Page 58

“There’s a lot of possessiveness in your tone for someone who hasn’t proposed to me yet,” she teased.

Extracting his body from hers, Cassius stood and stalked out of the room. He returned, rolling a small box between his fingers. Without hesitation, he kneeled where she sat on the couch.

“Aella Torrisi,” he began, flipping open the box. Aella’s mouth opened when she realized she was staring at a ring fashioned precisely how she said she wanted. It was everything she’d envisioned upon describing it to him.

“How did you⁠—”

“Uh, uh,” he interrupted her attempted interruption. “My moment. Aella Torrisi, I know this is nowhere near what either of us wanted, but somehow, we landed here anyway. I want to think that’s for a reason, and with each passing day, I look forward to having the opportunity to spend my life getting to know you. If you don’t want to do this, I fully understand and am open to finding an alternative to keeping you safe, but if you do, then I have to ask: will you marry me?”

It wasn’t the most romantic proposal in history, but Cassius’ desire and openness to get to know her meant more than the lack of grandiose effort. Aella’s mouth moved quicker than her brain, resulting in her simple, one-word response.

“Yes.”

Cassius was proud of how well he’d kept his temper in check all night. Aella had been through enough, and the last thing he wanted was to expose her to a side of him that might run her off. But fire ripped through him as he gazed at her, finally asleep and as content as could be, tucked underneath him. He knew he cared about her much more than he would admit aloud. That much was evident by how effortlessly he’d changed his life to accommodate her without a fight.

However, he hadn’t realized just how much he cared until the fleeting moment when he feared he wouldn’t get to Aella in time to save her. That was the moment that revealed the reality of their dynamic. Whether they were ready to face it or not, she was his, and he didn’t do well with someone violating what belonged to him.

Aella sighed in her sleep, shifting into a position that brought her ring into view. Cassius smirked, thinking back to the surprise on her face when he’d presented it to her. The minute she’d told him what she wanted, he contacted his family jeweler to make it happen. In hindsight, he should have known then that he was a goner.

The worst part about it was that he hadn’t even touched her yet. At this rate, Cassius wasn’t sure he wanted to. She already had him wrapped around her finger; God only knew how deeply he’d be under her spell then.

The light from his phone screen illuminated his room as a message came through, giving him a much-needed distraction from his fiancée. Carefully extracting himself from her limbs so he wouldn’t wake her, he grabbed the phone and scanned his messages to see that Mars and his father had let him know they’d arrived.

Donning sweatpants and a T-shirt, he exited the room as quietly as possible and took the steps two at a time to the lower level of his home and the front door to let them in.

“I’ll tell you one damn thing,” Mars fussed, pushing his way inside. “Someone better be fuckin’ dying for you to have me over here in the middle of the night.”

“Shut up,” Cassius hissed. “Elle’s asleep.”

“Son, is everything okay?” Armond inquired, closing the door after trailing in behind Mars.

Cassius motioned for them to follow him to his office, speaking only once they were inside and he’d closed the door.

“Someone tried to take Elle today while we were out at the park,” he revealed, moving to the bar cart to pour himself a drink. “They knew where she was, which means they had to have been watching her.”

“Oh, shit,” Mars’ eyes widened as he sank into an armchair. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have kept him alive to figure it out, but once he had his hands on Elle, all I saw was red. I put a bullet in his head without thinking.”

“Publicly?” Armond demanded, narrowing his eyes. “Have you lost your mind? What if someone saw you? Were there any witnesses?”

“I don’t know,” Cassius admitted. “We were as secluded as possible, and you know I used a silencer, but I can’t guarantee no one saw what happened.”

“Why am I just now hearing about this? Did you leave the body there? We have to⁠—”

“I’m not new to this, Pop,” Cassius interrupted. “I had everything taken care of.”

“Still, son. Your actions were careless and could bring attention we don’t need right now.”

Cassius’ voice became dangerously low as he finished his first bourbon and poured another. “What would you have had me do? Let him take her?”

Recognizing the shift in his son’s tone, Armond attempted to redirect the conversation. “No, I’m not saying that. I have no problem with you protecting her at all costs, but what good are you to her in jail?”

“Look,” Mars interjected, knowing the conversation was dangerously close to going south. “I’ll keep my ear to the streets to see if I can hear any whispers about what happened and let you know if anything’s off. But as far as Aella goes, if you want the world to know she’s off limits, you two have to stop dancing around the idea of this alliance and decide whether you’re in it or not.”

“We did,” Cassius admitted, finishing his second glass. “I’m going to talk to her about it first, but I gave her her ring, and I want the announcement in the papers as soon as possible. We need to set up a dinner between families to discuss the wedding details, and I’m going to talk to Mom about putting together a party or something to celebrate.”

“Do you think such a public event is wise after what happened today?”