“Your dad?”
“Yeah, I’m not the only one that hides money trails. I just happen to do it for the better side.”
Her throat bobs as she swallows, her eyes glazing over with tears. “He tried to kill me. Why?”
“Not him, the people he’s working with.”
“If you’re hiding the money trails how come…”
“I don’t know, Cassie. I’m trying to figure it out, but it’s taking forever and we’re running out of time. We’re under siege, we’re fucked if we do something and fucked if we don’t.”
“What does that mean?” Yeah, she’s panicking.
“It means that you have to let us do what we need to, so we can keep you safe.”
“I am. Or at least I’m trying.”
“Your dad, he’s a good guy, Cass. He’ll protect you with everything he’s got, that’s all you need to know.”
Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I swing us a little higher. Making her hold onto me tighter.
I love everything about this girl. Even though I’ve tried to avoid admitting it to myself, I already knew it.
My heart beats wildly with my admission, when Cassie meets my eyes, it takes everything in me not to tell her. It’s too soon.
“I never understood why we had so much security. Why my mother was always so careful, to the point I thought she was paranoid.”
“She is paranoid. We’re all paranoid. It’s why they want to protect you; they want to save you from that.”
“It’s too late.”
“It’s never too late.” My thoughts go to Kit and my heart pangs, keening in my chest. “It can’t be.”
Nodding at my choked-up words, she rests her head on my shoulder. Her fingers twirling the hair at the edges of my cap as she tucks herself right into me and swings her legs gently to rock us.
This is the most at peace I’ve felt in weeks, sitting here with her, in the place Kit and I love the most. I hope they get to meet, to know one another. Kit would love Cassie. That thought fills me with tantamount happiness and sadness, because what if it is too late?
Chapter 28
Cassandra
Time is flying by. The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of late nights and early mornings. Leo won’t tell me much more, but I can tell there’s something going on. Christopher is constantly on the phone to him, and every time I see them together, they’re signing papers and talking in code.
I have this foreboding tightening in my chest that gets heavier each day. Wayne is glued to my side, and still I can’t feel safe. Leo was right, ignorance was bliss—it was freedom. Now, I’m a prisoner of my own paranoia and fear. Every day comes with the dread of what if.
What if they come for me again?
What if Leo gets hurt? Or worse?
What if today is the day Kit fades?
Shuddering at the thought, I try to focus on the dissertation pages in front of me. They’ve been my reprieve away from Leo. But my fist like heart won’t stop aching, because with every visit to Kit, I see his hope whittle down little by little. Piece by piece, and I can feel the desperation clawing inside him. There’s nothing I can say or do, it’s a frustration unlike any other I’ve known.
“What’re you thinking?” Leo asks, brushing my hair back into my topknot.
Despite the weight of his eyes on me, and the way my heart flutters with the feel of his hand tracing down my side to my belly, I carry on reading through my work. I think I’ve read the same line at least six times when his fingers inch down between my thighs, and I have to give up.
You would’ve thought he’d be tired or something. We’ve barely left his bed today, my body is