//CLARA//
"Bo—"
The brute didn't even get to finish the word. Casimir descended like an apex predator. His fist connected with the man's jaw with a sickening crack of bone. The man hit the ground, out cold.
The second man fumbled for his revolver. He never reached it. Casimir caught him by the throat, drove him backward, and his skull hit the brick wall. He collapsed beside his partner.
Silence slammed back down onto the cellar, broken only by Hattie's hitching breaths.
Casimir stood in the center, his chest rising and falling. Then, slowly, he turned his head, his dark, obsessive gaze locking onto me. Shock flickered behind his cold eyes before a raging wildfire instantly consumed it.
He dropped to his knees in front of my iron chair. His large, calloused hands shot out, cupping my face, his thumbs brushing fiercely against my cheekbones to check for blood.
"Clara," he rasped.
