Cassie McCarthy Rosewood

When they reached where his car was parked, Nikolai opened the rear passenger door for Cassie without a word, and she slid inside.

She didn't know why but she could feel the anger radiating from him.

The drive began in silence, with neither of them willing to speak up first.

Cassie turned her face toward the window, watching the city blur.

The cold glass pressed against her temple, but it couldn’t stop the churn of unease in her stomach.

The last time she had been “brought” to live somewhere as someone’s future wife, it had been to the Vanderbilt mansion... a place of wealth and status, but also cruelty.

She still remembered every cruelty of everything she endured there... the way the walls seemed to close in whenever Raymond’s voice rose in anger. When his mother and sister abused her physically and emotionally.

Cassie’s fingers curled against her lap as unease settled in. Would the Rosewood mansion be the same?

Nikolai broke the silence, which brought her back to her reality. "Do you have your ID with you?"

She turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "When your car hit me, was I holding anything in my hands?" The sarcasm rolled off her tongue before she could even stop it.

Nikolai's eyes narrowed, and the corner of his mouth tightened. He inhaled slowly, as if weighing his response.

Ever since meeting Cassie and Harlow, his cold demeanor has been dwindling. He seems not to be able to continue his impassive expression.

"We need it to register our marriage license," he said evenly after calming down.

His words landed heavier than she expected. She had known marriage was part of their arrangement, but hearing it phrased so plainly still sent a ripple through her.

"Fine," she said at last. "I’ll tell you where to stop."

Nikolai gave her a look but didn't say anything.

********

They soon left the clean streets behind and drove into a neighborhood where the buildings leaned on each other like piles of trash.

Faded paint could be seen on the brick walls, and rusted gutters sagged above cracked sidewalks.

Children played in the distance, their laughter could be heard everywhere.

"Here," Cassie said, pointing to a narrow staircase tucked between two worn apartment buildings.

She climbed out, the cold biting her cheeks as she made her way up the steps.

Nikolai stayed in the car, his gaze following her until she disappeared from view.

He wanted to follow her, to make sure she was okay. But Cassie had told him not to.

Upstairs, Cassie unlocked a faded green door with a key from an old pot in front of the door.

The small apartment smelled faintly of smoke and old paper. Cassie moved quickly, retrieving her ID from a drawer in the tiny bedroom, her eyes lingering briefly on the quilt folded neatly at the foot of the bed. It had been her one comfort here.

When she returned to the car, Nikolai’s gaze flicked to the card in her hand before his voice broke the quiet. "Why here?"

Cassie hesitated, her breath clouding in the cold air. "This was my escape," she said finally. "Whenever Raymond… when I couldn’t take it anymore, the abuse... I’d come here. I rented it in secret. It was the only place I could breathe. Maybe he knew this place but he just didn't care." She said the last statement with a shrug and hurt.

Nikolai’s jaw clenched and his eyes darkened. "The Vanderbilts are really imbeciles," he muttered, anger lacing every word. His fists clenched on th steering wheel.

Cassie said nothing as she buckled her seat belt. The Vanderbilts will soon regret everything they did to her.

********

They soon made their way to the marriage office.

Inside, other couples spoke to clerks, wanting to register their marriage.

The process was efficient, almost disturbingly so. Nikolai and Cassie were immediately led to a private room. After all, Nikolai had already called in before they came there.

They sat at a desk while a woman in a grey suit typed their information into a computer.

Questions were asked, documents signed, and stamps pressed down with a dull thud.

Cassie watched her name appear next to Nikolai’s on the screen... two words linked by a space that suddenly felt like it could swallow her whole.

"Cassie McCarthy Rosewood".

She was grateful that Nikolai didn't argue with her when she wanted to keep her surname.

When the clerk handed them the marriage certificate, Cassie’s fingers trembled slightly as she took it. The gold seal glinted under the light.

Another marriage! Another husband! Another family!

Nikolai glanced at her, his expression unreadable. He didn’t reach for her hand, but he did open the door for her as they left.

The drive home was again silent. Cassie felt a sharp twinge of discomfort at the thought of meeting Nikolai’s family.

The mere thought of it sent an involuntary shiver down her spine, as if her body itself remembered the sting of old wounds.

In her mind, the grand yet suffocating halls of the Vanderbilt mansion came rushing back... the cold marble floors that seemed to drain the warmth from her bones, the endless whispers and judgment clung still hurt her.

The suffocating sense of being an outsider, tolerated only because it suited someone’s purpose.

Her heart tightened as she wondered if the Rosewood mansion would be any different. Would it be another place where she would be measured, picked apart, and made to feel smaller than she already did?

Would Nikolai’s family... strangers to her but bound to him by blood... look at her the way the Vanderbilts once had, with that same mixture of condescension and barely masked disdain?

She must have let some of her apprehension show, because Nikolai’s eyes flicked to her face and he frowned.

As if he could hear her thoughts, he said calmly but decisively, which left no room for doubt.

“We’re not going to my family's house,” he said, as if meant to cut through her spiraling thoughts. “I have my own place. We’ll visit my family after you return from the army.”

His reassurance landed like a steadying hand on her shoulder. It didn’t erase her unease completely, but it was enough to keep the knot in her chest from tightening further.

For now, at least, she wouldn’t have to step back into the kind of world she’d barely survived once before.

By the time they reached his mansion, it was almost night.

Cassie’s breath caught in her throat. She told herself it was just the cold, but she knew better.

The house was... it was... no words could come out of her throat.

Don't get her wrong, okay. She was also born into a wealthy family. Then married into the Vanderbilt family. And both families had huge mansions. But this... this...

"Let's go inside!" Nikolai said curtly when he saw how she was stunned by his house.

"Huh? Oh... okay!" Cassie said, coming back to her senses as she followed him inside in silence.

Inside, warmth wrapped around her immediately, carrying the faint scent of cedarwood and something rich... perhaps leather.

A grand staircase curved upward, and beyond it, a series of doorways led into rooms furnished with dark wood, and the kind of quiet elegance that spoke of old money.

Nikolai watched her take it in. "You’ll have your own room," he said. "You can use the main spaces as you like, but there are parts of the house you don’t enter without me."

Cassie’s eyes flicked to his. "Rules already?"

"Boundaries," he corrected sharply. "We’ll talk about the rest later."

Cassie nodded once, tucking the marriage certificate into her coat pocket.

This was not the Vanderbilt mansion. The air here felt different—less oppressive, but still heavy with unspoken rules.

She could sense it in the way the silence settled after Nikolai spoke.

But she was no longer the girl who had hidden in a run-down apartment to escape her pain.

She was Nikolai’s wife now. Her name is now... Cassie McCarthy Rosewood. And whatever this house held—comfort, danger, or something between—she would face it head-on.