Page 9 of Maddest Temptation

Why was I such a failure? Maybe my father had been right when he called me a big disappointment.

3

FRANCESCA

There was a shift in the air like the moment before a storm where everything went still, the air turned cold, and the world turned dark. It would happen all at once, one moment peace and the next chaos.

An icy shiver raced down my back, causing me to tremble, I dug my nails into the palm of my hands readying myself for the force of the storm. Eyes open and searching, they eventually landed on the guards at the end of the corridor. There was a commotion, they argued but then the door was opened, and two men stepped forward.

I sensed him before I even saw him walk into the room. His presence demanded my attention and my eyes refused to look anywhere else but at him.

God! What have you done Francesca?

“Miss Manci.” The asshole guard that had leered at me like I was his next meal called.

Then I heard Cassio’s voice. Laced with violence and the promise of death, the most gruesome and painful of deaths. I just wondered whose. His tone was professional and detached despite the dark edge to it. “That’s her.” His head turned toward my direction.

Transfixed, I watched as he walked toward the cell, wishing my eyes would find something else to look at. Instead, they were locked on him. Only him. Like there wasn’t anyone else in the room.

I sucked in a deep breath, and it refused to leave, remaining lodged in my lungs, straining it with unwelcome pressure.

Cassio had changed.

He looked older, manlier if it were even possible. He had always been tall, but now he seemed larger than life. The breadth of his shoulders made him look strong and capable. The white casual shirt, and the black trench coat he wore hugged his frame offering me a quality view of his muscles.

Cassio ran his fingers through his messy bed golden brown hair, it was longer than I remember, curling around his ears and falling over his eyes. The strangest urge to run my fingers through it settled over me, and I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to focus on something else.

“Dear heavens.” Kimberly came to stand beside me, fingers circling the bars. “What is that?”

I refrained from answering because there was no right answer for her question. Cassio was power incarnate, his head held high, his steps determined, and his back straight as a rod. He was a god in all his glory and might.

With each powerful step he took toward us, I realized that staying here didn’t sound so bad after all. Kimberly was starting to seem like a fun companion for the rest of my night.

The closer he got, the smaller the room around me became. Cassio seemed to suck all the air out of the room, pushing and pulling everything in its wake. Like a tornado that had finally touched the ground. Beautiful in all its danger.

Cassio Moretti stopped right in front of me on the other side of the cell. He tilted his head left, studying me like I was the newest attraction at the zoo. His eyes trailed my body, not as invasive and hungry as the guards had been. Cassio’s was cold, detached, and…judging.

There was nothing warm about him. His pine-green eyes burned with icy fire, leaving third-degree burns in their wake. He tore through my barriers, even though I fought with everything I had. Nothing could have prepared me for that.

I studied him trying to conjure the same intensity but obviously, I failed. Leaning against the bars to keep myself steady, I offered him a sweet smile, that always worked for me. Had worked once on him. But to this new version of him, I was nothing but prey, who had been spotted by its predator.

“Francesca,” he drawled.

My name on his lips was both like a curse and a balm soothing my soul. It reached the top of my head and all the way to my curled toes. It was too much. With the effect of the drug, his presence, and the way he looked at me, I was seconds from having a nervous breakdown.

I didn’t answer, nor did I move—it was physically impossible. I was in complete shock. Cassio shouldn’t have come, nothing in our short conversation indicated he was coming, or that he wanted to. The man didn’t even recall who I was.

Cassio ran his thumb under his lower lip, a sign I recalled, that he was annoyed. He ordered the guard to open the cell door, and he reluctantly did so, glaring at me the entire time.

“You’ve got powerful friends,” the guard chuckled as he reached for me, but before his hands could land on mine, Cassio stopped the guard from reaching me. He pulled the man away and offered him a warning look.

“Let’s go, Francesca,” Cassio ordered as he began to walk away.

I stood there frozen for a while before realizing that was it, just like that, I was freed. I turned just in time to catch the guard locking the cell door with Kimberly still inside. “Hey, your shoes.” She picked them up.

“Keep them,” I said still dazed with everything that was happening. “Nice meeting you.”

“Francesca,” Cassio drawled again, this time impatiently. He was already halfway through the corridor.

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