Pursued By My Mafia Husband

Chapter 4

Gemma

The next morning, I sell myself for 100 million dollars.

I don’t even hesitate when I sign the contract. I don’t know what that says about me. I just haven’t felt safe in so long.

I do a video call with my mom’s new nurse. She’s at Sacred Hope. Her room is private, and five times the size of what it was before.

“The wedding will be this afternoon. It’s perfect weather, too. Lucky sign,” Donovan chuckles.

We’re back in his study. Cassian is there. He picks up the pen I just put down and holds it over the contract.

He hesitates a lot longer than me.

Finally, though, he signs, too.

I swallow a lump in my throat.

Yesterday, I thought I was going to die. Today, I am about to marry Cassian Blackwell.

I can’t believe it.

I try to catch his eye. After all, even if we haven’t had much direct contact, I’ve been in Cassian’s orbit for years thanks to his mafia dealings with my father, and because of Reyna.But he never noticed me. I was just the quiet, unloved child, invisible to him.

But Cassian won’t look at me. After he signs the papers, he strides out of the room.

“Mr. Blackwell…” I say in confusion.

He smiles at me, and it’s like a blow to the heart. That smile is real and warm and affectionate. “You have to call me ‘grandpa’ now, dear girl,” he says.

He looks at the door where Cassian disappeared and sighs. “Neither of you understand this now, but it’s necessary. He will come around. Now, go with the maid and they’ll get you fitted for a dress.”

Unsure what else to do, I follow the maid out of the room. As I do, I catch a glimpse of Cassian disappearing down the stairs.

“One minute,” I say to the maid, then dart after him.

I lose him in the huge maze of a mansion. It’s five whole minutes later when I hear his voice again. He’s speaking in low tones to someone.

I come around the corner and find him with a woman in his arms.

I gasp.

It’s Reyna.

It’s like I’ve walked in on them saying goodbye.

I knew they were friends, but this…?

It looks like they’re in love, and I’m ripping them apart.

My heart cracks.

The gasp is loud, so they both turn to look at me. Cassian’s face turns thunderous. Reyna, though?

If looks could kill, my half-sister would’ve just struck me dead on the spot.

“It’s done,” Cassian says to her. “The contract is signed.”

“But—” she says.

“No. It’s better this way. A clean break.” He lets her go, then turns to me. His voice is a low growl. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

Then he walks past me and up the stairs.

Reyna watches him go. Her eyes are big and watery, the same way they used to get when she lied to my father and told him I hit her.

That’s laughable. Reyna was the brutal one.

But my father never believed me when I showed him the bruises she and her mother, Angela, left on my skin when they hurt me.

Reyna stalks up to me. I have deep-red waves and sea-green eyes like my mother. Reyna has straight, raven-black hair and violet eyes like hers.

She slaps me once across the face as hard as she can. Then she grabs my arm and pinches, twisting with her nails. She does it where my clothes will hide the bruise.

I cry out as she steps right into my space. “I don’t know how you tricked Donovan, you little w***e, but I will take Cassian from you one day. I can’t wait to break you all over again.”

Then she shoves me away and walks out the door.

*****

The wedding happens at sunset. Honestly, I barely remember it. Cassian rushes it through with impatience.

Before I know it, we both say, “I do.”

Then we’re in the car, and I’m alone with him for the first time. For the whole ride home, I don’t speak. Neither does he.

I can sense that he’s seething. He didn’t want this.

He doesn’t want me.

He loves Reyna.

Cassian lives in a penthouse above the city. He has a doorman and a private elevator.

We go up, and Cassian goes straight to his room.

The place is spare, but luxurious. Art of airplanes and views from the sky line the walls. Model planes sit in glass display cases around the main room.

Cassian is a pilot. His father and grandfather were, too, though Donovan doesn’t fly anymore.

I know he loves it, and I know why. In a life of responsibility, it must give him the most unimaginable sense of freedom.

Not sure what else to do, I follow him to his bedroom. He stops at the door and turns to face me. We’re so close, our bodies almost touch.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asks, his voice low and dangerous in a way that sends shivers through my body.

“I—going to bed?”

I hate that I’m this uncertain. I want Cassian to know the real me. After all, we’re both stuck in this marriage.

“Not in here,” he says. “Never in here.”

I swallow hard. “But…the heir. It’s in the contract.”

His eyes flare, and he bends toward me. His face is only inches from mine. Even though rage radiates from him, there’s something else in his eyes.

He suddenly grabs me and turns, pushing me against the door, his body pressed against mine.

Abrupt, hot need pools between my legs. He’s huge and powerful and completely in control.

I melt beneath him. His breathing goes unsteady, and we both moan as our bodies press together. His nose teases mine, but there’s an sharp edge of volatile anger vibrating between us.

“You think you can seduce me?”

“I’m not…I… Cassian, I know you don’t know me, but I want you. Not your power or your money. Just…you.”

“Liar,” Cassian says.

Then he bends his head and sears my lips with a kiss like nothing I’ve ever known. An instant later, he jerks away. He thrusts his finger down the hall to a dark doorway.

“Your room,” he says. “Don’t ever try to come into mine again.”

Then he slams the door behind him, leaving me utterly alone.

It felt like he wanted to keep me here forever.