APOLLO

Cassandra didn't believe her eyes and she blinked twice to make sure she was not hallucinating, but he was still there. Suddenly, her wetness that was throbbing stopped abruptly.

"Apollo..." she whispered, but Apollo put his finger between his lips, motioning her to remain quiet. She nodded. She suddenly felt naked, her whole sense sipped back into her.

Even behind the mask of beards on Apollo's face, she could still recognize him. She knew him too well to not recognize him. He walked up to her and started to untie her from the bed. Someone has to wake her up from this dream sooner because she didn't understand.

"I have come to save you," he whispered in her ears after untying her hands.

She had to grab his shoulders to make sure he was real, she needed to be assured that his solid form was there with her, her heart almost collapsed with relief when she felt him. He will have a better explanation for this. He slowly untied her legs too and she sat there for a while, looking at him.

He was a tall man with a chiseled chest, which was now concealed by a khaki jacket. She watched the magazine hanging across his chest and wondered if he walked into the mansion as a hero. In the movies she watched, the hero always walks into the tyrant's den, shoots everyone, and rescues his lady. Was that just what happened? If not, why was Apollo having a gun and magazine hung across his chest?

He smiled at her. His smile filled her whole body up with joy and she glanced back at the bathroom door where Eros has disappeared and looked back at Apollo.

"From now henceforth, I will be the guard in charge of keeping you. Don't mess with me because I am not a happy man," Apollo said aloud in a gruff voice so that Eros could hear from the bathroom.

Cassandra was almost confused before she understood what he was talking about. He has come to save her as he said, but not the way she has envisioned. He has not come as a thriller movie hero, but he has come to work for Eros to find out all he could use against the man. It was going to take long but Cassandra knew that they would escape.

Apollo dragged her up from the bed as soon as Eros came out of the bath and shoved her forward. Eros stood at the door of the bath; his hands fisted on his waist as he watched them.

"Take her to the room that Bully showed you. Make sure that the room is secured all the time and do not let her escape, she can be quite stubborn. Bring her to me whenever I request."

"Sì jefe," Apollo replied and led Cassandra away from the room.

They didn't say anything to each other until they were in the room where Cassandra was locked up. Once Apollo closed the door, Cassandra jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her off the ground and his lips crushed hers, his hands pressed her to his firm body and he held her tight.

They kissed passionately for a while before Cassandra pulled away, tears in her eyes as she looked at him.

"You came for me," she said with a smile and a cracked voice, looking him in the eyes.

Apollo looked her all over. "Look what they did to you. I swear every one of them will pay for this."

Cassandra was so relieved to even say a word. She flew into his arms again and he held her tightly against him and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," he kept whispering.

They stayed like that for a while then Apollo pulled away and looked at her again. "What did that bastard do to you? Did he touch you? If he did, I swear I will punch his face until all his teeth have fallen off, then I will make sure I stab him all over his body and I will use a very blunt knife to butcher him and feed his body to the sharks... "

"Apollo," Cassandra called, her voice cracked with tears. She was imagining it as Apollo said it and the sights weren't so pleasant to her ears.

"Cassie, did he touch you?" His voice now has a higher tone and the way his grip tightened on her shoulders told her that rage was seething inside him. She could even feel it radiating from his body, his eyes were piercing hers. "Has he defiled you?"

"No, he hasn't," Cassandra cried. "He tortures me because I won't let him."

"Come here." Apollo drew her into him again, this time, he placed her head on his chest and let her cry while he held her back with one hand and stroked her hair with the other. "Shh," he hushed her gently. "It's fine, I am here now."

"He killed my father..."

"That's enough."

"He is a monster."

"I know."

"He almost killed me with Russian Roulette, I was so scared."

"I am here now; Cassie and it would be him against me."

Cassandra finally felt like letting out all her pent-up fears. Apollo was here, the only person she could relate with. He was her best friend, her fiancé, and her hero. He was the only one she needed to feel comfortable around, he was the only one she could trust totally in this den of lions. Apollo led her to the table.

She has a lot of questions to ask him and she couldn't wait to get them out. How did he manage to get here? How did he manage to join them? What were his plans?

"Apollo, I still can't believe you are here. How did you get here?"

"It's a long story." He sat opposite her, reaching across the table and holding her hands in his. "I knew I had to be here."

"What of the marine? What of your parents? Do they know about this? What if Eros Castillo finds out who you are?"

Apollo chuckled and squeezed her hands gently. "That is why I hid behind this mask of beards."

"Those are not real beards?"

"Real?" Apollo huffed and peeled off some part of his false beards. "I have plans to save you. I just needed to be in here so I can know my way around."

"Eros has strong security and...and he shot me once when I tried to escape"

"What?! He did what?" Apollo's voice has taken a higher tone.

"Lower your voice, Apollo. You have to put a check to your anger if you want us out here alive. How were you able to convince Eros to hire you?"

"It was simple. I did dirty things, I started up street fights, I signed up for boxing and I made sure I did it wherever his men were around. They noticed me and picked me up."

"But do you think we can escape here and be free from him? Eros is a vengeful man and he hates to be humiliated. He will do anything to find us and..."

"For someone who has nothing to do with him, you seem to know much about him."

"Apollo, not now, please. I have been here for over a month now I know what is going on and I rile him on purpose."

Apollo remained quiet for a while and squeezed her hands again. "Listen, I don't want whatever we discuss here to be heard outside. You shouldn't say it to anyone else."

"I can't. I want to be out of here before this their seduce me, night or whatever night they call it comes up again. I can't sabotage our plans."

"Good."

That was when Cassandra thought of Bully. "Wait, what of Panda?"

Apollo's face crumpled into a scowl. "Who is that?"

"The man that you took over from."

"Oh, that big fool? He was relieved of his duties, I heard he was being lenient with you."

"He was. He became a friend here..."

"Cassie, don't be fooled by their smile, they are all bad people, horrible to the core, every one of them. They have done horrible things."

Cassandra kept calm. She knew that Bully was tough and rugged on the exterior, but he was just someone looking for closure and friendship. But she didn't have to ruin the moment, she just nodded because she didn't want to get Apollo upset. His anger and jealousy were out of hand and could cause them harm if she doesn't follow him carefully. It was so brave of him to have come here in the first place to save her and she was so grateful for it.

"So are you going to kill him?" she asked looking him in the eyes. "Eros Castillo, do you have any plan to kill him?"

"Of course, I will. What other reason do you think I am here for? I want to see that bastard dead."

Cassandra knew Eros was a bastard, yes, but she didn't know if she wanted Apollo's hands to be soiled with his blood. "But, Apollo..."

"That is the only way we can be free from him. He killed your father, you should be happy to see him dead."

That's right, he killed her father and that was the only way they could escape and be free from Eros, but something about it didn't settle well in her stomach. Apollo stood up.

"It's fine, from now henceforth, we will follow my lead."

The story is about to get interesting. What do you think will happen next and who do you think Cassie would end up with? Find out in the following chapters.