Page 68

Cassius sighed, realizing that he’d fallen into the role he didn’t want with so much ease that he hadn’t even realized it.

“I guess so. But while I’m here, I need your help with something else.”

Aella stared at her computer screen, wishing she could force herself to focus on the advertising concept she was supposed to present in a week. With all of the craziness surrounding her family, the last thing she needed was to bomb and give more life to the rumors circulating about her. However, despite knowing she was figuratively on the chopping block, she couldn’t concentrate on work for longer than five minutes without her mind drifting to the one thing that’d consumed her for days.

Cassius.

They hadn’t spoken since he’d shown up at her house and arrogantly announced their engagement to news reporters before she’d asked him to leave. And she’d been questioning her decision to do so ever since. There had been so much going on with her family, not to mention the Zelina situation. But she had to admit that she was even second-guessing her anger over that. What if she’d let her temper get the best of her too quickly? From the beginning, she’d been so ready for him to screw up and prove her negative thoughts right that Zelina popping up gave her the exact excuse she needed to act on them.

“Ugh,” she groaned, closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair, knowing work was a lost cause, at least for the next few minutes.

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” Ilaria sang.

Aella’s eyes popped open and narrowed upon seeing her sister standing in her office doorway. “What are you doing here?”

“Um, I don’t think I like that greeting either,” Ilaria frowned. “Especially after I took precious time out of my day to come all the way here and check on my big sister.”

Aella propped her elbows on her desk and lowered her head between her hands, rubbing her temples. “Sorry, Ria. I didn’t mean to snap at you. This particular project is giving me hell.”

“Mmhm,” her sister hummed, sauntering inside and closing the door behind her. Dropping into one of the empty seats on the opposite side of Aella’s desk, Ilaria assessed her sister’s demeanor. “Understandable. However, I don’t think that’s what has you in a foul mood.”

“I am not in a foul mood,” Aella argued.

“Right,” Ilaria chuckled. “The way you snapped at your husband the other night says otherwise.”

Knowing her sister wouldn’t drop the subject until she spilled her guts, Aella sighed. “Stop calling him that. And I snapped at him because he shouldn’t have shown up at the house trying to play hero when we’re in the middle of a thing.”

“And how long do you plan to drag out this thing?”

“That’s to be determined.”

“Well, that ring of his is still sitting on your finger,” Ilaria pointed out. “I’m still pissed I wasn’t the first to get a glimpse of it, by the way. Tell me you hate me without telling me you hate me.”

“Ria.”

“Okay, okay, okay. Important things first. I know you well enough to know that if he’d wronged you in any way, you wouldn’t be in your feelings about parting ways with him. The fact that you’re so bothered makes me feel like you, my dear sister, who I love very much, are the one causing all the drama.”

“You’ve been taking this man’s side since he stumbled into our lives, and I don’t like it.”

“Oh,” Ilaria pouted. “Boo hoo. I’m so sorry that I care about your happiness and would love to see you ride off into the sunset with the man of your dreams.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s happening any time soon.”

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything other than walk away from him after another woman barged into his house like she owned the place, demanding to know who I was.”

Ilaria shot her sister a sympathetic look, getting comfortable. “Tell me what happened.”

Accepting that she wasn’t getting any work done any time soon anyway, Aella saved her project and powered down her computer before revealing everything that happened between her and Cassius, including the incident at the park.

“Wait, wait, what?” Ilaria shot forward, speaking in a harsh whisper. “Someone tried to kidnap you? And you haven’t said anything? Daddy would have fucking heart attack⁠—”

“And that is exactly why I didn’t tell him,” Aella interrupted. “He already has enough on his shoulders. Cassius handled it.”

“Elle, you can’t keep something like that a secret. If any of us should have learned anything by now, it’s that a lack of communication gets us nowhere. It doesn’t matter if the situation has been handled. The more eyes on you, the better. Save the stubborn and independent act for when your life isn’t on the line.” Ilaria sat back. “I swear I just don’t understand you sometimes, Elle. You’ve resented being the oldest and the idea of being Daddy’s heir since we were kids. Now you have an out, and you’re doing everything you can to destroy the one chance of washing your hands with all of it.”

“Am I washing my hands of it, though?” Aella argued. “Is there ever really such a thing as being out in this life? I’m just trading in the possibility of being a pawn to get to Daddy, to being a pawn to get to Cassius.”