Chapter One

Cassie

No.

I didn’t scream the day I got slapped by the truth. I just stared at the elegant wedding invitation hidden in Damon's suit pocket. It was meant to be a secret and I'd kept it, but not today.

Outside, the evening breeze gently kissed my cheeks as it hurried off for its usual busy-rush of the day. My heart pounded like a prisoner caged in a dirt filled dungeon but not in fear.

In compressed rage.

"Ready?" I asked without taking a side glance.

"Let's burn this place down." Lilith scowled dangerously, adjusting the strap of her emerald silk dress.

I feared her fury, but what frightened me down to my bones, was mine.

With a single push, the mahogany double door cracked open with a loud squeak announcing our arrival just as the clergy dropped the mic.

A dozen conversations died. Hats and hairs turned in my direction but I didn't come for them. I smiled the moment my targets looked in my direction.

Damon, my boyfriend of seven years, was tying the knot but it was not with me. Standing next to him on the altar was Jessica Lovato, heiress of the Lovato empire. His new love and my best friend since grade school

They looked like a perfect, wealthy couple eager to exchange their vows and live happily ever after. The only problem was that Damon was supposed to be in London on a business trip, and I wasn't supposed to know this party existed.

Five ways to kill a cheating boyfriend. "Sink him in a mire and have his dick excavated." Lilith had suggested the night before when we met at the bar. My response was why we were at the venue.

I tapped my spoon against my crystal champagne flute - the one I brought along, and the sharp clink of the crystal sliced through the hall. I had everyone's attention.

"A toast," I started, my voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling as I waltzed through the foyer. The red carpet seemed to have been laid just for me. ".....to the beautiful couple."

Damon went pale. Jessica's jaw dropped, her perfectly glossed lips trembling. "What are you doing here?" she hissed, with disgust.

She'd never looked at me like that. Not in our twenty years as friends. The pure, unadulterated disdain in her eyes stripped me bare, and for a moment, I wondered if she even considered me human.

I'd ruined the moment by being at the venue, and I knew Damon would never forgive me. He was a misogynistic idiot. How did I put up with him? And Jessica? It's more pain than anger. Her betrayal felt like a knife slit through my guts. But, here I was for a pound of flesh.

"Just delivering a wedding gift early," I smiled, though my blood was purely ice.

Just below my shoulder, a flash of auburn hair darted through the crowd and no one dared stand in her way.

Lilith may be a small woman but her strength didn't match her size.

“And who are you?” Damon quizzed as she marched forward, staring wickedly at him.

“I'm the consequences of your bad choices come to haunt you.” She snarled, a feral smile on her face.

Suddenly, the massive projector screen behind the couple stopped displaying a visual of their fake romance. Instead, it displayed bank statements. Damon's horrifying bank statements. It exposed how Damon had been embezzling funds from his company's account.

The ballroom erupted in gasps. Damon's boss - a man I'd practically pleaded with to employ the dumbshit - jolted into the air like he was stung by a bee, his face purple with rage.

"You crazy bitch!" Damon roared, lunging towards me.

He didn't make it two steps. Lilith intercepted him, and he came crashing onto the three-tiered engagement cake with the flex of her muscle. The result was a nerve-wracking humpty-dumpty fall alongside an avalanche of cake.

The hall erupted in a fresh wave of murmur and excitement at the fall.

"Hmm, this tastes good." Lilith praised, licking a smear of frosting off her fingers.

“There's more,” I croaked, directing everyone's attention to the massive screen.

Photos of Damon and I together a couple of days to the wedding surfaced on the screen and more gasps filled the hall. Everyone understood my language.

"How dare you, Cassie? You're supposed to be my friend." Jessica dashed forward like a wounded lioness, her eyes dim with hate.

"You haven't changed a bit." I mumbled, disgusted by her accusation. “You brought this on yourself.”

Turning to Damon, I tossed the cheap silver engagement ring at him as Jessica helped him to his feet. "Good luck, you two. You're going to need it when the auditors arrive tomorrow morning."

I turned on my heel and walked out, the sounds of murmurs and chaos fading behind me as I pushed through the heavy double doors into the cool evening air.

***

I only made it past a couple buildings when the adrenaline crashed. At least I did it without cracking.

I caught my reflection in the gilded mirror of the country club lobby and barely recognized the woman staring back.

A different Cassie - the demon Damon had created.

Lilith was missing. There was no way I could find her in a crowded hall when she was an amazing five one.

Seven years of loyalty, up in smoke. I may have won the war, but I was still sitting in the ashes.

“Hey miss, what do you want?” The bartender asked, his eyes on my ruined makeup.

I didn't care. “I'll get a shot.” I responded.

“Make it two,” a hoarse voice chirped in from behind.

“And who are you?” I asked, spinning around to meet the stranger.

“Your reward,” he answered. “I saw what you did back at the hall. You hit the scoundrel without actually hitting him.”

“Oh well.”

“I'll tell you what, how about we hook up for the night?”

The auditors, paparazzi, some thugs or all three were probably at my apartment.

“I got a place you could spend the night at. A stone throw, but safe. What do you say?”

A Messiah? I quizzed, staring down at him. He didn't look dangerous but that could be deceptive.

“What are you? Welfare worker?”

The man shrugged, “Whatever you say.”

I didn't think twice when I echoed, "We'll see.”

I didn't care who the guy was, I’d made enough enemies for the day. All I wanted was a bed and a warm bath in a place far away from everything.

I knew I'd stepped on more than one toes, and was as good as forgotten. About Damon, bones heal but egos don't.