There was blood on them.
Fresh blood.
Her eyes widened.
For a second, she forgot how to breathe.
Cassian dragged a hand through his hair and began pacing across the room.
His movements were restless. Agitated.
The muscles in his jaw flexed violently as he clenched his teeth. His expression was dark, and his eyes burned with a fury she had never seen before.
Not the cold, controlled anger she was used to.
Even his face looked slightly flushed, as though he had only recently calmed down from a fight.
Juliet became completely still beneath the blankets.
Shock filled her eyes.
He was injured.
And he looked furious.
Yet somehow, none of that seemed directed at her.
That alone felt impossible.
Juliet had spent years stealing deals from him, ruining negotiations, and making his life difficult whenever she got the chance.
She had always assumed he hated her. Always assumed he would laugh if he saw her falling down a flight of stairs.
Yet the man standing across the room looked like he was losing his mind because she had gotten hurt.
His eyes kept drifting back toward the bed. Toward her. Toward the bandage on her forehead.
Every single time, his expression darkened further.
Juliet's confusion only grew.
Nothing about this made sense.
“Look at the state of you.”
Elias threw his hands up in frustration, pacing once before stopping again as his eyes locked on Cassian like he couldn’t decide whether to shake him or drag him out of the room himself. “You’re losing your fucking mind.”
Cassian didn’t respond.
He stood near the tall window, the city lights spilling faintly across his profile, half of his face carved in shadow, the other sharp with exhaustion and something darker. His jaw was clenched so tightly it looked like it hurt to keep it that way, a muscle ticking near his cheek as he stared out without really seeing anything. His hand, still marked with blood, hung at his side before slowly curling again into a fist, as if his body couldn’t decide whether to relax or strike.
Elias saw it and scoffed under his breath.
“You smashed an entire room tonight,” he said, voice rising again as he gestured sharply toward him. “You destroyed thousands of dollars worth of property, you beat Vincent half to death, you terrified everyone in that club, and you nearly got yourself permanently banned like some reckless kid.”
Cassian still didn’t speak.
Didn’t even look at him.
