DAYS HAVE PASSED since Casselba had her little game of Kiss and Tell with the Hallow males, Caden and Ryan. The two had quickly left her large Alpine-style house to their own sprawling mansion.
The next days had been all about business for the handsome business magnate and his son. Ryan continued attending his history lectures at Stanford and the sheer brilliance of Casselba in her calm, professional nature never ceased to stun him. However, it seemed both men could do nothing about her choice.
Their werewolf mistress had completely blocked out any access to her mind.
It's a slow Friday morning when Caden Hallow sits in his office, brooding. A mug of steaming bland coffee brews right before him on his large shiny desk but the man ignores it.
His lips are stretched tight in a flat line and it's no secret he's furious. Furious, but not at anyone in particular—maybe someone. The name 'Hiram' keeps flocking into his mind. Even in his subconscious.
Caden knew something was wrong. Casselba had straight-up frozen when Ryan had brought it up earlier.
Whatever the man had done to her, it sure as hell left it's mark. Casselba was a strong woman, with a liberal mind and a reserved heart. He couldn't think of any sane person who would want to hurt her.
Come to think of it, this unknown person might be manic. Who the fuck names their son Hiram! As this thought flies by, his features soften and his lips twitch a bit.
Inwardly, he is confused. He has a choice. He can either play it the way Casselba wants and forget all about Hiram, or he can go with the other option; FIND THE BASTARD AND MAKE HIM PAY...
Option two seems to be very enticing.
While he doesn't necessarily know what Hiram did to Casselba, he could sense the pain within her, sorta like a paranormal channel. Apart from their mind link, he could tell when she was hurt. It only worsens matters that he hasn't been able to sit with her in a while.
However, the man knows sitting with her would be the least on their agenda should they meet again.
Casselba had will. He fucking loved it. He could tell in the little time spent with her that she wanted them too, but she denied herself. Rather than put him away, it only made his blood rush fiercer for her.
Caden's thoughts are still firing in all directions when he hears a light rap on his office door.
"Come in!' he calls.
The door opens and Adelaide, now his first assistant walks in. His gaze goes over her. She is beautiful but he feels nothing. While Adelaide looked RUNWAY gorgeous, she couldn't compare to Casselba. The woman was like a solar flare on a stormy night. She signified hope and completion.
Pulling. Drugging. Saving.
Prior to her coming into his life, he'd spent the years mourning his wife, Catherine, Ryan's mother. He had married Catherine right after college and she'd been everything a man could wish for. She was the story behind his success.
When she'd died, she left him torn. He feared he would lose everything he had accomplished without her guidance. He feared her light had flickered away with her. She had died during Ryan's delivery.
There were doctors and nurses everywhere—the best kind; throughout the entire labor period but it had just happened. Ryan came out screaming without a mother to hold him.
While Caden was not one of those men who blamed their kids after such tragedy, he knew in that moment he would give anything to see her brilliant smile again. Catherine had that smile. His life after her passing had been all about work and little play. No time for women in his life.
But then came Casselba...
And he felt the rush in her eyes, gray like a thunderhead. He felt the danger in her appealing skin. He felt the chemistry in her presence. He felt euphoria in her wild, superhuman nature...
"S—Sir!"
The light voice stirs him out of his dreamy haze. He focuses once more on his surrounding, suppressing a groan in finding himself back once more at the office. He really wanted to be somewhere else—with someone else...
"Sir!" The voice comes again, harder this time.
"Christ! Adelaide. What is it?" Caden growls.
"It's nine thirty, Sir," comes her reply.
"Yes?"
"So you need to drink your coffee, Sir."
"Really? Adele. That's why you came in here? To tell me about goddamn coffee. I have other things running through my—"
He sputters out when Adele leans over the table. Her palms go flat on the burnished wood and she pins him with brown eyes, adopting her stern glance.
Caden sees what's coming before she speaks.
"You gave me this job, Sir for a reason. One of those reasons is to make sure you don't sulk all day in your office..."
Caden runs his hands through his hair, distorting the perfect nature of the glossed coif. Adele grits her teeth at this but goes on.
"...I came in here because you have a meeting scheduled for ten and you haven't even drunk your coffee. Every fucking person knows coffee comes before anything else..."
Caden narrows his eyes at the word 'fucking' in her statement but his lips still twitch. That's why he had Adelaide as his assistant. She gave it to him straight. She wasn't a kiss-ass.
"...so drink your goddamn coffee, Sir," she finishes.
Inspite of his annoyance seconds before, Caden nearly applauds Adele. He lifts his left hand to the table and grabs the mug.
The brown liquid is now lukewarm.
As it flows down his throat, Adele walks around the desk to his side. Pulling a tiny comb out of her purse, she moves behind him. Her hands descend to his hair and she brushes it back once more to sleek elegance. Caden smirks.
"You have a comb in your purse?"
It was clear the man was taunting her so she taunts him back.
"What can I say? My boss has a habit of touching his hair EVERY TEN SECONDS."
She stretches out the last three words and Caden smiles. He was feeling better already. Good morning coffee and a loyal Assistant will do that.
"There," Adele says, moving away to study him. "You are back to your Hollywood Hotness."
"Thank you," Caden finds himself saying.
"Aww! Just because I brushed your hair?" Adele plays.
Caden catches the humor and they both smile. After a while, he schools his features and Adele knows playtime is over. She glances down at her watch.
"Fifteen minutes until the meeting, Sir!"
Caden shifts on his chair, squinting.
"With who?"
"The A. Group," Adele replies. She turns to leave when Caden stops her with his final words.
"Can you get Ren in here?"
"Yes Sir, will do," the woman responds and makes a brisk exit, careful to lock the door behind her.
Caden drains the mug and settles back on his seat. He was lucky to have a woman like Adelaide.
About two minutes later the door opens and in walks his Head of Security, Ren Curtis.
Ren was a Blasian with solid Japanese parentage. He was almost as tall as Caden and had glossy black hair he always wore in a ponytail.
He had smooth mocha skin and the lean musculature of his ancestry. His martial arts was second to none. Hell! The man could do fifty pushups with a single finger. Ren was also a homosexual, out and proud.
He was born in Japan but spent most of his time with his Afro-american mother in the States. Three tours in Afghanistan during his early twenties. Stunt double for a famous actor in his late twenties. Now, in his early thirties, he was Head of Security for the Hallow Empire.
Obviously, Ren was the best at what he did.
He and Caden had a rapport, a camaraderie. Ren was Caden's confidant. Which is why he needed him for the task at hand.
Caden had made his decision on what to do about Hiram.
"Sir, you called!" Ren says, walking towards Caden's desk.
"Yes, I did. Thank you for coming."
Ren nods as Caden rises from his seat. He grabs a file from off the polished desktop and covers the small distance to his bodyguard.
He holds the file out to Ren and the man collects it. However, he doesn't open it. Keeping his eyes on Caden, he waits for the man to give his orders.
"Inside the file is a single name. I don't know who he is or what he does. All I know is that he hurt someone I care about. I presume he can't be too far from the state. I want you to return the file bulky with everything about people with that name."
Ren nods and opens the file. Just like his boss said. Only one word in black letters stares back at him.
HIRAM.
"This has to be a Project X," Caden says in front of him.
"Yes Sir," Ren replies, turns and walks out, the single file clasped in his hand.
Project X meant secret. Whoever this Hiram person was, Ren hoped for his sake he knew to run far, far way. For he had just stepped on the tiger's tail. The 'Tiger' of Wall Street.
Back in his office, Caden grabs his black suit jacket, drags it over his shoulders and with a glance down at his Rolex, he smiles.
10 am. Right on time.
Leaving his stellar office behind, he proceeds to the conference room.