Page 19 of Broken Prince

I’m going to be 21 next month, she replied as if I'd asked. I knew everything about Cassandra West, even that it seemed to be impossible for her to ask for help, for anything. I presume it was due to being raised by emotionally abusive parents—at least I thought it was only emotionally. My hand tightened into a fist on my desk, almost involuntarily.

That girl had no idea what she had done when she’d started chatting with me through the anonymity of the screens. Hell,Ididn’t even know what I’d started until I felt waves of protectiveness for this woman, barely out of adolescence.

I turned toward the gazebo. The silly woman had it in her head to repair it and she had been working on it a few hours every day, and I was going out in the dead of the night with a torch to fix what she’d attempted to do.

I was not even sure why I was doing it; it would have been better if she’d failed. At least she’d realize then that not everything is worth saving. Every night I was swearing to myself I was done helping her, and every night I was going back like a fool.

The gardener is coming back next week to plant some of the flowers I ordered. Would you like me to show you what I’ve got and where I thought about planting them?

I shook my head. She wanted to see me; that much was clear, but she couldn’t, not now, not ever.

If only for the fact that knowing who I was and why I was here could put her life at risk.

Don’t lie to yourself, Luca. You don’t want to see the look of horror she’ll have when she sees your face.A face that used to make panties wet, now made women recoil and avert their eyes.

I remembered that the first time I saw Francesca after the accident. She’d always been a shallow bitch but still. I retreated into myself and she used it as an excuse to break our engagement and I've been told that Savio and she had been more than friendly—not that I’d cared. Savio could keep the poisonous snake she was.

Do as you please; I’m sure it will be fine.

Are you sure? I won’t be here forever. You’ll have to live with it.

Ah yes, I’ve been forgetting these days that she was not a permanent feature. I shouldn't care, she was just a domestic. She’d barely been here two weeks, and yet I was looking forward to her random thoughts and pointless chatter. It was a nice distraction from my discussions with Dom or the tedious call with my uncle I had to suffer through every so often.

She didn’t know who I was or what I'd done and that felt nice. Even if I didn't deserve that small reprieve I still took it every chance I got.

It doesn’t matter; it’ll be fine.I’d let them die once she was gone anyway.

Jude sent me a text this morning. He’s loving the books you lent to him.

Good, he seems like one of a kind, your brother.

He’s the best. I think everyone says that about their own though. Do you have siblings?

And I was done. Her questions cut way too deep and I was not drunk enough to deal with any thoughts of Arabella. Because she’d been the best little sister, the best human there was, and I'd killed her.

I didn't answer her. I never bothered telling her when I was done. I just stopped responding and she usually figured it out on her own, never holding any grudges though. How peculiar.

I stood up, grabbed the unopened bottle of whisky, and dragged my ass to my bedroom, ready to get drunk for the day.

* * *

I walked or rather dragged myself to my office with the mother of all hangovers. I never should have started drinking again after I vomited last night, and yet I did. Thinking about Arabella had twisted my guts. Logically, even in my foggy brain, I knew Cassie didn't know that. She hadn't done it to torture me, and yet I couldn’t help being angry at her because of it.

I walked into my office to find Dom sitting at my desk. What the fuck.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I barked at Dom and winced at the mariachi band in my brain.

He stood up slowly as if he’d not just earned himself a bullet through his skull. You couldn’t just walk in the office of a capo thinking you could do what the hell you wanted. That was a death warrant.

Are you a capo though? More like a human wreck.

“I was waiting for you.” He shrugged. “I came to your room and knocked four times. I assumed you were either in an alcohol-induced coma or dead. I figured waiting for you here was just as good.” He jerked his thumb toward the computer. “I bought new shoes.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t seem upset about my potential demise. Sorry to disappoint.”

He sighed. “I won’t waste my time or sorrow on something you’re so hell-bent on doing. You want to die? I’m done trying to stop you.”

I couldn’t deny that despite everything, his words stung. He was finally giving up on me. “And don’t touch my stuff again, understood? Use your fucking laptop to buy your shoes or watch your porn, for fuck’s sake.”

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