Chapter 25
Gemma
Lucky Draw
I close my eyes and wait. I hear his breath catch and tremble.
Kiss me. Love me. I’ve wanted you for so long.
Those words play in a repeating loop in my mind. I want to grab
him by the collar of his shirt and yank him down to me. It’s torture
and bliss waiting for him to touch me.
Then he straightens. The ceiling light is suddenly in my eyes again. He turns his face away and mutters under his breath.
The only word I catch is “manipulate.”
I grit my teeth and shove away from him. “You can get dressed the
rest of the way yourself.”
I open the door and flee.
My mom is sitting on her bed. I must look ravished when I come out of the bathroom with my face flushed and my hair mussed from being pressed against the wall.
Though that’s the opposite of what happened.
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Lucky Draw
She gives me a teasing, knowing smile, and it’s all I can do not to
choke on my own bitterness and give her a small smile in return.
Cassian comes out a moment later. He could make a burlap potato sack look good, so I’m not surprised that, even in cheap clothes, he looks like a model.
Mom claps and coos over how handsome he is, and the visit
becomes about Mom and Cassian and them catching up while I stand by the window, wishing I could escape how much I want
him.
Wishing that the version of Cassian I’m seeing today is real.
After a while, I can’t take it anymore, so I tell Mom we have to be
somewhere, and Cassian and I leave.
As we go out, he speaks to a few of the doctors. Just like everything else in my life, Hope Moon Hospital is controlled by the
Blackwells.
I assume it’s convenient for a mafia family to have doctors and
state–of–the–art facilities at their beck and call. You never know
when someone is going to get shot, poisoned by silver, or driven
mad by some enemy family’s curse.
As we walk out of the hospital and into the sunshine, I breathe a sigh of relief. Cassian walks next to me, but I purposefully take two
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big steps to the side to put distance between us.
Lucky Draw
“Give me a little more warning next time you want to visit Lisette,” he says. “I had to have Adam make excuses to some dangerous international suppliers, and they are not happy.”
I gape at him. “Are you kidding?”
He looks annoyed. “No, I’m not kidding. Now we’re going to have to triple check the next shipment for purity. You know how easily
offended the fey can be.”
“Nine out of ten times I tried to get you to visit my mom with me
in the past you said you had meetings, or that you had to fly a shipment somewhere.”
“Nine times out of ten, I did,” he growls. “You’ve been part of this world all your life, Gemma. You’re not a stranger to what it takes to
stay on top.”
My lips press together. I am most definitely a stranger to whatever it is Alpha mafia bosses do. First of all, because my father was not
the kind of Alpha who “stayed on top” of his power.
Second, because neither my father nor Cassian ever include me in anything like that.
I let silence fall. After a moment, Cassian says, “Come back to
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Lucky Draw
work at the warehouse. It’s not good for you to sit at your friend’s
house doing nothing.”
“Can I?” I ask sarcastically. “Will Reyna still be one of my bosses?”
“Yes. She said she would accept your apology.”
If I had a wolf in me, my claws would grow right now. “I have
nothing to apologize for!”
“You accused her of being my mistress to her face. That as much as implies you think I gave her the job she has because she’s sleeping with me.”
There’s one second where his words don’t register. Then they do,
and a fresh wave of pain washes over me.
He admitted it. He’s sleeping with Reyna.
I ball my hands into fists and fight back tears. “I know you think what’s happening lately some kind of stunt to get your attention,
but it isn’t. I’m not coming back.”
We reach my car, and I stare defiantly up at him.
“I’m starting to sound like a broken record at this point, Cassian, but honestly? That’s your fault for refusing to listen. I. Want. A. Divorce. I don’t want to hurt Grandpa Donovan or my mom, but
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they’ll survive. If I stay married to you, I might not.”
Lucky Draw
Cassian’s eyes narrow and he steps right up to me, practically pinning me to the warm surface of my car’s driver side door.
“So that’s what this is about,” he says in a low, dangerous growl. “It’s the crash, isn’t it? You think I can’t protect what’s mine.”
B
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