CHAPTER FOUR — The Familiar Scent
1220 Words
The moment the car pulled away, a figure stepped out from the shadows.
The man reached into his jacket and dialed. It rang once before the other end picked up.
“I think she got hit by a car,” he said. “The driver took her.”
“Is she dead?” The voice on the other end was feminine, controlled.
“I don’t know. Looks like they’re taking her somewhere. I’ll find out.”
“Do it quickly.”
The call ended.
Back at the Reed household, Daniella relayed what little she’d heard to her family. The four of them sat in uneasy silence, each one waiting to see what the night would bring.
Inside the Alexandro residence, the staff moved with quiet urgency. Word had spread quickly that the master had carried a woman in with his own hands and ordered a room prepared. The household was buzzing beneath its composed surface.
In all their time serving Mr. Alexandro, none of them had ever seen him carry a grown woman. Not even his fiancée, Miss Stacy. The only person he had ever held that way was his young adopted daughter. So whoever this stranger was, she mattered.
The in-house medical team was already assembled in the private clinic when Alexandro arrived carrying Cassandra. He laid her down on the bed, straightened up, and looked at the lead physician.
“I want her to be conscious as soon as possible.” Then he walked out.
Dr. Steven dismissed the other doctors — this wasn’t a complicated case, just a young woman who had collapsed — and got to work quietly. The machines beeped steadily in the background.
Two hours later, Cassandra opened her eyes.
She wasn’t in heaven. She checked her arms, her legs — everything intact, nothing broken. The car hadn’t hit her. She lay still for a moment, then took in her surroundings. The room was large, almost unnervingly so. A man in a white coat sat nearby.
A hospital. Someone had brought her to a hospital.
She sat up immediately and began pulling the IV line from her arm. Dr. Steven moved quickly to stop her.
“Doctor, how much is the bill?” Cassandra asked. Her voice came out smaller than she intended. She couldn’t afford this room. She couldn’t afford any of this.
“Don’t worry about the bill,” Dr. Steven said, something gentle in his tone. “You won’t be paying it.”
Cassandra exhaled slowly. “What hospital is this?”
“This isn’t a hospital. You’re in the home of Alexandro Grant.”
She blinked at him.
“You’re also aware that you’re pregnant?” the doctor added carefully.
Cassandra went very still. Then, quietly: “Please don’t tell anyone. Please.”
“Not even the man who brought you here?”
“No one,” she said. “Please.”
Dr. Steven studied her for a moment, then gave a small nod. Confidentiality was his professional obligation, regardless of the circumstances. “I’ll let him know you’re awake,” he said, and stepped out.
Cassandra lay back against the pillow. She only needed to thank this man, whoever he was, and then find a way to leave. She’d sign whatever debt paperwork they needed. She would find work and pay it back.
A few minutes passed. Then a scent drifted into the room before the door had even fully opened — rich, warm, expensive. Familiar in a way she couldn’t immediately place.
Cassandra looked up.
The man standing in the doorway was tall, broad-shouldered, and carried himself with an authority that filled the room without effort. His features were striking — almost unsettlingly handsome. His presence alone was the kind that made you want to sit up straighter. But it was the cologne that held Cassandra’s attention. She knew that scent. She knew it. She just couldn’t reach where the memory lived.
She studied his face again. Then it clicked — not from memory, but from newspapers and television screens. She had never met him in person, but she had seen that face before.
This was Alexandro Grant. The most powerful businessman in the country.
But where have I smelled that cologne?
“Have you looked enough?”
His voice startled her completely out of her thoughts.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly.
“Your name?” he asked.
“Cassandra.” She left it at that — no surname. The Reed name no longer belonged to her, and she had no interest in claiming it.
He didn’t push. His eyes moved over her face with a quiet, unreadable attention.
“I want to thank you for saving me,” she said, straightening herself as best she could from the hospital bed. “And I’m sorry for jumping in front of your car — I was being chased and I didn’t have any other option. I’d like to leave now. Whatever I owe you, I’ll sign for it. I don’t have money right now, but I will pay you back. I promise.”
She wants to leave. The thought struck Alexandro somewhere unexpected. People didn’t dismiss him. Nobody in his world moved that quickly toward the door when he entered a room. Yet here was this small, pale-faced girl — clearly exhausted, clearly frightened — looking at him as if he were simply a kind stranger she needed to settle a debt with and move on from.
He found, strangely, that he didn’t want her to go.
“How would I know you’d actually pay me back?” he said.
“Because I keep my word,” Cassandra replied without hesitation. “You’re a powerful man. If I don’t pay you within a month, find me. Do whatever you want with me.”
Alexandro almost smiled. Whatever I want.
“I don’t make a habit of threatening people,” he said. “But I have a different proposal. Stay here and work until the debt is paid. You owe me five thousand dollars.”
Cassandra’s eyes went wide. “Five thousand—” She started counting something under her breath, brow furrowed, lips moving. He watched her. He couldn’t help it.
She looked around the room — took in the high ceilings, the quality of everything around her — and seemed to make a reluctant internal concession.
“What would my work involve?” she asked, like someone carefully reading a contract before signing.
“You’d serve me personally.” Alexandro said it before he had fully decided to. He didn’t entirely understand the impulse. But something about this girl pulled at him — something he hadn’t felt in a long time, and couldn’t yet name. The only way to understand it was to keep her close.
Cassandra glanced down at her stomach and placed her hand lightly against it. A roof. A safe place. For her, and for the small life she had already decided to protect.
“You can begin once the doctors clear you,” Alexandro said. He held her gaze for one more moment, then turned and walked out.
Cassandra sat alone in the quiet room, her hand still resting against her belly, and said a silent prayer.
She would take what fate offered her. For now, that would have to be enough.
- Writer
