Fulsmith's manor was a typical example of extravagance and luxury. His men, however, were woefully ill-trained, and Nickolas left their unconscious bodies in piles. Their feeble attempts at stopping him would have been vastly amusing if he hadn't been looking for any sign of Cassandra.

On his way up a flight of stairs, he came across a pretty young woman in drab clothes. The life seemed to have been sucked out of her, but when she looked into his eyes, he caught the tiniest glimpse of defiant hope. Wordlessly, she pointed toward a door, clearly visible by the dull light framing it.

"Get out of here." He warned, nodding his thanks.

As he neared the door, he heard a cry and quickened his pace. Unsure what to expect in the room beyond, Nickolas eased the door open, preparing himself for whatever he would face on the other side. Or so he thought.

There were no chains, no instrument of torture. Cassandra wasn't bleeding and nearly lifeless. It was a dining room as fancy as they came. On the far side of the table from him, Fulsmith was holding Cassandra, lustful intent in his eyes.

Hot fury bolted through Nickolas's veins. "Let. Her. Go." His voice was deadly calm.

They both turned at the sound of his voice, but it was only Cassandra's eyes that Nickolas saw. The pallor of her cheeks was all he cared about.

"Nickolas!"

He saw and heard it all in her voice. The trauma, the pain, the fear. . .it was all there. And holding onto her was the man who had caused all of that.

With cool nonchalance, he stepped into the room. It took all his self control not to cross the space between them and get Cassandra out of that animals grasp. There was no telling what the man might have planned, and if he rushed into this, she could get hurt. He had to take this slowly however much it pained him.

"Well, well, well," Fulsmith stepped away from Cassandra but kept his hold on her. "You must be that assassin Granger couldn't manage."

"Let her go." Nickolas repeated, focusing on Fulsmith's face rather than the tears on Cassandra's cheeks.

"You know, I much have tried to kill you too simply the last time. Honestly, the only way to make sure someone dies properly is to kill them yourself." Fulsmith grinned.

"Let her go, and I'll let you try." Nickolas raised a brow.

"Really?" Fulsmith scoffed. "You think I'm that stupid? The only reason you're not charging at me like a bull is because she stands between us, and you can't risk her getting hurt. Am I right?"

"Why don't you find out?" Nickolas said, aware with every breath of the time that was passing. He didn't have too much longer.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Fulsmith laughed suddenly. "Look, those men you beat like plaything, did you really imagine that was all I had to protect me? Those buffoons are a dime a dozen, but real men, sporting fellows, well, that's where my specialty is. Yours too, I believe, so I think I'll let you deal with each other."

Without warning, Fulsmith jerked away from the table, pulling Cassandra with him. Pulling a rope on the wall, Fulsmith smirked as the clang of alarm bells filled the manor. Everyone would know what was going on now, and there would be reinforcement's soon.

With a vicious kick to the back of her knees, Fulsmith sent Cassandra to the floor. She cried out in pain, and it was all Nickolas could do to refrain from closing the distance between them. He must have moved forward in a somewhat threatening manner, however, for Fulsmith whipped a knife out of nowhere and pressed it into the soft flesh of Cassandra's throat.

"Not so fast, my little knight in shining armor. I know you came back for her, and if you push me, I won't hesitate to kill her." Fulsmith snarled. "Honestly, knowing how much the little whore means to you, I'm even more thrilled with what I'm going to do with her."

Cassandra swallowed carefully, her eyes falling to the knife that held her life in the balance. One move from Fulsmith, and she would be dead. Nickolas had to tread carefully now. Very carefully.

"Knowing everything I know, it would be foolish to leave myself vulnerable to such an amateur attack. Didn't you think I'd have plans set in place for something like this?" Fulsmith raised a brow. "Honestly, I was expecting something on the larger scale, but I suppose this is a nice way to test it out."

Nickolas could hear footsteps in the upper levels. He detected some kind of movement below them, too. Julian needed to hurry.

Slowly straightening, Nickolas whet his lips. He noted the fresh blood stain on Fulsmith's fine, silk shirt. Pride swelled in Nickolas's heart. Even in the midst of everything, Cassandra hadn't given up.

"Your men might kill me, Fulsmith, but I'll take you down with me." He promised.

"What will that gain? Granger and I have gone too far to be stopped. We've reached far beyond England's shores. Killing us won't stop what we've begun." Fulsmith spat.

"Do you really think Granger will agree to share all that power with you?" Nickolas laughed. "You're stupider than I thought." Time. He needed just a little more time.

"It doesn't matter what Granger agrees to," Fulsmith growled, and his knife pressed closer to Cassandra's throat. "He doesn't have a choice. Without me, all his plans would be nothing."

"Granger always has a way out," Nickolas chuckled. "If you don't know that already, you'll learn it soon. He always has a second plan for when the first one goes wrong. He can write you out of the picture as soon as he gets tired of you."

Fulsmith laughed, but there was uncertainty in his eyes. He'd imagined he was a vital part of the picture. The very idea that he could have been wrong was unsettling.

"You only think that because you were nothing more than a grunt to him. He owned you which made you dispensable." Fulsmith sneered.

"Keep telling yourself that this is different." Nickolas laughed.

"Well, either way, I win this time, boy." Fulsmith began moving backwards, dragging Cassandra with him.

Nickolas pivoted himself stiffly to face Fulsmith. Now would be a good time, Julian. No doubt, the room would be surrounded. They were going to have to fight their way out of here.

The explosion shook the entire house. Cursing, Fulsmith fell backwards, his grip on Cassandra loosening. Nickolas saw his chance. Throwing himself across the room, he pulled Cassandra to him.

"What have you done?" Fulsmith coughed as dust rained from the ceiling.

Nickolas ignored him. "You ok?" He looked down at Cassandra.

She only nodded, clutching at his arms. There was a colorful bruise on the side of her face, and there was a smear of blood at the corner of her mouth. Gritting his teeth, Nickolas glared at Fulsmith. She was safe now.

"I'm sending Granger a message." Nickolas smiled maliciously. "Next time, I'll be the one chasing him. I'm coming for him, and nothing—not even death—can stop me."

"It's time to go." Julian suddenly burst into the room with a wave of heat. Nickolas could hear the flames crackling and knew they'd reach the second charge soon.

"Or maybe not." Fulsmith suddenly leapt forward and grabbed hold of Julian pressing his blade into her throat. "Maybe your own death won't stop you, but what will you do when Granger ends those you care about?"

"Let h—"

Fulsmith ripped the blade across Julian's throat in a spray of blood. Nickolas's world spun as Julian collapsed to the ground. She looked at him, eyes widened as she clutched at her neck, blood spilling over her fingers.

"No!" Nickolas roared, pulling out of Cassandra's grasp and falling to his knees next to Julian.

In the back of his mind, he could hear Fulsmith moving, but something in him toned out the sound. Julian's expression was shocked, and she coughed weakly. He took her hands in his own. There was nothing he could do.

"I—" She said weakly.

"Hey, don't talk. It's gonna be fine." He was lying.

"I'm free." Her voice was incredulous, and the corner of her lips lifted in a smile.

She exhaled raggedly. Life. Such a simple thing. It was gone in a single breath, and there was nothing mortal men could do about it.

A blast of heat singed his skin, and Nickolas sat back on his heels. All this, all this time. He'd been running from it for so long, but this was where his road always took him. To death. There was nothing else for him.

"Nickolas!" Cassandra screamed behind him.

Numbly, he heard the footsteps. They were coming for him now. Wouldn't it be better to just die here?

Everything happened so quickly. Someone entered the room, and hands took hold of him, pulling him backwards. Cassandra positioned herself in front of him protectively. She cried out, and there was a flash of a knife blade.

Then Nickolas was moving. Giving up wasn't in his blood, and Cassandra needed him. Snatching up a hefty dinner platter, he threw it at the window. As it crashed through the glassed, he turned toward Cassandra.

She was bent over something, visibly shaking. He reached over and touched her. She turned to look at him, and he saw there was blood on her hands.

"I killed him." She whispered, and that's when it registered in his brain that she'd been standing over a body.

No matter how terrible the person was, it was always hard to come to terms with that fact that'd you'd ended a life the first time. Nickolas understood this better tan most. He hardly remembered a time when he hadn't had someone's death on his conscience. Killing had been a part of him for such a long time now.

How much worse would it be for Cassandra? She was all fiery temper and fierce stubbornness, but she'd never intentionally harm someone. The realization of what she'd done must be almost overwhelming.

"We have to go." He said gently.

She looked up at him and nodded, trembling as she took his hand. Leading her to the broken window, he looked at the faint color being to appear on the horizon. They needed to be long gone by the time the sun rose.

He noticed the rope as he was turning back to Cassandra. Julian really had thought of everything. Apparently, she'd come up earlier, seen where they all were, and recognizing how the situation was going to end, she'd doubled back to give them an escape route.

They'd smuggled some horses into the hedges nearby, and he knew exactly where they were going to go. They could lay low for a bit while he figured out what to do next.

"Come here." They didn't have much time. The second charge was going to blow up soon, and then Fulsmith's manor would collapse.

"What are you going to do?" Cassandra looked up at him. She seemed to have pushed aside the realization that she'd just killed someone, somehow understanding that now wasn't the time.

"I hope you're not afraid of heights." He grinned at her encouragingly.

"You can't mean we're going—" She looked beyond him to the window. Nickolas shrugged. "I can't climb that." She said matter-of-factly.

"But I can, and you can climb me." She was distracted enough from her fear to look at him with wide eyes. "We don't have much time, so I need you to just climb on my back, ok?"

She must have heard the sudden gravity of his tone, because she didn't argue with him this time. Sighing softly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and jumped onto his back. He could feel her heart beating quickly against his back as he wrapped the rope around his wrists and stepped out of the broken window.

Supporting their weight with only his feet against the brick wall and the rope in his hands, he tried not to think about how close her face was to his, how every exhale tickled his skin. He tried not to think about the soft skin of her legs and the way she clutched at him. Now wasn't the time, and it would never be 'the time' for him. He wasn't right for her.

He'd always been good at scaling walls, so the climb wasn't difficult. He could feel the tension in Cassandra's body as she looked up at the flaming building. She opened her mouth as if to say something before thinking better of it.

As soon as his foot touched solid ground, she hopped off his back. Grabbing her hand, he pulled away from the building as fast as his feet could carry him.

One. . .Two. . .Three. . .Cassandra tripped halfway to the hedge and fell heavily to the ground with a cry. Four. . .Nickolas threw himself on top of her to shield her as the second explosion shook the ground beneath them.

Flaming debris shot into the air, and Nickolas felt the heat singe his skin. He paid it no mind, however. Pulling Cassandra up again, he began to run as fast as she could move.

They skidded to a stop at the hedges to discover only one of the horses remained. The others must have gotten free in the blast and escaped into the night. It was no matter, however. Nickolas had already been worried about putting Cassandra on a horse alone after what had just happened.

With a quick glance behind them to be sure they weren't being followed, he mounted and pulled her up behind him. Turning the horse in the opposite direction of the the burning building, he urged it forward.

"Where are we going?" Cassandra asked.

"Somewhere safe." He held her hand and squeezed it gently.

Fulsmith was done. Whatever plans he'd had were spoiled, and England was going to be safe for a little longer. Nickolas didn't care, though. In fact, he was struggling to care about anything besides the woman behind him and the fact that she'd gotten caught up in his mess. At the moment, he could only think about how he was going to get her out of this.

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Were you expecting that? I know at least some of you were wanting Julian to be able to get out and start her life over, but if you think about it, she would never have been fully happy. She wanted a life beside Nickolas, and that wasn't going to happen. I feel like she was finally happy in the end even if it wasn't quite what she was hoping for.

What do you think will happen next? Will they finally catch a break? What will Nickolas do to get Cassandra into a safe place? Do you think Fulsmith survived? If so, what do you think Nickolas will do to him?

Work isn't going to be as crazy this week, so I might be able to squeeze in another update. . .I'm keeping my fingers crossed 😝. I hope you guys are as excited for the next chapter as I am! Since it will be #40, I have something quite special planned. Until then, happy reading!!!