Chapter 2: Her Last Goodbye

“What are you doing? Let me go!” Cassidy shouted as she struggled in Jaylord’s arms.

Her heart pounded with fear and disgust.

Jaylord only tightened his grip.

“Why are you fighting me?” he sneered. “Your mother sold you to me for thirty thousand dollars. You belong to me now.”

Cassidy stopped struggling for a second.

“What?”

Jaylord laughed at the shock on her face.

“You really believed she was sick?” he asked. “She only wanted your money.”

Cassidy stared at him.

No.

Her mother would never do that to her.

“She lied to you,” Jaylord continued. “But don't worry. If you behave, maybe I'll treat you well.”

Cassidy felt sick.

Her mother had lied about being ill?

She had taken Cassidy's money and then sold her to this man?

It couldn't be true.

Jaylord reached for her again.

“Let me see why Dylan kept you around for so long.”

That snapped Cassidy out of her shock.

Anger rushed through her.

She slammed her forehead into Jaylord's nose.

“Ah!”

He stumbled back, and Cassidy immediately kicked him between the legs.

Jaylord doubled over with a painful groan.

Cassidy ran.

“Damn it! Come back here!”

She rushed through the hallway and headed straight for the door.

Then she saw someone standing there.

Her mother.

Relief flooded Cassidy's chest.

“Mom!”

She ran toward Sameen.

“Help me! Please!”

But Sameen didn't move.

Instead, she smiled.

Cassidy slowly stopped.

Something was wrong.

“Dylan never deserved your love anyway,” Sameen said calmly. “Mr. Harver has money. He can take care of you.”

Cassidy stared at her mother.

Her blood turned cold.

Jaylord had been telling the truth.

Her own mother had sold her.

“Mom...” Cassidy whispered.

Footsteps came from behind her.

Jaylord was getting closer.

Cassidy grabbed her mother's arm.

“Please. Let me leave.”

Sameen caught her wrist.

Her grip was surprisingly strong.

“Stop being stubborn,” she said. “I'm doing this for your own good.”

Cassidy's eyes filled with tears.

“You lied about being sick.”

Sameen's expression changed for only a second.

“You lied to me just to get money?” Cassidy asked.

Sameen looked away.

She hadn't wanted Cassidy to find out the truth this soon. Jaylord had ruined everything by opening his mouth.

Before Cassidy could pull away, Jaylord grabbed her from behind.

She screamed.

“Let me go!”

Sameen held her wrists while Jaylord tried to drag her away.

Cassidy couldn't believe it.

Her own mother was helping him.

Something inside her broke.

She twisted hard, shoved Sameen away, then drove her elbow backward into Jaylord.

He cursed.

Cassidy stomped on his foot.

His grip loosened.

She tore herself free and ran.

“Grab her!” Jaylord shouted.

Cassidy burst through the hospital doors.

Cold air hit her face.

She didn't look back.

She could hear footsteps behind her.

They were following her.

Her lungs burned, but she kept running.

She couldn't let them catch her.

Not again.

Then her shoe slipped on the wet pavement.

Cassidy crashed to the ground.

Pain shot through her knees and palms.

Before she could stand, Sameen reached her.

“Cassidy, are you okay?” her mother asked sweetly.

For one foolish second, Cassidy looked at her with hope.

Then Sameen frowned at her face.

“You better not ruin your face. If you do, no one will want you.”

Cassidy went still.

The tiny piece of hope inside her disappeared.

Jaylord approached them.

“You can run all you want,” he said. “I'll still get what I paid for.”

He reached toward her.

Then headlights swept across the pavement.

A black limousine stopped nearby.

Cassidy's heart jumped.

She knew that car.

Dylan.

Hope returned so quickly that it hurt.

“Dylan!”

Cassidy struggled to her feet and rushed toward the limousine.

He was here.

He would help her.

Whatever had happened between them, he wouldn't leave her like this.

But when Cassidy reached the window, she froze.

Dylan wasn't alone.

Selena was sitting beside him.

His hand gently touched Selena's face.

The cold man Cassidy had known for years suddenly looked different.

His eyes were soft.

Tender.

“I’m sorry for everything,” Dylan told Selena. “I promise I'll treat you better from now on.”

Selena smiled and rested her head against his shoulder.

Cassidy felt as though someone had reached into her chest and crushed her heart.

She pressed her trembling hand against the window.

“Dylan...”

Selena noticed her.

Her smile faded.

“She looks like she needs help,” Selena said quietly.

Dylan turned.

For one brief moment, his eyes met Cassidy's.

She waited.

Waited for him to open the door.

Waited for him to ask what had happened.

Waited for the man she had once called her husband to care.

Instead, Dylan's expression turned cold.

“She already took the money,” he said. “That's all I owe her.”

Cassidy couldn't move.

The limousine drove away.

Mud splashed across her legs as the tires passed through a puddle.

She barely noticed.

She only watched the car disappear.

The man she had loved was gone.

And this time, Cassidy finally understood.

Their marriage was truly over.

Jaylord grabbed her again.

Cassidy fought him, but she was exhausted.

Sameen stood nearby without lifting a finger to help.

Cassidy grabbed the lamppost beside her and held on with everything she had.

She couldn't go with him.

She wouldn't.

“Cassidy?”

A familiar voice cut through the chaos.

Cassidy's head snapped up.

Her fingers slipped from the lamppost as Jaylord pulled her backward.

Then another voice thundered across the pavement.

“Let her go!”

Cassidy's eyes widened.

“Rodel...”

He was already running toward them.

Hope rushed through her chest.

Rodel reached Jaylord and shoved him away.

Jaylord stumbled backward.

Before Cassidy could fall, Rodel caught her.

He immediately pulled her against him and placed himself between her and Jaylord.

“I called the police,” Rodel said.

His voice was calm, but his eyes were not.

“Leave her alone.”

Jaylord's face changed when he recognized him.

“Rodel Helton? From Helton Group?”

Rodel didn't answer.

Jaylord forced a laugh.

“Our companies work together. You really want to cause trouble over this woman?”

Rodel's expression hardened.

“Try touching her again.”

Jaylord's smile disappeared.

For several seconds, neither man moved.

Then Jaylord cursed under his breath and backed away.

Cassidy's legs finally gave out.

Rodel caught her before she hit the ground.

“Cassidy?”

She tried to answer, but her body wouldn't cooperate.

Everything around her blurred.

The last thing she felt was Rodel lifting her into his arms.

Then darkness swallowed her.

When Cassidy woke again, she was somewhere unfamiliar.

She tried to move, but her entire body felt heavy.

“Don't get up.”

Cassidy slowly turned her head.

Rodel was sitting beside the bed.

His clothes were wrinkled, and dark circles surrounded his eyes.

“How long...” Cassidy whispered.

“Three days.”

Her eyes widened.

“You've been sleeping on and off,” Rodel explained. “The doctor said your body was exhausted.”

Cassidy looked around the room.

She was in Rodel's house.

“You brought me here?”

“Where else would I take you?”

His answer was simple.

But it made Cassidy's eyes sting.

After everything that had happened, kindness suddenly felt painful.

A television played quietly across the room.

Then Cassidy heard a familiar name.

“Just three days after his divorce, Dylan Edwards, CEO of Edwards Group, was seen with his new girlfriend, Selena Johnson.”

Cassidy turned toward the television.

A picture of Dylan and Selena appeared on the screen.

They looked happy together.

Her chest tightened.

Rodel immediately reached for the remote and turned off the television.

“Don't watch that.”

Cassidy said nothing.

Rodel picked up an apple from the nightstand.

“I bought these for you.”

He began peeling it carefully.

Cassidy watched his hands.

They had known each other since childhood.

Rodel had always been there.

Yet she had chosen Dylan.

She had spent years loving a man who could watch her beg for help and drive away.

A tear rolled down Cassidy's cheek.

Rodel noticed.

His hand stopped.

But he didn't ask her to explain.

He simply waited.

That somehow made it harder.

“Rodel.”

“Yes?”

Cassidy wiped her tears.

“I want to go abroad.”

The knife stopped against the apple.

Rodel slowly looked at her.

“You've decided?”

Cassidy nodded.

“I can't stay here anymore.”

Too many things had happened.

Her marriage was over.

Her mother had betrayed her.

The home she thought she had never truly belonged to her.

She needed somewhere none of them could reach her.

Somewhere she could learn how to live for herself.

Rodel placed the apple down.

“Then I'll go with you.”

Cassidy immediately shook her head.

“No.”

His expression fell.

“I need to do this alone,” she said softly.

Rodel was silent.

Cassidy expected him to argue.

He didn't.

Instead, he slowly nodded.

“If that's what you need, I won't stop you.”

Cassidy looked at him, surprised.

Rodel forced a small smile.

“But promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“Don't disappear completely.”

Cassidy's throat tightened.

For the first time since signing the divorce papers, she didn't feel trapped.

She didn't feel like Dylan's unwanted wife.

She didn't feel like the daughter her mother could sell for money.

She was simply Cassidy.

And she was finally free to decide what came next.

“I promise.”

Rodel nodded and picked up the apple again.

Neither of them noticed the maids standing quietly outside the room.

They had never seen their young master treat anyone this gently.

But Cassidy didn't know the truth either.

She didn't know how long Rodel had loved her.

And she had no idea that leaving the country would change her life forever.