Chapter: Chapter 8: The First Wife's GameRaine"You're not ready for what she's going to tell you."Kade's low, almost hesitant, and that alone gives me a chill. The guy who gave Cassian the shot without question… is now warning me.Across the cold metal table, the burner phone keeps ringing quietly. The call is ended, but Pandora's voice lingers like a ghost in my head.The first wife."You're saying she's alive?" I ask, glaring at Kade."I'm saying she never died." He starts pacing. "Larsson staged her death, he said she overdosed, but she vanished before the autopsy could reveal otherwise. Roman has reports… redacted to hell. But there is no death certificate. No burial."So where has she been, all this time?"Kade hesitates. Smiles. "Waiting."A chill runs down my spine. "Waiting for what?""For you."Before I can process that, the steel door creaks open. A woman steps inside.She doesn't knock, she doesn't flinch. Just glides in as if the walls themselves were expecting her. She's all dressed up in a black, tailored, pe
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-19
Chapter: Chapter 7: ShadowlinesRaine"You won't survive the next hour unless you believe me."That's the first thing he could mutter.Not who he is. Not what he wants. Just that.He stands in the snow-drenched woods, moonlit behind him, the photo clutched like a gun in his hand. The same photo. Emilia. The baby. That damning note written across it: She's not dead.My heart pounds in my ears.I glance down at Cassian's wounded body. He’s unconscious and dying. I need help, I need clarification, I need this man to stop talking in riddles and do something."Who are you?" I ask, shivering.He steps forward, "Call me Kade. We have to leave here. Now!."Kade. That name doesn’t ring a bell, but nothing else in my life makes sense anymore, so I just grit my teeth and nod anyway. He kneels beside Cassian, pulls out a syringe from his coat, and jabs it into his thigh.I jump. "What the hell—"He'll live. For now. But you've got five minutes before they sweep back this way again. So, unless you want to die in Swiss snow, carr
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-19
Chapter: Chapter 6: Bloodline BetrayalRaine"You are no longer Cassian's wife."It snowed on the way out of the safe house.Not real snow—just ash drifting off the dead pines like some sick joke. My hands were cold. My head is colder. I couldn't shut Julian's voice out of my head, repeating over and over, every syllable like another strike across my flesh."They've declared your contract invalid.""You're no longer Cassian's wife.""Tomorrow, he loses everything."Julian's statement is a punch to the gut, cutting through my head with so much pain. My breath caught in my chest. My fingers twitched with an attempt to hold on to the last shreds of sanity, but I was already on the verge of losing it.No longer his wife?"What in the world are you talking about?" I tried to get my voice hard, tough—anything besides the quivering wreck that it actually was.Julian took a step closer, his hand outstretched with a document. Legal, stamped, and signed.Cassian rolled behind me on the couch, faintly. "Julian… don't!"I tore the pape
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-18
Chapter: Chapter 5: Collateral BloodRaine"Cassian!"I didn't even know my knees struck the floor. All I knew was his body on mine, numb, bleeding, stiff.He wasn't breathing."Cassian, no—NO!"I pressed my fingers against his throat, searching for a pulse. Faint. There. Ebbing, but still there.A second shot was fired.Sparks ignited at the back of my head as the bullet grazed the vault wall."Back off!" Ophelia screamed out. "You make one more step and the next one goes through your dumb skull."I was perplexed.She approached me—her heels echoing like judgment on the metal floor. Her dark red lipstick was unyielding, even as she stepped over Cassian's blood."I warned you," she sneered. "You don't deserve to live in this world, Raine. You're just a charity case we allow to wear diamonds.""You killed him," I whispered, my voice shaking."He'll live. If I let him." Tilting her head, gun aiming at Cassian's head. "Now, hand over the envelope."Taking a quick look at it—still on the table, untouched."I dare you," I spo
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-15
Chapter: Chapter 4: The Door Marked Ashes Raine"Cassian! Cassian—don't leave, stay with me!"His body collapsed over mine, soaked in rain and blood, heavier than I remembered. My knees crashed onto the marble, his body weighing my chest down, but I would not let him go.His pulse was barely present. Faint, fragile, and dwindling."No, no, no. Not like this. Cassian—look at me."His mouth opened, shallow breathing."Raine…" he growled. “They… know about the vault."My stomach twitched. "Who does?"His fingers trembled as he dipped his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a blood-covered flash drive. He proffered it weakly in my hand."Protect it. Don't trust anyone. Not even... Julian."And then he went numb."Cassian!"I didn't care if I was yelling. I didn't care if the neighbors might overhear. I didn't even care if the enemies who had been pursuing him had already reached our doorstep. I just grabbed him tightly and hauled his unconscious body deeper into the penthouse, slamming all three bolts shut behind us.I sat h
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-15
Chapter: Chapter 3: Shadows Don't KnockRaine"You killed him, didn't you?"The words struck me before I even entered the boardroom.I froze still. My hands tightened around the crutches at my side, but I held myself upright, my face unreadable.Larsson Ashcroft didn't flinch. He sat back in his chair as if he'd been waiting for this moment, waiting patiently to watch me bleed before the entire board. "A man signs a contract and drops dead in the same breath. Excuse me, Raine, but that's more than a mere coincidence."My breath snapped. There were twelve of them seated around the table. One chair, the head chair, was empty.Cassian's chair.I walked past it without looking at it. My heels clicked on the marble floor, echoing like a timer. I stopped halfway down the length of the table and turned to face them. My voice, when it came out, was firmer than I expected."I didn't kill my husband."Larsson smiled. "Is that what you're calling him now?"The others said nothing. I could feel their eyes crawling over me, scrutinizing
Huling Na-update: 2025-07-15
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