Page 34 of Caden the CEO
“I promise.”
“Good,” Dreya replied before pulling her sister close for a hug.
That Weekend
“Bae, if you let me fall?—”
Caden sucked his teeth. “The only time I’ll let you fall is when it’s in love with me.” Caden scooped her up and carried her bridal style, causing Dru to fall into a fit of laughter. “Is that better, sweetheart?”
“Perfect,” she almost hummed, tightening her grip around his neck.
When he said he had a surprise for her and to spend some time outside of the house, Dru had no idea what she was going to be walking into. As soon as she stepped inside of their home, Caden blindfolded her. She’d only made it a few steps down the foyer before not being able to see got the best of her, and she was glad Caden picked her up and alleviated her anxiety.
She noticed he didn’t carry her upstairs, but wherever he’d taken her had quite a few turns. When he finally did put her on her feet, he said, “Aight, so the surprise is kind of in different rooms. You’ll know what I’m up to after this, so you can take the blindfold off now.”
Gasping, Dru covered her opened mouth. Through the glass patio doors, she noticed men outside in the backyard digging.
“Don’t tell me this is what I think it is!” she yelled excitedly, gripping his wrist.
“It is. Your pool will be ready this spring.”
“Ah! Yay!” She jumped into his arms, and he immediately held her close and laughed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Ahhh, I’m so excited!”
“Good. I’m glad. There’s more though.”
“Aww, Caden. I promise I don’t need anything else.”
“You might not need it, but I want you to have it. Not only do I want you comfortable here, but I want you to know this is as much your home as it is mine. Also, I know I’m busy as fuck, and I never want you to feel like you can’t enjoy yourself here if I’m not home. Sooo . . .” He waited until they were in front of the door of his game room to say, “This is for you.”
When he opened the door, she gasped again. “My game room will be down in the basement. This will be your book cove, and next door, we’re gonna make that your art room.” He took a few steps down the hall and opened the door, but Dru was stuck staring at the shelves that already had so many books. “I figured you’d want to design it yourself, but I went ahead and had three of the four walls lined with shelves. Here, come look.”
Dru’s eyes blurred with tears as she took small steps in his direction. She was so overwhelmed and surprised, she honestly didn’t know how much more she could take. A whimper escaped her at the sight of easels, canvases, and a rainbow of paint selections. He’d even gotten a coat rack and hung up several aprons for her to put on while she painted. There was a vinyl player in the corner along with Al Green records. If she hadn’t been in love with him before, she certainly was now.
Speechless, Dru wrapped her arms around his neck. The harder she cried, the closer he held her. Rocking her back and forth, Caden whispered in her ear, “Welcome home, sweetheart.”
Caden didn’t thinkhe’d love spending a quiet evening at home, but that was his new normal. For their home date night, Dru had customized puzzles for them to put together. Each one had a different picture of them that they’d taken together. The shit was the kind of cutesy thing he knew his brother and best friend would clown him for, but he had fun putting it together. The message behind it was made clear—they were the perfect fit, and like a puzzle, they were two people, two pieces, who belonged together.
The thoughtfulness behind the gift and date night caused warmth and emotions he’d never felt for a woman before to spread through Caden’s core. Dru had a tendency to downplay the things she did with and for him because they weren’tas extravagant as the things he provided, but Caden didn’t care about that. Everything she did for him was thoughtful, intentional, and sentimental, and to him, it was priceless.
When her alarm went off, that meant their homemade pizzas were done. She stood and asked if he wanted anything besides the pizza and wings, and he told her no. Caden’s plan was to refresh their drinks while she fixed their plates, but when he pulled his phone out to check the time, he saw that he had two missed calls from Lorenzo. It couldn’t have been business related because he would have called his secured line, but Caden was still curious about what he could have wanted that warranted back-to-back calls.
“You busy?” Lorenzo asked as soon as Caden answered the call.
“Date night with my sweetheart.”
“Tell the little one I said what’s up. I won’t keep you long. Just wanted to tell you I still ain’t been able to get that link with Galloway. He ain’t necessarily hiding, but he doesn’t want to hear what we have to say. He said, and I quote, ‘Young blood is a CEO for a pharmacy chain. He ain’t no threat to me,’ and then he said he’s not interested in meeting with you to squash a beef that he didn’t put on the fire himself. I made it clear him going after Dru or even taunting her and trying to make her fear for her life was an automatic death sentence, fuck a damn beef, but he wasn’t trying to hear that. He’s not taking you seriously at all, Cade.”
Squeezing the bridge of his nose, Caden released a long breath. It wouldn’t have been the first time someone in The Syndicate didn’t take him seriously. Because he didn’t have unnecessary wars or shows of power, people often underestimated him. That was cool. That was often when he thrived the most.
“It’s his funeral,” Caden said casually with a shrug. “I’m not willing to risk Dru seeing him out in public. While I feel like he’s upset because I outmaneuvered him, I don’t want to risk him taking it out on her.”
It was in that moment that Caden realized just how much he’d fallen in love with Dru. He’d always been a gambling man, but when it came to her heart or her safety, those were two things he’dneverplay around with.
“Agreed.”
“Reach out to Rameek Mayhem in Memphis. He has a PI firm now. See if he can get the address to Galloway’s compound. Once we get that address, we’ll plan an attack. Since he wants to talk about beef, I’ma make sure he’s bloody and rare.”
The next night, Caden took Dru to Cash’s casino. Since Lorenzo and Niko were tagging along, Stevie came with her sister too. They were all having a good time until Caden noticed an older man staring at him. At them. Casually, he brought the man to Niko and Lorenzo’s attention, but neither of them recognized him.
