Witness Protection ✔

Safety First

The first thing she'd done after Cassius and Nico left was to check the room for cameras.

She hadn't forgotten Chris's creepy behavior and it made her sick knowing she'd have to share her remaining time with Cassius with him there.

When she was done inspecting the room she made her way down, again noticing the fancy rails on the stairs and the soft carpet under her feet. Her first instinct was to look for them in the kitchen, where Cassius tended to hang out a lot in the past. When she saw that it was empty she decided to just walk around and explore the house for a bit.

While opening random doors along her way she found a few offices decorated with expensive wood, a bar, a poker room, and a conference room of some sorts. The last one is where the men turned out to be. When she entered only Nico looked up to throw her a smile, which she gladly returned before taking a seat.

"We have to bar the backdoor, I've checked the locks and they aren't good enough. One kick and it's gone," Chris pointed out. She disliked the man so much even his voice annoyed her.

"It counts as an emergency exit, we can't seal it," Cassius replied coolly. For some reason, he looked very on edge, but she didn't quite know why.

"So what do you suggest then?" It was obvious Chris didn't like being told 'no' and she felt a little smug knowing Cassius said it a lot.

"Have it reinforced so it can't be kicked down. Nico, call Garett and tell him to send someone over."

Nico, who'd been silent the whole conversation, sprung up and left the room with a quick 'on it'. She wondered if he'd been silent because he had no authority or because he didn't want to get involved in whatever Chris and Cassius had going on.

Seemingly done with the conversation Chris left the room as well, leaving Cassius alone with Nathalia.

It suddenly felt very awkward, she knew there were cameras pointed at them so she had to act like there was nothing between them. But she also knew he wasn't a very talkative person and she didn't know what to talk about.

"You like the room?" he asked offhandedly while gathering some papers in front of him. She was glad he was the one who broke the silence because it was getting harder and harder to think.

She looked at his hand, which moved all over the table while sorting out the files in front of them. "Yeah, it's gorgeous. Nico said something about it being used for senators and such, right?"

First, he replied with a nod, before maybe realizing he was stopping the conversation that way and answering, "Yeah, high profile cases. Senators among them."

She nodded and watched him finish gathering everything before standing up. "Come on, I'll show you the safe room here."

He gestured for her to leave the room first before taking the lead. Much to her chagrin, he led them up the stairs. Because of the fancy high ceilings in this house, the stairs were surprisingly long and her calves were already starting to cramp up.

Cassius stopped just short of her bedroom and opened the door. She didn't want to admit she was totally ogling his muscles but she did notice the way they strained as he opened to door. The door must have been very heavy if he had to put so much effort in just opening it and she wondered how she would ever do that in a crisis.

She hadn't noticed she was frowning at the door until Cassius spoke up, "If anything happens one of us will get you here, don't worry. Come on."

Stepping inside the room she couldn't help but notice the stench of metal surrounding her. The room was practically a metal cage with no windows. It was bare aside from a table with some water bottles and some chairs. She was pretty sure anyone would get claustrophobic in a space like that. The clang of the door closing made her swirl around in panic. She was relieved to find Cassius still in the room with her with that same passive look on his face as before.