He pulled me into his arms suddenly, as he always did—possessive, overwhelming, leaving me no room to resist.
A long sigh of relief escaped him.
“Don’t worry, Pixie,” he murmured against my hair. “Sloane will only be my wife in name. But you… you will always be in my heart. You’re the one I truly love.”
“Tomorrow, just be good, alright?” His voice was laced with certainty, as if my compliance was already a given. “Stand beside me as my sister, witness my engagement to Sloane.”
“In a week, we’ll go to Greece and have our real wedding. Just the two of us.”
“After that, I’ll be yours. Only yours. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”
His tone left no room for argument, as if he was certain I had already accepted my fate, already resigned myself to this twisted reality.
But just moments ago, Sloane had sent me a video.
In the video—
Cassian and Sloane were entangled, their voices dripping with desire.
“You’ve dated a few while you were abroad. Shouldn’t I be allowed one or two to make things fair? Livia, at least, is clean.”
“What if she clings to you?” Sloane pouted. “Didn’t you see how she looked at us those few days? Like she was breaking apart. She’s clearly madly in love with you.”
“She won’t,” Cassian replied without hesitation. “She has no family and craves love. Her best quality is that she’s obedient.”
“I don’t care! You need to cut her off completely. If I ever catch you sneaking around with her, I’ll find myself someone better.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” he chuckled before his voice dropped, sultry and smug. “Honestly, after trying her, she’s nothing special. No matter how much I tease her, she never fully go wild…always so restrain. But you, baby, you always surprise me.”
Cassian had once told me, he always wanted what he couldn’t have, but once he got it, he lost interest. Back then, I had already suspected—if he could belittle Sloane in front of me, then surely, he could belittle me just as easily in front of her.
And now, with the truth staring me in the face, all I felt was a strange sense of clarity.
No heartbreak. No pain. Just the final piece of proof I needed to set myself free.
I looked at the man in front of me, the one I had spent a lifetime loving.
I looked at the boy who had once shone so brightly in my eyes.
And then, I nodded. “Alright.”
At four in the morning, I blocked every contact Cassian had ever used.
Without waking anyone, I grabbed my small suitcase and left with the people sent by the Kensington Family. The place I had lived in for over a decade no longer felt familiar. Just like the person I had once loved, who now felt like a stranger. The heartbreak, the yearning, the love, the resentment—all of it had faded into nothing.
