Cassian didn't wait for anyone. Not the doctor. Not the guards. The moment the final trace on the phone call was decrypted, he was already in the car—silent, lethal, consumed. His jaw clenched like steel, blood humming with quiet rage. He knew the name now.
Adrien Vale.
The name hissed through his mind like venom. A former syndicate associate, buried years ago in ashes and debt, apparently not as dead as everyone believed. He had been working under the radar, building an empire off Cassian's enemies, waiting for the moment Cassian would finally have a weakness.
He had found it in Alina.
Cassian tracked him down to an abandoned refinery in Serbia. The air was cold and filled with soot, but Cassian's steps were fire. He didn't bring an army. He brought wrath. The guards at the gate were down before they could raise their rifles. Inside, Vale barely had time to register the breach before Cassian's blade sank into his shoulder, pinning him to the rusted steel wall.
"You touched what's mine," Cassian whispered, voice soaked in poison.
Vale choked on his breath. "She was never yours to begin with—"
Cassian didn't let him finish. The punishment was slow. Surgical. Every bone in Adrien's right hand was shattered, every lie peeled away with blood. Cassian didn't flinch, not once. His fury wasn't loud—it was precise. And when the final bullet lodged between Vale's eyes, Cassian didn't feel triumph.
Just the haunting echo of too late.
---
He returned home at dawn, covered in blood and smoke. Alina was in their bed, fragile and bruised, but alive. He watched her sleeping for long seconds before slipping into the sheets beside her, his hand trembling as it brushed over her face.
She stirred. "You found him."
"I killed him."
Her eyes opened. Tired. Afraid. But safe. "Good."
Cassian didn't answer. He leaned in slowly, pressing his lips against her collarbone, against her scars. He traced each injury like it was a vow.
"You're safe now," he whispered.
But safety wasn't enough. Not after what was taken. Not after the way her body had been touched, restrained, terrorized.
His hands gripped her thighs as he pulled her into his lap, not asking—claiming.
Her breath hitched, still bruised, but she didn't resist. She kissed him back like she needed to forget, fingers tangled in his hair, her hips grinding against him as if only he could remind her she was still alive. He tpok her to bathroom and quickly undress her. He needs her right now. He wants to take every touch away. He take off his own clothes. He was already hard. The shower steamed around them, but it wasn't water that burned—it was them. Cassian held her like she was air and fire, his mouth devouring her neck, her breasts, her cries.
She moaned his name like a lifeline. He thrust into her with raw desperation, one hand braced against the tile, the other wrapped tight around her waist. It wasn't just sex—it was possession, fury, fear. A promise.
"Cassian, don't stop!!", she screamed. It only fuel Cassian more. He start thrusting wildly but he stop to look at her if she's fine or if he's hurting the babies. Alina saw him and understands why he stopped suddenly.
"We're fine, Cassian. You can continue." She said breathing heavily. Cassian only need to hear this and he resume his movements. He was desperate, scared too as if he let go of her, she will disappear. He promised to himself.
That no one would ever hurt her again.
When she finally collapsed against his chest, boneless and trembling, he held her under the warm stream for minutes. Neither spoke.
He carried her back to the bed, dried her skin with a towel, dressed her wounds with a gentleness that didn't match the storm inside him.
And when she fell asleep with his hand resting over her belly, Cassian stayed awake.
Whispering to the unborn life growing inside her.
His palm settled over the gentle swell. Twins.
He had never believed in peace. Never believed he deserved family.
But as he felt the faintest flutter under his fingers, Cassian exhaled something soft.
A vow.
"I'll burn the world for you," he murmured to the bump, "and if anyone touches her again—I'll end them before they breathe."
The room was silent.
But for once, in Cassian's world of blood and vengeance, there was something else.
Hope.