Page 31 of Captivated

“You’re still here?” my cousin, Alec, asks when I walk into his office. “I thought you’d have gone back home by now.”

“Not until this thing with Cassie and her brother is resolved.”

“Seriously?” he asks, surprised.

“Yes,” I sigh, taking the seat in front of his desk. “She doesn’t want me around, but I’m still going to be here for when she does.”

“Take it from someone who waited until Tessa was in trouble and needed help…don’t wait. And if you’re going to have someone watching her, make sure he knows his job.”

“Cassie’s not the kind to ask for help. But she’s also not the kind who will accept it even when she needs it.”

“Sounds like someone who will keep your attention. Tessa has certainly kept mine when I didn’t think any woman could.”

Alec used to be such a quiet, closed-off guy. It’s nice to see that Tessa is making him come out of hiding, even when I know he’d probably rather stay locked away with her and say,to hell with the world.

“How is she doing? How’s my future niece or nephew doing?”

“She’s good.” He nods. “Driving me fucking crazy, but she’s good. And the baby is good, too. We have an appointment tomorrow for another ultrasound, and her blood work will be in so we can know if it’s a boy or girl.”

“Which do you want?”

“I don’t know,” he says with thought, leaning back in his chair. He looks off over my shoulder at nothing in particular when he says, “I just want Tessa and the baby to be safe and healthy. But I still don’t think I’m cut out to be a dad even though Tessa says I am. So, I don’t know what the better option would be – boy or girl.”

“Alec.” I shake my head. “Man, listen to me. The fact that you even think that means you’re aware of what it means to be a good or bad dad. You’ve got this. And you’ve got a good fucking woman to make sure you’re a good dad. I know you’re going to do everything in your power to keep Tessa and the baby safe, and give them everything they want and what you never had growing up. Vin and I don’t know what you, Leo, and Luca went through with your dad when we weren’t there, but I know it wasn’t good. You’re never going to do that shit. Am I right?”

Alec shifts in his chair, clearly uncomfortable with the intrusion on his feelings and talk of the past. “Yeah,” he croaks, then clears his throat. “Thanks.”

“I’m just telling you what you already knew, but needed to hear. Tessa knows who you are. She’s carrying your baby, and she already married you for Christ’s sake. She hasn’t run after everything she’s been through, and she’s not going to.”

Alec nods his agreement. Tessa is as deep as he is. She wouldn’t leave him. And even if the thought occurred to her, Alec would do any and everything he had to in order to keep her with him.

They were the first couple I’ve ever seen be so completely gone for one another that the world could be burning and they’d look at each other like the other one started the fire just so theycouldbe the only ones left.

It’s a crazy fucking love.

A crazy fucking love that I want.

I’ve never wanted to burn the world for someone until I saw the flames right in front of my face, felt them in my hands, and felt the power they possess sliding through my fingers before I wrapped them around my wrist as I tried to fuck them extinguished.

But the flames prevail. Always there.

The red flames I want burning me for all fucking eternity.

“What do you need from me to help your girl?” Alec asks, getting back to why I came here.

“Her brother’s name is Sean. Sean Connelly. I don’t know much about him. All I know is that he used to live in New York, and then dropped off the map. He answered the door beaten and bruised on Friday when I dropped Cassie off, which is why I asked you to get a guy to watch her. I didn’t want Stefano to do too much of a deep dive into her life. Just enough to know who he was. But now she’s pissed at me because I looked into her at all, and won’t tell me what’s going on.”

“You want me to ask Stef? Then you can blame me for digging into her life and you can just listen in while he works and tells me what he finds.”

“Sounds like a bullshit way around it, but okay.” I shrug. “I need to know if she’s in trouble because of him.”

Alec picks up his office phone and dials Stefano’s number, then puts it on speaker. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, Stef, Nico’s here too. I’m going to need you to do that deep dive into Cassie and her brother.”

“You okay with this, Nico? You said–”

“I know what I said. Do it.”

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