Page 77 of Radiant Exception
“I know, and I’m still here, still thinking about what a life with you would be like.” I let my voice go low.
“I don’t know what you think you know—”
“Cassidy,” I purred, allowing a smile to curl my lips. “You don’t have to hide. It’s okay. I haven’t told another soul.”
His whole body had gone taut.
“It’s a good thing they caught Simon. Takes the heat off things.” I smiled wider. “And he deserved it after how he treated me.”
Cassidy’s lips parted. He took a beat, calculating how to move forward. Would he deny everything, or give in, thinking that already had me in his clutches?
“He wasn’t supposed to give you to those traffickers. I just needed to make sure Chadwick had time to get the package off the ship.” The asshole had the audacity to reach across the desk for my hand, which I gave him. “I was already working on a way to get you back, before Vaughn figured out you were gone. You know I’d never let anything happen to you.” His eyes smoldered.
“Why did you stay away so long?” I asked, my voice breathy and wanting. “I could have been helping you build this empire the whole time, at your side.”
The look on Cassidy’s face was full of yearning. “I wanted that, more than you could ever know. I wasn’t lying when I told you everything I’d done was to be enough for you.”
“But you’ve always been enough, Cassidy.” I squeezed his hand. “My parents and Xavier were always limiting me, and you set me free.” I swallowed back bile at the vicious lies. “Have you really loved me all these years, like I’ve loved you?”
He released a shuddering sigh, his shoulders sagging at the faux revelation. “You’re the reason for all of this. Everything I’ve done has been for you.”
My heart broke at the thought, but I was too close to show him how I really felt. “How? How did it all happen? You’ve done so much in such a short time. I’m so proud of you.”
Cassidy’s eyes darted past me to the closed door again, as if needing the reassurance that we wouldn’t be overheard. It was a good thing he seemed to be entranced enough by me not to think I would be streaming all of this to Darren and Vaughn, who were recording every single fucking word coming from his disgusting mouth.
“I guess it started with my college roommate. He was a chem major and liked to experiment with new compounds and side effects in his custom narcotics. He stumbled upon the strain now known as Elysian by accident, but it took off like wildfire, and when I gave him the idea for the name…he couldn’t make it fast enough,” Cassidy recalled.
“You weren’t really into that stuff when we were growing up,” I told him.
Cassidy shook his head. “I never have been.” He laughed. “I’ve never tried Elysian. Not worth the risk.”
I nodded in agreement.
“The thing was, Trevor—my roommate—he had no head for business. He just made what he could in between classes and spent all the extra cash on more drugs and girls. But I saw so much potential, if he could just find a way to scale up his operations.”
“So clever.” I beamed at him, encouraging him to continue.
“I reached out to someone I’d met through our travels. He had a reputation for being a little on the unsavory side, so I wasn’t worried about him selling me out. And he agreed with everything I wanted to do and saw the same potential and utilized some connections in Meridian to help me get things set up.”
“They were kind of a mess back then, huh?” I commented.
Cassidy snorted a laugh. “You have no idea. But once the money started flowing in, all of a sudden people were looking to me for guidance and it all just kind of snowballed. I worried getting stationed out on the helioplex would cause things to fall apart, but I was able to figure out a workaround to piggyback on nearby ships, other relay stations, and satellites to significantly reduce the communication delay, so I was still able to keep tabs on things from even the far reaches of the system.”
“I always hated how much everyone underestimated you. Xavier always stole all the glory from you and me because he was so outspoken and outgoing, but you were always the quiet genius between the three of us,” I told him, continuing to stroke his ego.
He shook his head, smiling wide. “I knew you were the only one who ever saw me—the real me. Growing up, my mom was always comparing me to Xavier, always making me feel like nothing I did was good enough. And even though me and her traveled with your family, she still worked for them, and there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t feel lesser.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It was never anything you did. If anything, you were my salvation—the one bright ray of sunshine in my life. But you were always off-limits. I knew Xavier would never let me get close to you, and even if he did, there was no way your parents would allow you to be with their aide’s kid.” His tone grew frustrated. “So I just waited. Bided my time. Until I had the chance to make my own way, define my own legacy, and prove to everyone that I was worthy of everything that had been denied to me.”
“Of course you are.”
“Meridian saw value in me, where others had not. They gave me opportunities that I never would have received elsewhere. I never asked to lead anyone, but they needed someone to step up, and I was the one they wanted.Finally, I was wanted. I hope you understand,” he pleaded.
“You just wanted to be seen. That’s all anyone wants,” I tried to placate him.
He ran his hand through his hair, perhaps nervous about the remainder of the story.
