Bound by Blood and Obsession

Chapter 2: The First Gate

Cassian didn't get mad. He didn't even flinch. Instead, a slow, incredibly dangerous look crossed his face. He leaned forward, moving out of the shadows, and the ambient light hit his icy eyes perfectly.

"I didn't buy you," Cassian whispered, his gaze dropping to my mouth for a split second before rising back to my eyes. "Your father owed a debt he could never pay. You are simply the currency."

"I am a human being," I snapped, glaring at him. "And let’s get one thing straight, Cassian. We might be getting married to save my family, but don't mistake this ring for submission. I will never belong to you. You can control where I go, but you will never control me."

The car swung around a sharp corner, the streetlights flashing across his face. Cassian slowly reached out. His hand was huge, his fingers long and elegant. Before I could move away, his thumb brushed right against my trembling jaw, his grip firm but surprisingly warm against my freezing skin.

He tilted my face up, forcing me to look directly into the storm in his eyes. He leaned so close I could feel his warm breath against my lips.

"I don't want your submission, Isadora," he murmured, his voice sending a strange, terrifying shiver straight down my spine. "I want your total loyalty."

He let go of my jaw, but he didn't move back into the shadows. He just kept staring at me, his eyes burning into mine.

Suddenly, the car braked hard, tires screeching against the wet pavement. Up front, Benedict slammed his hand onto the horn as a loud bang echoed from the street outside.

Cassian’s eyes instantly went completely black with rage. In one swift motion, he reached into his jacket, and the metallic click of a gun filled the small car.

My ears were literally ringing. The sound of that loud bang was so loud it felt like it went right through my skull. Before I could even scream, Cassian’s huge arm came out of nowhere and slammed against my chest, shoving me down onto the leather seat.

"Stay down," he growled.

He didn't sound like the smooth, quiet guy from two seconds ago. His voice was pure ice now. It made me want to curl into a ball and never come out.

Up front, Benedict was spinning the steering wheel like crazy. The tires were squealing against the wet asphalt, and the whole car tilted so hard to the side I thought we were going to flip over. Another loud thud hit the back window. It sounded like someone threw a huge rock at us, but I knew what it really was.

Bullets. Someone was actually shooting at us.

"Gideon's men?" Benedict shouted over his shoulder, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles looked like white stones. He didn't look scared at all. He just looked pissed off.

"No," Cassian said, his eyes scanning the dark windows. He was still pinning me down with one arm, while his other hand held that heavy black gun completely still. "Gideon isn't this stupid. Not yet. It's the leftovers from the dock crews. They're desperate."

I was pressed against the floorboards of the car, my face buried right against Cassian’s expensive leather shoes. The smell of woodsmoke and leather was so strong it was making my head dizzy. My heart was beating so fast it felt like a machine gun inside my ribs. I wanted to close my eyes and pretend I was back in my bedroom, arguing with Perry about who got to use the TV. Instead, I was trapped in a bulletproof car with a literal monster, getting shot at on my very first night.

Suddenly, the car slammed into something hard. The impact jerked my body forward, but Cassian’s arm caught me before I could hit the front seat.

"Clear!" Benedict barked from the front.

The car accelerated so fast I felt the engine vibrate through my teeth. The loud bangs stopped, replaced by the normal, quiet sound of the rain hitting the roof again. The danger was gone just as fast as it had started.

Cassian slowly lifted his arm off me. "You can get up now."

I scrambled back onto the leather seat, my breathing totally messed up. My hair was falling all over my face, and my hands were shaking worse than before. I looked over at Cassian. He hadn't even lost his breath. He was calmly tucking his gun back into the inside pocket of his black suit jacket, smoothing down the fabric like nothing happened.

"What was that?" I demanded, my voice coming out way louder and angrier than I meant it to. "Who was trying to kill us?"

"Welcome to the Sterling family, Isadora," Cassian said, turning his icy gray eyes back to me. There was no emotion in his face. None at all. "People want what I have. And sometimes, they try to take it by force."

"I don't care about your stupid gang wars!" I snapped, wiping a stray tear off my cheek before he could notice it. "You almost got me killed! My dad said I would be safe if I came with you!"

Cassian leaned in slightly, his sharp jaw tightening. "You are safe. The glass is reinforced. The metal is armored. If you were in any other car tonight, you would be dead right now. Remember that before you start yelling at me again."

I clamped my mouth shut. I wanted to bite his head off, but the look in his eyes told me to stop. He wasn't a normal guy you could argue with. He was the Don. He could probably have me thrown out of the moving car if he got tired of my voice.

I turned away from him and stared out the dark window. The city lights were fading away, replacing the tall buildings with huge, dark trees. We were heading up into the hills, away from the normal part of town where regular people lived. The roads were winding and completely dark, lit up only by the bright headlights of our car.

After twenty minutes of pure, suffocating silence, the car started to slow down.

I leaned closer to the glass. Up ahead, two massive iron gates stood in the middle of the road. They were surrounded by huge stone walls topped with nasty-looking barbed wire. It didn't look like a house. It looked like a medieval fortress.

Two men in heavy black raincoats stepped out from a small stone guard shack. They both had huge rifles slung over their shoulders. One of them walked up to Benedict's window, looked inside, and immediately stepped back, bowing his head.

The heavy iron gates slowly started to creak open, swinging backward into the darkness.

"This is it," Cassian said quietly from the shadows next to me. "Your new home."

The car rolled through the gates, and they slammed shut behind us with a loud, metallic echo that made my stomach drop. There was no going back now. I was officially inside his world.

The driveway was long and lined with old, creepy trees that looked like giant hands reaching out in the dark. At the end of the path sat the biggest house I had ever seen in my life. It was made of dark gray stone, with massive windows and towering chimneys. A single light was burning over the heavy front door, throwing long, scary shadows across the stone driveway.

Benedict parked the car right at the front steps and turned off the engine. The silence inside the car came back, heavier than before.

"Stay here, Benedict," Cassian ordered as he opened his door. "Handle the cleanup from the street. Find out exactly who authorized those shooters."

"Yes, Don," Benedict replied, his deep voice serious.

Cassian stepped out into the rain, not even caring that the water was ruining his expensive hair. He walked around to my side of the car and pulled the heavy door open. He reached inside, his huge hand open, waiting for me to take it.

I looked at his hand, then up at his face. The rain was dripping down his cheekbones, making him look even more like a statue carved out of ice.

"I can walk by myself," I said coldly.

I grabbed my small duffel bag, ignoring his hand completely, and climbed out of the car. The cold air hit me immediately, making me shiver through my denim jacket. I stepped onto the stone driveway, my sneakers splashing in a puddle.

Cassian didn't look mad that I ignored him. He just dropped his hand back into his pocket and turned toward the house. "Follow me."

I walked behind him, my eyes darting around the massive property. There were guards everywhere. I could see them standing under the trees, their faces hidden by hoods, their hands resting near their weapons. This place was a fortress, but it didn't feel safe. It felt like a trap. If I ever tried to run, I wouldn't even make it past the front lawn.

Cassian pushed the massive wooden front door open and stepped inside.

The entrance hall was giant. The floors were made of polished black stone that reflected the dim light from a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A huge, curved staircase made of dark wood wound its way up to the second floor. There were no bright colors, no family photos, nothing that made it feel like a real person lived here. It was beautiful, but it was completely dead.

A middle-aged woman in a neat grey dress was waiting near the door. She looked terrified, her hands clasped tightly in front of her.

"Welcome home, Mr. Sterling," she whispered, her voice shaking a little.

"This is Isadora," Cassian said, not even looking at the woman as he unbuttoned his wet suit jacket. "She is my wife now. You will treat her with the same respect you show me. If she asks for something, she gets it."

"Of course, sir," the woman said, giving me a small, nervous bow. "Should I show Mrs. Sterling to her room?"

Mrs. Sterling. The name felt like a slap in the face. I wasn't a Sterling. I was a Thorne.

"No," Cassian said, his voice dropping into that deep, dangerous tone that made my skin prickle. "I will take her up myself. You are dismissed for the night."

The woman didn't wait around. She practically scurried down a dark hallway, leaving me completely alone with him in the giant, silent room.

Cassian turned around to face me. He threw his wet jacket onto a chair near the door, leaving him in just his white button-down shirt. The fabric was tight against his broad shoulders, and I could see the outline of his muscles as he moved. He looked bigger now that we weren't cramped inside the car. Way bigger.

"Give me your bag," he said, reaching out for the strap of my duffel.

"No," I said, pulling it away and clutching it against my chest like a shield. "It’s my stuff. I can carry it."

Cassian stared at me for three long seconds. His gray eyes were totally unreadable. "You are very stubborn, Isadora."

"You would be stubborn too if you were kidnapped," I retorted.

"I didn't kidnap you," he repeated, his voice dangerously calm as he stepped closer to me. The heavy black stone floor clicked under his shoes. "Your father gave you to me. There is a difference."

"It feels exactly the same to me," I said, refusing to back down even though he was towering over me now.