.
CASSIAN
I dreamt and fantasised about finger-fucking her for a whole week, and even after I'd had it, my skin still burned for her.
It was like a thirst that couldn't be satisfied.
I'd broken another of my rules; I'd allowed her to touch my hair. I'd allowed her to run her fingers through it.
"Are you listening?" Dante's thunderous voice cut through the phone and into my thoughts.
I sighed. "Yes, father."
"You fucking messed things up by killing Vincenzo!" he snapped.
"I fucking let them know what I'd do every fucking time they touch what's mine."
I heard his fist smash into a wall.
When he spoke again, his voice held rage, contempt, and desperation.
"The fucking kitchen girl's now yours?"
She's always been.
"Yes," I said, crossing one leg over the other.
On cue, I spotted Ayla ascending the stairs, and every cell in me fucking knew this woman was mine.
"You know she's a fucking bastard child? Her mother's a whore."
