A Deal With The Devil

“Sign here,” he said, again and again. “Just to protect what’s already yours.”

So she did. As naive as she was, Cassie signed away the mansion, the shares, the estates, the production rights, the patents, the trust funds.

Cassie signed every single thing to her name and handed it all over to him.

She signed until her signature became her undoing.

She didn’t even realize what she had done until it was too late.

And even then, she would have forgiven him. That was how much she loved him.

Until Rachael, until the betrayal, until the abuse.

The affair wasn’t revealed with drama or confession. She found out in the quietest, most horrifying way.

Cassie's world, already cracked, shattered completely.

She wanted to scream... To cry for hell. But she had been too hollow! Too tired!! Too done!!

And now here she was... watching them - Together - Happy - Smiling.

She hadn’t cried in months, but today, the tears threatened to fall. But she blinked them back.

She would not break in front of them. She would not give them that.

The garden erupted in more laughter as if they were mocking her, which they were.

Rachael whispered something into Raymond’s ear, and he laughed. It wasn’t forced. No! It was genuine.

The man who once whispered I love you into Cassie’s hair now shared those same looks and laughs with the woman who had called her “sister.”

Cassie exhaled slowly through her nose.

She didn’t need to hear their conversation. She didn’t need to read their lips. She already knew the script.

She had written it once in a screenplay, a woman betrayed, discarded, humiliated and the audience had cried for her.

It's funny how art imitates life. Except in real life, no one cried for her. They all mocked her.

The urge to leave burns in her mind. The humiliation was too much to bear. But she didn’t run.

Instead, she let the moment bleed through her. She wanted to feel it so that she could remember every bit of it.

The anger! The sorrow!! The disbelief!!! She wanted it to sear itself into her bones.

How else could she remember? How else could she make sure she never forgot what they did?

She looked on again, and they weren’t watching her anymore.

To them, she was already gone. Erased! Replaced!

But Cassie remained. Not as the woman they had destroyed. Not as the fool who had loved blindly. But as something else! Something not yet born.

'The Forgotten Princess' will be back soon with chaos to make them pay.

But to do that, she would have to accept his proposal and marry him... The devil... Nikolai Rosewood.

********

Cassie stumbled out of the Vandabelt mansion, her eyes brimming with tears.

She tried to hold them back, but they spilled down her cheeks like a dam broke.

The truth of her situation had finally hit her like a ton of bricks, leaving her feeling lifeless and soulless.

"Cassie! Girl! Are you okay?"

Harlow called out to her the moment he saw her out, his voice was filled with concern as he took her hand.

However, Cassie didn't even acknowledge him. She just kept walking, her feet carrying her forward on autopilot.

Suddenly, two handsome men appeared in front of her. They were Nikolai and Rafael.

Nikolai’s cold gaze took in Cassie's lifeless appearance, and his expression turned even colder.

"Go with that guy," he said to Rafael curtly, pointing to Harlow. "I'll take care of her."

Rafael nodded cheerfully. "No problem, buddy. Come on, Harlow, let's go in my car. Leave them alone."

But Harlow protested, refusing to leave his friend's side.

"No fucking way am I leaving her with strangers like you!"

Rafael had to drag him away despite his protest, leaving Cassie alone with Nikolai.

Nikolai grabbed Cassie's hand, his grip firm but not bruising. He led her to his car, opening the door for her and letting her slide in, still feeling numb and in a daze.

After Nikolai got in beside her, he turned to her and said, "Are you going to snap out of it or what?"

His cold voice seemed to pierce through Cassie's fog, and she looked up at him.

The only words that came out of her mouth were, "I'll do it. I'll marry you. In exchange, I want you to help me get everything that I lost to that asshole. And I want to take revenge on them. I want to destroy both Raymond and Rachael and their family. I want them to suffer ten times my pain."

Nikolai's eyes narrowed as he took in her words. The was so much hatred in her voice. It was as if only revenge could keep her living.

However, he also noticed the bandage on her forehead was stained with blood. He reached out to touch it, but Cassie flinched, covering her face as a reflex.

Nicolai frowned and something clicked in his head.

This girl was broken, her spirit was crushed. Despite the fire in her eyes as she spoke of revenge, she still seemed fragile.

"Okay," Nikolai said finally. "I'll agree to your condition. But I have one condition of my own."

Cassie's eyes locked onto his, a spark of curiosity igniting within them. "What is it?" she asked.

"You'll have to join the army for two years," Nikolai said curtly without a care.

Cassie's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

Nikolai's expression didn't change. "Yes, that's my condition. Will you do it or not? Don't worry. Rachael and I used to be soldiers as well. Most of my family members too."

"But why? Why should I?" Cassie asked, still not believing what the fuck was going on.

"You are broken! Your wings are broken too. You are like a bird without wings. You speak of revenge with hatred but you don't have the ability or mindset for that. Moreover, I don't need a broken wife! So, I will help you enlist in the army. I believe that would be the best place to grow your wings back!" Nikolai explained without any emotion on his face.

He then locked eyes with Cassie and asked, "So? What do you say?"

Without a beat to think, she replied... "Deal! I will do it!"

She said with much determination that it made something shifted in Nikolai’s heart.

Yet again, she was finding this intriguing.