Chapter 51

Azalea

I drifted in and out of consciousness, floating in a sea of black nothing. Sometimes voices reached me through the darkness, muffled and distant.

Sometimes I felt hands moving me, lifting me, but I couldn’t respond. My body felt disconnected from my mind.

When thoughts managed to form, they came in broken fragments. Cassian’s warm smile when he first asked me out for coffee. Chiara’s face when she showed me their photo.

The fake mother’s voice asking for more money. His strong hands forcing the chloroform-soaked cloth over my mouth and nose.

I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or dying. Maybe both. Maybe this was what I deserved for being foolish enough to believe his lies.

Cold. Everything was so cold.

I tried to move, but my arms felt like they were made of lead. When I finally managed to open my eyes, gray morning light filtered through expensive curtains. The world tilted dangerously as I attempted to sit up, and waves of nausea crashed over me.

Where was I? This question roamed in my mind as I tried to figure out where I was.

My mouth tasted like copper and chemicals—the lingering effects of whatever he’d used to drug me. The memory hit me like a punch to the gut.

The sweet, sickening smell. His voice whispering “I’m sorry” even as he held the cloth over my face until everything went black.

Panic hit me. I was somewhere I didn’t know. Somewhere he had taken me while I was unconscious.

As my vision cleared, I took in my surroundings. The room was beautiful, too beautiful. It looked like a luxury hotel suite with walls painted in soft blues and whites.

My favorite colors. Colors I’d mentioned loving during one of our dates, back when I thought his attention to detail meant he cared about me.

The door opened, and my blood turned to ice.

Cassian walked in as if he owned the world. Like he hadn’t kidnapped me. Like this was perfectly normal.

“Let me go.” The words came out in a hoarse croak. I tried to stand, but my legs buckled. Whatever drug he’d used was still in my system, making everything fuzzy and unsteady.

“Don’t push yourself, sweetheart,” he whispered, his voice sickeningly sweet. “You need to rest and recover.”

The casual endearment made my skin crawl. How had I been so blind? How had I missed the snake hiding behind those caring eyes?

I clenched my teeth together, and my hand turned into a fist as anger rolled off me like waves.

“What do you want from me?” I forced the words out through gritted teeth. There had to be a reason for this elaborate deception. People don’t fake love and kidnap someone without wanting something.

His face fell into an expression of hurt that would have fooled me weeks ago. “You’re breaking my heart with questions like that, Azalea. I love you.”

He moved closer, and I flinched as his fingers brushed through my hair. Once, that touch would have made me melt. Now it only filled me with rage.

“I’ll ask you one more time,” I said. “What do you need from me?”

For just a moment, his eyes flashed with something dark and dangerous. But he quickly covered it with a smile. “If I tell you I love you, will you—”

I didn’t let him finish his absurd statement before I cut him off. “Please spare me that garbage. We both knew we didn’t love each other.”

“We?“ He repeated the word with a mocking laugh. We? Who the fuck was I kidding?

Even Cassian himself knew I loved him more than anything on earth. My body, my heart, and my soul loved him dearly.

“Don’t kid yourself, sweetheart. We both know you were head over heels for me. Your body, your heart, your soul - you gave me everything.”

“You’re delusional,” I lied.

He laughed, a sound that chilled me to the bone. “Am I?”

Before I could react, his arm snaked around my waist and pulled me against him. I could feel his warm breath on my neck, both comforting and threatening.

“Your body knows the truth,” he murmured, pressing his lips to my throat. “Even if your mouth won’t admit it.”

I tried to push him away, but I was still too weak from the drugs. “Stop,” I whispered.

“Stop what?” His eyes met mine, dark with an obsession I’d never seen before. “Are you afraid of how your body responds to me?”

“I hate you,” I said, biting down on my lip to keep from making any sound as he continued his assault on my neck. “I hate this.”

“Liar,” he breathed against my skin. “You want this as much as I do.”

His hands roamed over my body with a familiarity that made me sick. This wasn’t the gentle man I’d fallen for, this was a predator who’d been playing a long game.

He grabbed my boobs before squeezing them. “You don’t have to pretend you don’t want me,” he growled. “I know exactly what your body craves.”

Why? I was a fool for not seeing who he truly was. I couldn’t deny it, even if I wanted to. My body reacted to his touch.

“Please. Stop. I don’t want this.”

“Be honest with yourself,” he muttered, pushing me back toward the bed. “You’ve always wanted this.”

As he began to undress, I saw my chance. My eyes landed on a heavy bronze horse sculpture on the nightstand.

“What are you—” he started to say.

I grabbed the sculpture and swung it at his head with every ounce of strength I had left.

“Damn it!” he screamed, stumbling backward as blood began to flow from the gash on his temple.

I didn’t wait to see how badly I’d hurt him. I ran for the door, my bare feet slapping against the cold marble floor.

The house was massive, a maze of hallways and rooms that all looked the same. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I had to get away from him.

A light ahead caught my attention. The front entrance, it had to be. I ran toward it, hope surging in my chest.

But strong arms caught me just as I reached for the door handle.

“No!” I screamed, thrashing against whoever had grabbed me.

Within seconds, I was back in the room, facing Cassian. Blood trickled down the side of his face, and his expression was no longer pretending to be loving. Now I could see the real him—cold, calculating, and dangerous.

“Where exactly did you think you were going?” he asked, his voice deadly quiet. “Sweetheart.”

“I’m not your sweetheart,” I spat. “Let me go!”

“I don’t think so.” His smile was sharp as a blade. “Look what you did to me.” He grabbed my hand and forced my palm against the blood on his face. “You made me bleed, honey.”

The metallic warmth made my stomach turn. “Let go of me!”

His hand cracked across my cheek so hard that stars exploded behind my eyes. The pain was immediate and intense, radiating through my skull.

He was a different person now, or maybe this was who he’d always been.

“How dare you try to hurt me when you know how much I love you,” he snarled, grabbing a fistful of my hair.

He dragged me across the room by my hair, and I screamed as it felt like he was trying to rip it from my scalp. Tears streamed down my face as I begged him to stop.

“Let go of me,” I pleaded. “It hurts so much.”

“You should have thought about the consequences before you decided to brain me with a statue,” he said, finally releasing me.

I collapsed to the floor, sobbing from the pain and the crushing realization of how completely trapped I was.

Was it really a crime to love someone? Was giving someone your heart supposed to cost you your freedom?