Roll For Initiative

68. Lucian

I t’s been hours, and we are lying here. She is wrapped in my arms while Jayme lays beside her, his hand on her back. He is just as protective of her now as I am. It’s more of a brotherly love that he feels toward her now. I don’t want to let her go. I keep feeling like I am going to wake up and she won’t be here. I’ll blink, and she will be gone. I haven’t slept much these past few weeks. Every time I do, I am back there, seeing her lifeless body in a pool of blood. But in my nightmares, I’m too late. I couldn’t save her.

I run my fingers up and down her arm. She’s here. She’s alive. Theo is dead. He won’t ever be able to hurt her again. That’s what I need to keep repeating in my head. I glance over at Jayme, and he is peacefully asleep. He honestly is like a brother to me now. I’m still a bit weirded out by everything, but I am coming to terms with it. Plus, I love West Enterprise, and I am damn good at my job. I don’t want to leave.

Her parents are coming up in a few hours. I texted them, letting them know she was awake but needed rest. Her mother is thankfully behaving. She knows how protective I am of Cassie and respects my decisions. The only people we have allowed in here are her parents, my parents, Sunny, Ash, Odette, and Mr. Snider. We are trying to shield her from the rest of the world. Her kidnapping and survival of the brutal attack was in the paper, letting people know the search was over and she was found alive. The assailant is still listed as unknown. They won’t ever find his body; Snider made sure of that. But, if they ever found out it was Theo who took Cassie, then his disappearance would be traced back to her and also back to us for sure. She shifts in my arms, and it must have caused pain because she shoots upright, wincing from the strain on her muscles and ribs.

“Hey. How did you sleep?” I try to calm her down. Her eyes are wide and panicked. I know she is going to get sick of people asking her if she is OK because how could she be OK with everything that has happened to her?

“Um. I guess I slept OK. You?” she asks, snuggling back to my side.

“Eh, I didn’t sleep yet.” The bags under my eyes would show that sleep and I don’t agree right now.

“Oh.” She lays there, chewing her bottom lip as she looks up at me. “So... Boyfriend, huh?” She smirks.

“Yep, I figure you are stuck with me, so I might as well put a label on it.” I pull her closer and kiss her forehead.

“Yep, and I am just the best friend over here.” Jayme laughs from next to her, standing to go check his phone. She startles, forgetting he was there.

“Sorry, Jayme. I didn’t realize you were still in here. This bed is huge for a hospital bed.” She tries to sit up. She is straining from the pain, so I try to help her. She subconsciously flinches away from my touch. I try to hide the look of worry on my face, but she sees. “Sorry, I’m fine. I got it.”

I feel terrible that I can’t take this pain away. I can’t heal her myself. I hope one day, she will be able to move past this trauma. I want her to be happy. The carefree, lovable, and adventurous Cassie I have always known. She is strong, though; I know it will take some time.

“You should get some more sleep,” Jayme says. He walks over to where the window is and looks out the blinds.

“I’ve been asleep for two weeks. I think that was enough rest. Plus... I just... I don’t want to sleep right now.” Tears flood her eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall. She takes a deep breath in and closes her eyes. Calming herself.

“Why?” I ask.

“I’m honestly just scared. He took me from the hospital before. What’s to say he won’t try again?” This time a few tears do run down her face. I gently cup her unbroken cheek. She doesn’t flinch away and actually leans into my hand this time.

“That would be a bit hard for him to do right now,” Jayme smirks in the corner.

“Why? Where is he? Did they actually arrest him?” A look of relief crosses her face.

“No, sweetheart, he is gone. For good. He can’t ever hurt you again.” He tells her as he comes back over to sit at the end of the bed.

“What? How? Are you sure?” She looks stunned and skeptical. I mean, who wouldn’t fear that a monster like him would rise from the grave?

“Yes. He is for sure dead. Ask your boyfriend.” He says, smiling up at me. Shit. I didn’t want to get into this conversation right now.

“OK, OK. Geeze.”

The memories are flooding back into her mind. I tell her about storming the manor, running over the guards, and shooting the guy in the hallway. I stop before I get to the part about how we found her and taking Theo to the warehouse. She is aware of some of the mafia stuff from Theo telling her, but I don’t know how she will react to what I did. She didn’t react much to me running over and shooting some of Theo’s men, but I’m worried she won’t be able to look at me the same after she knows what I did. The amount of my soul I lost to ensure he would never hurt her again.

“So, how did he die?” She asks.

“I killed him,” I say. She doesn’t flinch away. She barely even reacts at all.

“How?” she asks quietly.

“You don’t need to know all those gruesome details, Cassie. Just know he is dead. He won’t be coming back, and you are safe.”

“No. I need to know. I want to know that he suffered. Please.” She looks at Jayme. “Did he suffer?” He looks up to me. He can see I am internally struggling with my convictions. He nods, and I can see her body relax at the knowledge that the man who caused her so much pain suffered before he died.

“I tortured him, Cassie. For hours. Then we left him to rot.” She looks at me wide-eyed. I hope to God that she doesn’t fear me.

“What did you do?” I get why she wants to know; I do. But I don’t know if I can show her just how tainted my soul is now.

“We kept him tied to a chair, naked. We beat him until he fell unconscious, then we would spray him with ice-cold water to wake him back up and then repeat the process. I ripped all of his teeth out. We sliced every part of his body. I didn’t let him die from that, though.” I pause, looking for any form of disgust on her face, but there is none. “I doused his body in fish guts and left him to feed the rats. We went back about a week ago, and he was unrecognizable; barely anything was left besides bones. Mr. Snider's team took the remains to a pig farm upstate somewhere. No one will ever be able to find the remains.”

“Wait? Mr. Snider, as in Vixens? How is he involved in all of this?”

“Oh, yeah, he is married to Jayme’s 2 nd cousin. Also part of the Morelli Family. Odette is in the family too, not blood, but still part of it nonetheless.”

“What about Theo’s home? Aren’t the police going to figure it out? They are going to find my DNA all over that house, and they will know he was the one that took me. Why don’t we go to the cops now about it?”

“We can’t; they would trace his disappearance back to us. But don’t worry, it is being handled.” Jayme cuts in.

“What do you mean “Handled”?” she asks cautiously.

“We had a crew go in and spray some stuff that compromises DNA evidence. They destroyed more of the house. Plus, my team found out Theo was involved in some pretty fucked up shit in different parts of the world, so the story of him being taken as a hostage by some other crime family makes sense. No ransom will ever come, and the world will assume he is dead.” He tells her.

She sits there in silence, processing everything, for almost 20 minutes. We sit with her in case she needs anything, but neither of us speaks. She sighs a lot and cries silently a few times. She probably feels like I do, where she feels this is all just a dream, and she is still trapped there. After a bit, she lays down next to me. I snuggle up and wrap my arm around her. She buries her head into my chest and cries. Her tears are breaking my heart. She stayed so strong through the doctor telling her everything, but between seeing herself and hearing about everything that happened, it is too much. She cries for so long, her sobs falling silent as she falls asleep on my chest.

"Hey, you hungry? I can go get us food." Jayme asks quietly.

"Hmm, honestly, a pizza sounds amazing right now."

"You got it. Pepperoni and bacon? Extra cheese?"

"Sure. Sounds good to me." He goes to leave. "Hey, Jayme?" I stop him.

"Yea?"

"Thanks again. For everything. You have honestly been closer than family during all this. I can never repay the debt I owe you, but I will try my best. Please give me time to get her to move to California. I still want to be your 2nd in command; I don’t want to risk pushing her too fast." He puts his hand up to stop me.

"Lucian, you are my best friend—the brother I never had. You don’t have a debt to repay, but I would love to have you as my 2nd in command. Take as much time as you need with her. No need to rush. I’ll have a place set up over there for when you guys are ready." He honestly is one of the greatest men I’ve ever known.

"Thanks, man." He heads out to go get our pizza. I hope the doctor will allow her to have pizza. I know it will brighten her spirits.

Jayme comes back about an hour later with pizza, cheesy bread, and pop. Cassie stirs in my arms and sniffs the air.

"Is that... pizza?" Her eyes pop open.

"Yep, and I checked with the doctor. As long as you go slow and don’t eat too much, you can have some." He is grinning ear to ear at how excited she is, and I am, too.

"Thank you, Jayme. I really appreciate this." She is so sweet when she’s being bashful.

I grab a plate and load it up for Cassie before Jayme, and I grab our own. She takes her first bite and lets out the slowest, most orgasmic moan. Jayme and I both stop mid-bite and stare at her. She can feel us looking and opens her eyes.

"What?! It’s fucking good. I’ve hardly eaten in like almost a month. I’d kill someone over this pizza." She laughs. I knew this would help.

"So..." She clears her throat. "Can we talk about it?"

I look at Jayme; neither of us knows which part she is talking about. The night at the club? The last time she was in the hospital when we kissed. Her kidnapping? She almost dying? Or us taking care of Theo?

"Which part, sweetheart?" Jayme asks.

"That right there. How the fuck did I not recognize your voices and the way you draw out the word sweetheart." So, she wants to talk about the night.

"Ahhh, so you want to talk about that now, do you? Okay, Lucian, I think you better start.”