The enormous penthouse felt quieter than usual, unnervingly so. The sun streamed through the enormous glass windows, casting long shadows on the living room floor. The silence was oppressive, weighing down on me as I sat stiffly on the couch and seethed at my still-spilling teacup.
My head was reeling with all that had been going on in the past two days. The betrayal in the ballroom, Caspian's resistance to letting me in, and the strangling tension that just kept building day after day—it was all too much. And now, this enigmatic telephone call this morning had just contributed to the mess in my mind.
The phrases reverberated in my mind: Ask him about Alexander Wolfe.
The phone man hadn't threatened me, precisely, but had instead delivered his words in a low, threatening tone that had caused my spine to shiver. I couldn't shake the warning, or the impression that some part of Caspian's life—hidden, tucked-away corner thereof—remained waiting for me to uncover.
My line of thought was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. I looked up in stunned surprise as Caspian walked in, his entry as authoritative as can be. He was dressed in his usual old familiar sharp crisp suit, but he had tension in his stance, his shoulders curled up as if he carried something around that the rest of the world could not perceive.
His eyes Fixed on me sternly, and he halted in his stride, his shining, searing eyes contorting with worry. "What is it?" he rasped, his harsh voice unyielding.
I hesitated, unsure of how to refer to the phone call. "Someone called me today," I was able to say after a while. My voice sounded braver than I felt. "They used a name—Alexander Wolfe."
There was an immediate reaction in Caspian's expression. He tensed to the core, his eyes growing darker with seriousness as his jaw muscles tensed. The air felt colder, and I could sense the strain of his own restraint.
"What did they tell you?" he growled harshly, his own voice tightly contained.
"They instructed me to ask you things about him," I told him. "And reminded me that I don't know what you're truly capable of."
Caspian's mouth twisted into a sharp line, and he stepped closer to me, his eyes branding mine, scorching and unyielding. "You're telling me they threatened you?"
No, I admitted, my voice trembling slightly despite my attempt to keep it steady. "But it was a warning. A threat strategy."
His face went cold and I could sense the rage simmering beneath. "This has nothing to do with you, Lily," he spat coldly.
Nothing to do with me?" I fumed, standing up. Fists were curled at my hips as fury smoldered in me. "They called me, Caspian. They drew me into this whether you like it or not."
He turned on his heel, fiddling with his black hair in irritation. "Shit, Lily. That's why I did not want you in my life.".
"Me? Did I do it?" I roared, my anger and terror exploding. "I did not come here by choice, but I am here. And if you are thinking that I am just going to sit there and silently stay here while someone is threatening me with no clue why, then you don't know me at all."
The attack was violent and brutal, tension between us arcing like an electric wire overloaded with electricity. Caspian's jaw hardened, and for a moment I was certain he was going to lose his temper. Instead of that, he fought every last shred of control he had, his fists curled at his sides.
"You see Lily," he said to me gently, his voice tense. "The type of people I've been dealing with. they have no boundaries and use anyone and do anything to ruin me. I'm not going to let them do that to you."
"Then back off," I spit at him, my words trembling with rage. "Stop playing the protector like you're the only one who gets to decide what's best for me."
His gaze hung for a moment, his mask faltering that brief moment so that I saw the man behind it. His weakness. His vulnerability. He fought to keep it from me. "You don't know what you're asking for," he gasped, his breath no more than a whisper.
"Perhaps not," I replied. "But what I do know is that I am not moving. Not now. Not ever."
Caspian exhaled a deep breath, exhausted from battling as he rubbed his hands over his face. "Alexander Wolfe was my business partner," he finally offered, his voice black. "Years and years ago, when I began my firm. He helped me to the top, but his methods. he was ruthless even to me. We fought. He disappeared after that, but it appears he has returned."
His words remained there, in the puzzle, but with the other pieces still out before me.
"Why would he threaten me?" I attempted to say, hesitating.
"To get to me," Caspian replied, the shadows encroaching upon his eyes. "He knows you are my weak point."
I swallowed hard as I head this , the heaviness of his words still within my chest. His weakness.
"I can take care of myself," I declared, not willing to think too quickly at his concession.
A step further brought him nearer again, his pale black eyes blazing into me hotly. "I know very well," he breathed quietly. "But it does not mean that I would let anyone harm you."
The ferocity of his gaze was near too much for me to bear, and I just stood there gazing, as if I wanted to understand what was emerging between us.
That evening, in bed, I couldn't help but go over in my head what he'd told me. What he'd told me about Alexander Wolfe, that he was his ruin.
The display of vulnerability on his part—the shake in his voice, the staggering with his eyes whenever he'd growled at me—it was something that I'd caught him doing, perhaps very, very rarely. And it made me scared out of my wits, because it made me consider just how head over heels in love with him I was.
I had wished to try to make myself sure that I was capable of it, that I was capable of making it through no matter what. But the catch of it was, I was scared. Scared of not knowing. Scared of what I was doing.
And most of all, scared of how much dependent on him I would be.
But one thing was certain: I was not leaving. Not now. Never.
Because although he would not admit it, although he struggled to protect me by keeping me at bay, I knew.
He needed me as much as I needed him.