’t think Bethany likes me very much.”
Chapter 8
The drive home from the office was awkward and Cassie could see that Evander’s mind was elsewhere. The tension in the office was palpable and Cassie wasn’t sure if it was because of her or because of the entire situation. She wanted to ask him what was going on but she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answer.
Were they lovers, him and Bethany? An almost familiar jolt of jealousy slid through her as she thought about the way the redhead had sneered at her. It had been her initial impression of Bethany and Evander.
I should have followed my gut.
She tried to wave the notion away. After all, everyone has a past. If the PI and Bethany were together before, that didn’t mean there was anything between them now.
Whatever happened between us over the last few days was not faked. This wasn’t some one-night stand between Evander and me. It was real. It is real.
“You’re very quiet,” Evander commented. “What’s on your mind?”
She laughed mirthlessly.
“Really?”
He sighed deeply and reached for her hand.
“I feel like a broken record telling you this, but you have to trust me, Cassie. You could not be in better hands.”
Because you’re in the mob?
She chewed on the insides of her cheeks so hard, she tasted blood and Evander whipped his head toward her.
“Stop that!” he growled, his face paling slightly.
“Stop what?” she replied in genuine confusion. She hadn’t realized she had made a sound but his response gave her shivers of apprehension.
“Bleeding.”
She was stunned. Touching a hand to her mouth to see if a droplet had slipped out from inside her cheeks but there was nothing there.
Weird.
She dismissed it and stifled a sigh. Everything was weird about what was going on.
“Who did you tell about what happened with you?” Evander asked, picking back up almost exactly where they had left off before getting to the office. It was clear his mind was back in work mode and fully focussed on business again.
“I don’t know. Circe obviously. I guess she told Kalen. You forget there are half a dozen dead bodyguards too. Someone must have been asking questions, regardless of how Circe tried to cover it up.”
“Well I’m guessing you, Circe and Kalen didn’t notify the press,” Evander said. He sounded irritable and Cassie wondered if he was annoyed with her. His disposition had changed, albeit subtly since they had parted ways in his office.
Did Bethany say something to him about us being together?
Again, she had to stifle the wave of jealousy washing over her.
You’re behaving like a lunatic. Nothing is going on between Bethany and Evander.
“Who else?” the PI insisted. “Who else knows what’s happening with you? Think hard about it.”
“Um…Lisette is the only other person who comes to mind but I doubt she would do something so careless by telling someone else. She was terrified too and she wouldn’t want to defy Circe. No one wants to defy Circe.”
“Well, Lisette is a start,” Evander replied with conviction. “Who knows if she told someone, girlfriend, boyfriend.”
“We could hunt down the columnist who wrote the piece,” Cassie said slowly. “He or she might be able to help us.”
“They tend to be anonymous and difficult to find. I had considered that but even if we find them, they are notoriously closed lipped. That’s how they make their living after all—being leeches on the fringes of society, snatching up bits of gossip. They won’t give up what they know easily and frankly, we don’t have time to shake that tree. We need more solid leads.”
Cassie didn’t respond but she realized he was probably right. Still, it was difficult to reconcile that her trusted assistant might have anything to do with her stalker, even inadvertently.
“I’m not saying that the two are connected,” Evander told her as if reading her mind. “But we need to start somewhere.”
His cell rang and he exhaled a breath of air so intense, she felt the backlash on her face off the dashboard.
“This fucking guy…” he muttered, shaking his dark head of hair. “Can’t he take a hint that I’m busy?”
“Who?” Cassie wanted to know.
“A client. He hasn’t stopped calling for days.”
Guilt flooded Cassie and she hung her head with shame.
“You’re putting everything else on the backburner for me,” she muttered. “I’m causing you more problems.”
“You are my problem,” he told her teasingly but there was a seriousness in his eyes that she couldn’t help but see. “My only problem. Everything else can wait.”
“You can’t afford to lose business. After we’ve figured out what’s going on here, Evander, you still need to go back to work. Your reputation will take a hit if you’re not returning calls and dodging clients. It won’t be easy to recover from that once you’ve got a stain on your record.”
He cast her a sidelong look as the phone stopped ringing.
“How did you get so wise about being a PI?” Again he was joking with her but Cassie’s mouth formed a thin line.
“In my business, reputation is everything. You don’t even need to be the prettiest model to become the most popular. Dependability is everything.”
Evander scoffed lightly and Cassie scowled.
“Why is that funny?”
“I-I just never imagined that dependability was a quality that would be important in the fashion industry.”
“It’s important in every industry. It shows integrity,” she retorted with more firmness than she intended. “It displays moral character.”
Did he just bristle?
“Yeah, well integrity is not something that I’m overly concerned about.”
Her brow furrowed and her heart began to hammer in her chest.
Does the same go for moral character I wonder?
She swallowed the question and replaced it with another instead.
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m a PI. You probably don’t know much about my line of work but I promise you, it’s nothing like they show it on TV. Magnum PI didn’t quite prepare me for the shit I was going to have to do.”
“More like Jessica Jones, huh?” She was trying to keep her voice light but there was a tension coursing through her as she tried to read Evander’s expression.
“Something like that.” He smiled at her but it didn’t quite reach his eyes and Cassie found her curiosity piqued.
He’s not talking about being a PI. H
e’s talking about being in the mob. Being a PI isn’t that dirty…is it?
“Wanna hear a secret?” she asked, leaning in conspiratorially even though they were the only two in the car.
“Always.”
“I wanted to be a cop before my mom pushed me into modeling.”
His jaw slacked slightly and he gaped at her in shock.
“You’re joking!”
“Is it that unbelievable?” Cassie was slightly offended that he was so amused by the idea. He eyed her and seemed to consider his next words with a great deal of care, perhaps sensing her defensiveness.
“I think that being a cop would be a bad look for you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She didn’t know why she was so annoyed—it was exactly the reaction she had expected from him.
“You have an untouched innocence about you, despite the sadness you carry in your face.”
“What sadness?” She was surprised by the characterization. “I’m not sad.”
“It’s there. You try to hide it but you’re so…unspoiled, so pure, it’s impossible not to see. I doubt you’ve ever been truly happy in your life.”
Cassie was at a loss for words.
I’ve known him for three days and he can read that in me. What would three years with him be like? Would he be a part of my soul by then?
She wondered if he wasn’t already and his words came sweeping into her mind in a flash.
He called me his mate. I think I get it now.
“That’s not true,” she told him sincerely. “I’ve been really happy with you the last few days.”
“While you’re literally in mortal peril? That’s hard to believe,” Evander laughed. “But I’ll take it as a compliment, even if you might confuse happiness with the will to live.”
“I’m not scared when I’m with you,” she told him earnestly. “I just inherently know that you’re a safe place. I…guess Kalen and Circe knew that about you too but how or why, I’m not sure.”
“We go way back, Kalen and I.”
He stared straight out the windshield. They were at the condo but he remained outside, parked by the curb, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel. She could see the wheels turning in his head but he didn’t speak his thoughts aloud.
“Why was Bethany so angry?” Cassie asked gently. “Did it have to do with me?”
“Bethany is always angry. That’s part of her charm. Bitter and British.”
“No,” Cassie insisted. “It was more than that.”
She reached forward and cupped his cheeks with her open palms.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” she confessed, a plaintive worry in her face. “I don’t know who is targeting me and I don’t know why Kalen called you but I’ve heard rumors about who he is and what he does.”
Evander’s eyes bulged.
“What?” he choked. “H-how? Has Circe told you something?”
She shook her head.
“They’re rumors, of course, but I never really paid attention until now. Who are you, Evander? You’re not just a PI, are you?”
His face froze in a dazed expression and she could read a thousand fleeting thoughts pass behind his light blue eyes but before he could open his mouth to respond, the phone rang again and the moment had passed.
“I need to take this.”
He snatched it up and pressed the device to his ear.
He’s not going to tell me anything. He’s got to be more scared of the mob than he is me. And why wouldn’t he be? I’m soft and innocent, right?
“John, this is really not a good time,” Evander was saying. “But I do want to speak to you…yes, I know you’ve been trying to get in touch with me…if you’d stop cutting me off…”
Cassie watched his face shift from annoyance to anger.
“You know what? It’s good that I have you on the line. I do have something to say to you after all. I’m not doing it.”
Cassie could clearly hear the man on the other end of the phone raising his voice in indignation. She couldn’t make out the words but the ire was crystal clear.
“Because I’m not comfortable doing what you want me to do,” he replied shortly. “Stop calling me, John. I’ll have your money returned to you.”
He disconnected the call and smiled warily at her.
“Sorry about that.”
“What did he want you to do for him?” she asked, unable to stop herself. “Something illegal?”
His brow crunched and he laughed shortly.
“Does that offend your innocent sense of self?”
“Are you making fun of me?” She was becoming upset with his borderline mocking. It was difficult to gauge if he was just naturally sarcastic or actually fueled with contempt for her.
“So what if I don’t want you running around committing criminal acts? Is that horrible?”
He stared at her for a long moment.
“You helped me commit a criminal act,” he reminded her. “With Lester Graham. Or did you forget that?”
“T-that’s because you said it was for a client…oh, shit!” Her eyes bugged with the realization. She had assumed because he was a private investigator that he adhered to the same laws as a cop but he didn’t, he couldn’t.
“You set me up!” she cried and confusion settled over Evander’s handsome face.
“Set you up? You said you had never been more charged than when you helped me with that.”
“That was before I knew I was…oh, never mind. You’re morally bankrupt, aren’t you?” She hadn’t meant to sound so accusing but she was furious that she’d been involved in something illegal.
Even though it’s your own fault. You should have asked. You just assumed…
Evander grimaced and put the car in drive, shaking his head in disbelief.
“You’re a babe in the woods. That’s why you’d never make it as a cop, Cassandra. You need to be harder.”
“If by ‘harder’ you mean morally bankrupt, I think I’d rather be a babe in the woods, thanks.”
“Well, then you shouldn’t be shocked when people do the difficult things for you. You can’t have it both ways. Either kill or be killed in this world, Cassandra. That’s the way it is.”
Her jaw dropped and she sputtered.
Is he saying I condone his activities by being complacent? That I enable his and Kalen’s behavior?
“You’re a piece of work, aren’t you?” she gasped, tears of frustration flooding her eyes. “Whatever lets you sleep at night, Evander. There doesn’t have to be evil in this world.”
“But there is,” he growled. “And someone’s got to deal with it when it surfaces.”
How could I have ever thought I had a future with this jackass?
“Why are you so upset? Suddenly you don’t like being a delicate flower?”
“Just shut up, Evander!”
She blinked furiously, worried that the tears would only make her seem weaker.
I am not weak. I am strong. I will get through this like I’ve gotten through every other obstacle in my life. Screw Evander and Kalen and their goddamn mob. I don’t need any of them.
“I’m sorry,” he said when he parked. “I didn’t mean to sound so—”
She jumped out of the car, unwilling to listen to him for another second.
I don’t want to stay here tonight. I’ll call Lisette and have her make arrangements for me to stay somewhere else. I’ll just sneak out when he’s sleeping.
But Cassie knew she would do no such thing. She didn’t know if Lisette could be trusted. She had nowhere to go and God only knew if she was being watched at that very moment. As much as she loathed to admit it, Evander was the only one she trusted.
And in spite of everything, he still makes me feel safe. Dammit!
Chapter 9
She set herself up in a guest room and Evander barely saw Cassie again for the rest of the night, but he needed to go out and deal with John Crews.
&n
bsp; The client was incensed that he had backed out on his plan to set up his soon-to-be-ex-wife but Evander didn’t care.
He knocked on Cassie’s door but she didn’t respond.
“I’ve gotta go out for a bit,” he told her gruffly. “Stay off the phone and in the condo. I won’t be long.”
He turned away and the door swung inward.
“Where are you going?” she demanded. He supressed a sigh and turned back to face her.
“Out,” he said curtly, even though it pained him to talk to her like that. “Just do what I say.”
He spun back around before she could protest and made his way out of the condo, locking her in.
He didn’t feel good about leaving her alone but he didn’t really have a choice. He had a bad feeling if he didn’t confront John Crews face-to-face, the man would likely show up on his doorstep uninvited. And the last thing Evander wanted was more people knowing where Cassie was. It was bad enough that Bethany knew, not that he worried she would say anything. Still, whomever was after Cass already knew they were together, hence the message on his work laptop.
He considered calling Bethany to come and stay with the model but he instantly tossed the idea out of his head. There was no telling what his assistant might say to her.
No, I’ll go and deal with this John situation quickly.
Inside his undercover car, he idly wondered what had changed in him over the past few days. Earlier in the week, he’d barely blinked an eye about framing Violet Crews, provided John paid the sum he requested. Now, the concept of setting up the nurse made him physically – uncomfortable.
It didn’t take much to realize why he’d had such an abrupt change of heart and it had nothing to do with John Crews’ surly attitude.
Violet Crews reminds you of Cassandra.
They were both far too good for the world, trying to live their lives while dark forces around them deigned to destroy them.
Why would I protect one woman and ruin the other?
Cassie’s words echoed through his mind as he drove into Brooklyn, her accusations about him bothering him more than he wanted to admit.
