29. ~Caspian~

“Sven, I’m well aware. Yes, of course we’ll move on this. Send me the tactical plan. Because I want to review it. Well, I do now, so send it over. Good. Talk to you later.”

“Fuck,” I heard Caleb mutter as he paced out on the patio smoking up a storm.

My phone buzzed in my suit jacket pocket and I pulled it out to see a message I’d been waiting on.

Luke: Frank Bennett has received our message regarding Wheeler.

Caspian: His reaction?

Luke: The way you intended. He’s pulled himself from a deep cover mission. Tracking Wheeler.

Caspian: Excellent. Briefing in ten minutes regarding impending strike against Bane.

Luke: Roger.

I stowed my phone away, then walked out onto the patio.

Caleb spun at the clack of my Louboutin’s. “Cas, hey.”

“You need to go.”

“What?”

“You need to go to your team, deal with the situation at hand.”

“You’re on the eve of a major fucking battle. If you think I’m gonna leave and—”

“You need to, Caleb. You’ve worked extremely hard and tirelessly to build your rehabilitation facilities network. I won’t let you neglect it now because of me.”

“Cas—”

I grasped his shoulders. “I’m absolutely fine with you going. There’s no ill will here, no worry on my end that you won’t return. Nothing like that. We’re stable.”

“Yeah?”

I smiled. “Yes.”

He slid his hands into my hair. “I love you, you know that? So fucking much, Caspian.”

“As I do you, lovely.”

With a tug to my hair, he jerked me down to him and crushed his mouth to mine.

A delectable groan emanated from him as I rose to it and hooked my tongue around his, the two of us tangling in a frenzy of passion that threatened to get the best of me.

He grasped my belt and tugged me against him, drawing a moan from me as he rolled his hips, making me feel his hard cock rubbing against mine, zaps of pleasure inundating me.

“Fuck,” I rasped, breaking our kiss, then pressing a hand to his chest to ease him back. “Ten minutes… until the briefing.”

“Then we’ll make it quick, yet explosive,” he said, jerking me back against him by my belt. He ran his fingers over my chest, tugging at my nipples through my shirt. God, he knew how to work me up. He was a master of seduction when he wanted to be. “Besides, I can feel the tension radiating through you, you could do with some relaxing before the meeting.”

“Caleb—”

He used his hold on my belt to spin me around and shove me into the fence that overlooked the gardens.

In the very next second, he was tearing open my belt, then jerking down my zipper.

He eyed me in question.

Well, more like in challenge.

“Take my cock out,” I ordered, my voice rough.

He smirked and then pulled my cock free from the confines of my pants, shoving them down to my thighs.

“Shit,” I choked as he wrapped his big hand around the base, then started fisting me in that rough and aggressive way he knew I liked.

He had me jolting as he flicked my piercings then toyed with them mercilessly, pinching and tugging, sending shocks of pleasure through me, and making me groan for him.

“Damn, you need this so badly,” he said, stopping all too soon and coating his fingers in my pre-cum. “Mmm. More. So much more,” he moaned to himself.

He sank to his knees, smirking up at me.

He grasped my base in a firm grip, then slicked his tongue over my slit, lapping up some traces of pre-cum. “Damn, Cas, love your taste.”

“Fuck,” I cried as he sucked my crown into his mouth and tugged at my piercings with his teeth. The sweet erotic torture had me digging my fingers into the fence either side, my arms splayed out, my head thrown back.

He had my balls drawing tight already.

And then he pulled from my cock just before he started swirling his tongue all fucking over, savoring my taste like one of his beloved gummy worms.

“Lovely,” I groaned at his teasing. No one could tease like him. No one.

He chuckled, the sound reverberating along my shaft. Jesus.

He gave one final flick of his tongue, then stared up at me, his lustful gaze burning into mine. “Tell me what you want.”

I shot out my hand and fisted it in his soft blond hair. “Swallow my cock.”

“Fuck, yeah.”

In the next moment, he held my hooded gaze as he took me in his mouth, his warmth slicking my shaft. A long groan escaped me as he took me deeper, inch by excruciating inch, drawing it out until he swallowed me to the root. I tightened my hold in his hair and he growled at the bite of pain, getting off on it, the vibrations rolling through me and making me thicken in his mouth.

He pulled back to the crown and then he stilled, his eyes darkening.

I knew that look well.

I slammed my hips forward, making him choke as I hit deep.

“Open that throat to me, my talented little cock sucker.”

I felt him relax for me like a good boy.

And then I gave him what we both wanted, powering down his throat, grasping his face and holding him at my mercy as I skull-fucked him.

He spluttered around me, his eyes shining with moisture at the brutal intensity I was dealing out, as saliva and pre-cum dripped down his chin. But he didn’t try to back up or escape my hold. He took it all, and that swirling tongue of his drove me out of my mind as he brought it back into play.

I was lost in the sensations, bliss wracking my body and taking me higher and higher, reality and all the stressors of late falling to the wayside, relegated to another realm for the time being.

I was vaguely aware of my ass cheek being peeled back.

A moment later, his finger teased my hole, slick with my pre-cum from earlier.

A tremble rolled through me, one of heady anticipation, and I let it happen as he dipped inside, twisting and stretching me open, before feeding me more and more.

“Fuck, more!” I cried out, lost to it all.

He added another finger and he lost his initial gentleness this time, angling both digits and ramming inside, right on that sweet spot.

I roared, my whole body bucking.

He targeted it fiercely, as I fucked his throat like a madman, my thrusts turning frantic and almost violent.

It hit me so suddenly, ecstasy tearing me apart, as I slammed my hips back and forth, driving deeper down his throat, then forcing his fingers deeper in my ass in the next beat.

I spurted down his throat, snarling out at the intensity of the release.

I just kept coming and coming until Caleb was working frantically to swallow it all down.

His fingers slipped from my ass and he slowly slid his mouth from my cock, licking my shaft on the way out, ensuring he’d gotten every drop of my hot cum.

I panted, sinking back against the fence, trying to catch my breath.

He rose up from his knees, licking his lips.

Stroking my chest soothingly, he leaned in and whispered in his sexy husky tone, “Next time, it’ll be my cock sinking into your delicious ass.”

My cock jerked at his words and he grinned as he felt it against him.

He didn’t speak to it, though, letting me bask in the afterglow as he wrapped himself around me and laid his head on my shoulder.

My arm encircled his waist, holding him to me as I breathed in his delectable apple cinnamon scent.

When my body had finally calmed, I kissed his cheek and told him, “Thank you, lovely.”

He eased back to look me in the eye. “Feel better?”

“Jesus Christ, yes.”

He chuckled. “I’m glad, Cas. You needed to take the edge off.”

I frowned. “You’re worried about me?”

“You’re under a shit-ton of pressure. Something’s gotta give. And soon. Once this war is done.”

“I know,” I admitted.

“Yeah? You’re actually going to take a break?”

I reached out and fondled his cheek. “I was actually thinking of a real vacation. All four of us.”

His eyes lit up. “I love it.”

“Good. Then that’s what we’ll do.” I pulled him to me and he wrapped himself around me.

We fell into a comfortable soothing silence for a while.

Until he lifted his head and told me, “Not being there with you during these strikes… it’s not sitting well with me.”

“Everything is planned out, everybody is now in place. There’s literally nothing for you to do.”

“Cas—”

“I need you on the outside of this for a reason.”

He pulled back, eyeing me. “How so?”

“Once you’re back, I need you here. In my place.”

He started shaking his head.

“Listen,” I insisted, holding his face in my hands, so he couldn’t turn away and avoid this. “Listen, lovely. You’re my second. You always have been and everything you’ve learned and bettered about yourself over the last two years has actually made you my partner. We’re on the same level now. As a precaution, I need you to be in position here. Just a precaution, Caleb. I’ve given an order to my people to defer command to you should anything delay my return or compromise my ability to do so myself.”

“Should you fall, you mean?”

Yes. “That’s not what I said.” And I couldn’t say that—not to any of them. But I did need to account for the unexpected, for every eventuality, and of course, this was one. Highly unlikely, given the plan Dante and I had worked out tirelessly, but still a possibility nonetheless. “I need you. I need you to do this for me. For us.”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a few moments.

And then he sucked in a breath and told me, “Of course. I’ve got you. I’ve always got you, Cas. Just don’t… don’t make it a reality, all right? Be fucking careful.”

“I swear it to you. I’d do nothing less in order to make it home to you all.”

My phone buzzed with the notification I’d set up for the briefing.

“It’s time,” I told him, easing back.

He steeled himself. “Let’s do it.”

“I mean,I knew it was gonna be a multi-pronged assault against Bane, but this is another level,” Caleb said, as he stood in front of my desk, looking over all the documentation concerning the tactical strikes Dante and I were about to launch against Bane Industries.

I smiled at Luke who was hunched over my desk beside Caleb, also studying everything, giving everything one more detailed look, like I’d done earlier this morning.

It never hurt to have a second set of eyes, especially those as experienced as his.

With Caleb, I wanted him to be put at ease by seeing the intricate details that had been worked out, that everything was in place to do this right and with very limited damage or collateral damage. Plus, now he’d shown an interest in tactical know-how, it was pertinent for him to be exposed to this sort of thing, and I planned to teach him how to create a strategy this intricate once this war was over and done with and I could finally breathe again.

Right now, it was hard enough to hide how stressed I was, how incredibly taxed with everything. And I knew they were concerned about me. I’d caught looks from all three of them and even Luke over the last few weeks.

There was nothing to be done about it right now, however.

They’d each come to me asking to be a part of the actual operations slated to take place tomorrow night, but I’d refused them. We had our people in place already. We’d had teams training for this specific situation for nearly two years. And, honestly, having them in the field would cause me undue worry and I’d be consumed with keeping track of the three of them at every turn to ensure their safety and wellbeing. It would split my focus in far too many directions.

No. I needed the three of them safe.

“Ten targets,” Caleb murmured to himself, as he studied the intel. “Two home residences, including that compound, three arms facilities, two labs where he cooks his fucking drugs, his two casinos, and the mansion where he puts his pet mercenaries up. Damn, you and Dante have two of your people in the highest ranks of those mercenaries? On your signal, one of your teams is gonna be in position as those two take down security, then they’ll move in and take them all out in one brutal wave.”

“That’s right,” Luke confirmed.

“What about the Bane Industries offices?”

“It’s full of civilians,” Luke told him. “Requiring a different approach.” He grinned at me, “Right, King?”

I nodded and explained to Caleb. “Those offices conduct legitimate business.”

“Investments and all that?”

“Basically.”

“So?”

“I’ve been carefully acquiring shares in the open market over the last two years.”

“A creeping tender offer?”

“Yes. As of the close of the business day tomorrow, I will own eighty-seven percent of the company.”

“Jesus. So once you take down the illegitimate operations, Elijah won’t even have that to fall back on.”

“Total annihilation was always the goal.”

“With all these targets, all being hit in unison tomorrow night with this multi-pronged approach, it’s gonna tax your resources here in Rossun. Even with the Mancini Syndicate taking part in this, you’ll need pretty much everything on your end as well to pull this off. Security here will be compromised severely.”

“For one night,” I told him.

“Bane will be bogged down with the attacks, severely distracted and focused on trying to save himself and his operations,” Luke said.

“Shit. All right, I’ll get back from my business as soon as I can. I wish I could wait another day, but if I do, those hostages are gonna be in the wind, and we likely won’t get another chance to pull them out.”

“I’ve already told you that I support you there.” I smiled and laid my hand on his shoulder. “As you can see, everything is on track, prepared and accounted for. All will be well here.”

God willing.

Of course it was actually still a risk.

But I had to take it.

This was my shot to finally take down Elijah Bane, to rid the world of him, to get justice long since denied me.

I’d waited long enough, this was it now.

Bane would fall.

“What about the casinos? How are you gonna take two? The security on those things is another level?”

“Our infiltrators have been gathering a shit-ton of evidence of a whole load of money-laundering activities filtering through both of them, along with proof that the dancers there are being coerced into doing a whole lot more than merely performing on stage,” Luke told him. “It’s in the hands of the feds. They’re gonna take both tomorrow night, raid the hellholes.”

Caleb nodded, taking all that in. “And this?” he asked, pointing to the chief arms facility. “Dante’s gonna lead the assault on this chief arms facility? It says there’s a massive shipment headed there, a heavily-guarded and escorted one too.”

“The shipments will experience a detour, thanks to our infiltrators providing Elijah with false intel concerning my intent to intercept if they continued on their original planned routes. During that detour, a combination of Dante’s and my people will take them.”

“Wow, waiting for your plants to get into positions of power and influence is really gonna pay off.”

“Sure will,” Luke said, smiling proudly out at me.

Caleb eyed me. “And you’re gonna take the compound?”

I nodded. “As you know, Elijah’s movements are incredibly difficult to determine. He doesn’t follow a set schedule, instead flitting from thing to thing and place to place each day without letting his people know where he is or where he’s going to be. It’s partly an approach to ensure he’s not predictable to his enemies, but also part of his behavior, wherein he can’t stay in one place, or on one task, for too long or he becomes agitated. But with our infiltrators in place, we’ve managed to narrow it down to only two possible locations. Tomorrow night he’ll either be at his chief arms facility to receive the transports that will never actually arrive, or he’ll be at his compound.”

“Right. Between you and Dante, you’ve got it covered. One of you will take that fucker out.”

One of us.

Rationally, it shouldn’t matter who it was.

But, personally, I needed it to be me.

To have him fall by my hand.

To watch him draw his last breath as I took his fucking life.

After what he’d done, I couldn’t allow it to be any other way.

Only lethal justice would suffice.

My phone rang then, cutting into my thoughts.

I pulled it free and took in the call display.

“It’s Dante,” I told them. “I need to take this.”

“Fine by me. Go right ahead,” Caleb said with that edge of his that he just couldn’t seem to drop when Dante made contact, even when it wasn’t in person and was just over the phone.

“I agree,” Luke affirmed, folding his arms over his chest and trying to settle in.

The two of them exchanged a knowing look, clearly sharing the same unfavorable sentiment toward my friendship with Dante.

“Now is absolutely not the time for these petty issues.”

“It’s not petty,” Caleb told me.

“It’s concern. Valid concern,” Luke said.

I rolled my eyes. “Come to me with any shred of proof that this concern has merit and we’ll talk. Until then, get it together. Both of you. We’re on the eve of war, lock it up.” I gestured at the open door of my office. “Out. Now. We’re done here.”

Caleb grumbled, but started moving his hot little ass, and Luke took the cue as well, knowing my uncompromising tone well.

As soon as they were through the door, I kicked it shut with a frustrated sigh, then took Dante’s call.

I just needed to hang on a little while longer.

Just this last hurdle.

Then I could finally rest.