Bound by Blood and Obsession

Chapter 4: Caught

I scrambled backward on my hands and knees until my back slammed hard against the bottom of the wooden desk. The glossy photos scattered all over the rug around me, their white backs gleaming like little teeth in the dim moonlight.

My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst right out of my throat. I couldn't move. I couldn't even blink.

Cassian didn't take another step toward me. He just stood there, towering over me in the dark like a giant shadow. He had his hands pushed casually into the pockets of his black sweatpants, his chest completely bare. In the pale light coming through the window, the dark ink of his tattoos looked like moving shadows on his skin.

"I asked you a question, Isadora," he murmured. His voice was completely calm, completely quiet, but it made my entire body shake. "Do you like looking through my things?"

"You're a psycho," I choked out, my voice cracking with pure terror. I grabbed one of the photos from the floor and shook it at him. "What is this, Cassian? Why do you have these? You’ve been stalking me!"

Cassian slowly knelt down, his massive knees sinking into the thick rug right in front of me. He didn't look angry that I called him a name. He didn't look embarrassed at all. He just reached out with his long, scarred fingers and picked up one of the dropped pictures. It was the one of me sitting at the cafe, smiling at my phone.

He stared at it for a second, his thumb brushing over the glossy paper, before looking back up at my face.

"I prefer the term keeping tabs," he said softly.

"Keeping tabs?" I yelled, my voice getting dangerously high. Goliath lifted his huge head from the rug across the room, his ears twitching, but he stayed down. "You took a picture of me sleeping, Cassian! Through my bedroom window! That is not keeping tabs, that is completely insane!"

"The window was unlocked," Cassian replied, his voice completely flat, like he was just talking about the weather. "Anyone could have climbed inside. I had two of my men standing guard in the alleyway behind your house for six months because your father was getting desperate and making bad deals with dangerous people. I needed to make sure you were safe."

"You didn't do it to keep me safe," I said, my teeth chattering from a mix of cold and fear. "You don't even know me! Why do you care if I'm safe?"

Cassian leaned in closer. The smell of woodsmoke and clean leather hit my nose again, making my brain feel totally scrambled. He reached out and grabbed my wrist. His grip wasn't tight enough to hurt, but his hand was so big it wrapped completely around my bones, pinning my arm against my knee. His skin was freezing cold.

"I know everything about you, little bird," he whispered, his gray eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made me forget how to breathe. "I know you like to sit by the window in your history class because you get bored. I know you skip lunch on Tuesdays to help your brother study for his math quizzes. And I know your father has been trying to use you as a bargaining chip for two years."

I tried to yank my wrist back, but it was like trying to pull against a brick wall. He didn't move an inch.

"You're disgusting," I spat, glaring at him through my messy hair. "You engineered this whole thing. You forced my dad into that debt just so you could take me."

A tiny, dark look passed over Cassian's face. His jaw tightened, the sharp line of his bone cutting through the shadows.

"Your dad did that all by himself," Cassian said, his voice dropping into a deeper, harsher register. "Alistair Thorne is a greedy, stupid man who thinks he can play with the big boys. He stole from my family. He lost his own money at my casinos. I didn't have to force him into anything. But when he begged me for his life on his knees last week, I gave him an option. I told him I would forget the millions he stole, if he gave me the only valuable thing he had left."

He let go of my wrist, his fingers trailing slowly up my forearm, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind on my bare skin.

"You," he whispered.

I swallowed hard, my chest heaving. "Why me? Why do you want me so bad? There are a million girls in this city who would probably love to live in this giant house and spend your money. Why did you spend two years watching me?"

Cassian stood up smoothly, leaving me shivering on the floor. He looked down at me, his face turning back into that cold, unreadable mask.

"Because you're a Thorne," he said quietly. "Your family has been a thorn in my side since my grandfather ran this city. But you... you're different. You have fire in you, Isadora. I saw it the first time I ever saw you stand up to your father's enforcers in that restaurant two years ago. I decided right then that nobody else was going to touch you."

He pointed to the bed with his chin. "Pick up the photos. Put them back in the box. And get back into bed."

I wanted to throw the box at his head. I wanted to scream until my throat was raw. But my body was so exhausted I could barely sit up straight, and knowing that he had been watching me for two years made me feel completely naked and exposed. I realized I didn't know anything about the man I just married. He wasn't just a scary mob boss who took me to settle a debt. He was a man who had planned this nightmare for a very long time.

I slowly gathered the slippery papers from the rug, my fingers cold. I kept my eyes down, refusing to look at him as I stacked them neatly and tucked them back inside the heavy black box. I slid the drawer shut with a sharp thud.

I stood up, my legs feeling like jelly, and walked back over to the giant bed. I climbed under the velvet blankets, pulling them all the way up to my chin, turning my back to him completely.

A moment later, I felt the mattress sink on the other side. The dark room went completely silent again, except for the rain pouring down outside the massive windows.

"Isadora," Cassian’s voice came out of the dark, sounding incredibly close.

I didn't answer. I kept my eyes wide open, staring at the blank wall, my heart still thudding against my ribs.

"Tomorrow, we go to the city hall to sign the official papers," he said, his voice low and serious. "My brother Gideon will be there. He is going to try to provoke you. He is going to try to find a weakness in you to get to me. Do not look him in the eye, and do not say a word to him. Do you understand me?"

I bit my lip, staying completely silent.

"Isadora," he repeated, his voice dropping into that dangerous tone that meant he wasn't asking anymore.

"I hear you," I muttered into my pillow.

"Good. Sleep now, little bird. Tomorrow, your old life is officially over."

I closed my eyes, but I didn't sleep. I lay awake for hours, terrified of the giant man sleeping just inches away from me, and even more terrified of what his psycho brother was going to do to me tomorrow.