Her Assassin's Heart - Book 2

Chapter 48

    Cassandra woke in the dark. The first thing that registered in her brain was that she was cold, her arms were numb, and she was furious. How many times had these people come after her now? This time, though, it was different. They'd hurt Nickolas.

    About this time, cold fear and dread settled into her mind. How many bullets had he taken? Was he dead? She might never see him again. Not that he'd wanted her to anyway. That was just another thing that added to her fury.

    She wished he was here right now, so she could tell him what was what. He had no right to decide what her future should look like. He wasn't here, though. In all likelihood, he was lying on the floor of his room at the pub, bleeding to death.

    As her awareness heightened, she discovered her mouth was bone dry. When she tried to move, she realized her arms were shackled to the ceiling, which would explain the numbness. She sniffed in the darkness and immediately sneezed twice. The air was thick and mildewy.

    "Well, I thought you'd never wake." It was a woman's voice, and blinding light filled the room.

    Cassandra flinched. Footsteps on the floor told her whoever had ordered her capture was coming toward her. A grating sound filled her ears as the blindness wore off, and she found herself staring at. . .no.

    "Mother?" She enunciated the word slowly, each syllable almost standing on its own. "What's going on?" She breathed.

    Lady Antrucha laughed cruelly. "Nothing. Yet."

    Cassandra found herself fighting against the chains that held her. "What have you done?"

    "I'm doing what I set out to do: making money and receiving a title." Her mother spat. "I've taken steps to achieve my goals, but there was always something holding me back, nagging at the back of my success." Horror flooded Cassandra. "I couldn't let your 'father' go on being happy."

    "What did you do?" Fury bolted through her, and Cassandra jerked against her chains like a madman.

    "I made a deal that would set me up for life and tear him down simultaneously." Maria shrugged like it was so easy to gloss over death.

    "You killed him! It was you!" Cassandra's scratchy throat rebelled against her shouts, but she didn't care.

    "Not exactly." Maria gave her a feline smile. "I simply gave someone else the tools to do so."

    Tears choked Cassandra, and she tried to even out her breathing. She had known her mother was capable of evil, but it had never occurred to her that it could be something so terrible. Ezra had been married to her for over two decades—how could she turn her back on the person who had lived beside her for so long?

    "How?" Maria read her expression. "With great pleasure. He was nothing to me. For a time, he provided my means into society, but that wasn't enough. He was never enough, the old buffoon."

    "Why?" Tears rolled down Cassandra's cheeks, and her voice was broken.

    "Because he never adored me. He knew how I felt about him and was indifferent to me." It was obvious that this infuriated Maria. "And he was going to throw me aside for you and your bastard of a sister. After all my years of planning, he was going to tear it down in one stroke."

    "So you killed him?" Cassandra breathed.

    "No," a gruff male voice drew her attention to the shadows. "I did."

    A figure stepped into the dim light, and Cassandra caught sight of a blunt, square chin, thick lips, a Roman nose, and above them, it was Lavinia's eyes looking at her with such contempt. The big, brown orbs took her in as if calculating every detail about her. Yes, those high cheek bones and delicate brows were Lavinia's.