Page 92

“Are you behind the transaction that put me on the Feds’ radar?”

“Oh shit,” Aella brought a hand to her mouth.

All the color seemed to drain from Armond’s face as he looked at his son. “Cassius, listen. It’s not what you th⁠—”

“I ain’t come here for a long and drawn-out explanation,” Cassius seethed. “I just want to know if it’s true.”

Swallowing so hard that his Adam’s apple bobbed, Armond straightened his shoulders. “Who told you this?”

“You are so fucking sick and twisted!” Cassius argued.

“It was what was best for this family!” Armond argued. “And what was best for you! I knew an indictment was inevitable once Korr started running his mouth, and the only person who could handle it efficiently was you. Not to mention, someone needs to take over when I’m gone. You think I’d leave the legacy of this family to just anyone?”

“I didn’t fuckin’ want this!” Cassius was so loud that it apparently caught his mother’s attention, as she appeared in the doorway seconds later, wearing a worried expression.

“What is going on in here?”

“Ask your bitch-ass husband,” Cassius snarled. “Apparently, he’s so used to doing whatever the fuck he wants to do when it comes to you that he feels like he can try the same shit with everyone else. I’m not a puppet, and I won’t be used like one.”

Aella shot Jules a sympathetic look, as it was clear by the pained look on her face that Cassius had struck a nerve.

“What’s done is done,” Armond said as he straightened his jacket.

“There’s no way you’re this dense,” Cassius looked at his father incredulously. “I had a life. One I spent years building, and you almost burned everything to the ground over this,” he gestured around the room.

“So what are you going to do?” Armond folded his hands. “Walk away from your family? From her?”

A chill coursed through Aella as they both turned to look at her. What would Cassius do? It wasn’t like they had a contract in place to ensure they made it down the aisle. Either of them could walk away whenever they wanted, wedding plans and verbal promises be damned.

“Nah,” Cassius answered swiftly, easing Aella’s anxiety. “Unlike you, I actually value and cherish my wife. But from this moment on, it’s fuck you. Don’t hit me up for shit outside of anything that has to do with a public appearance.”

“Cassius,” Jules said gently.

He held up a hand. “Ma, I don’t want to hear it. Let’s go, Elle.”

Taking Aella’s hand, Cassius led her out of the room and the house. Anger radiated from him in waves during their entire ride home, and once they arrived, he disappeared somewhere in the house after telling her he needed a minute to wrap his mind around what was happening.

Leaving him be, Aella grabbed her laptop and curled up on the sofa with Nova, sorting through the many wedding-related emails from her mother. She was nearly halfway through before he reappeared shirtless and attempted to gently nudge Nova out of her spot, who responded with a soft growl.

One look from Cassius, however, and she reluctantly bounded from the sofa in a single leap and stretched, lying on the floor next to Aella instead.

“Damn, let me find out my dog loves you more than she loves me,” he snorted, peering at her computer screen. “What you working on?”

“Trying to clear the million and one emails my mom has been sending me about wedding stuff. I swear, you’d think she was getting married instead of me.”

Chuckling deeply, Cassius pulled Aella’s feet into his lap. “Cut her some slack. How often does your firstborn baby girl get married?”

Licking her lips, Aella asked the question that had been burning in her mind since they left the Farina home. “Are we still getting married?”

Cassius’ eyebrows pinched together. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

“Based on what you said earlier about your father pulling strings behind the scenes to set whatever the hell is going on in motion, I wasn’t sure if you planned on sticking around. Trust me, I more than understand if you want to go back to your old life and⁠—”

“There is no old life,” he declared swiftly. “I have no life without you, Elle.”

“Cass…” she murmured.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed as fuck about how all of this went down. My father damn near destroyed years of blood, sweat, and hard work because he’s a selfish dickhead, and I can’t forgive him for that. But none of that has anything to do with us. I’d never admit it to him, but I’d redo the last few months a million times over if it meant I’d end up with you.”