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Chapter 17 - Cassian

Author: Esmeldaa
last update Last Updated: 2025-07-21 19:49:38

CASSIAN

"You're bleeding on camera," Devon said beside me as I adjusted my tie in the background of the interview space.

I flinched at his statement. "What?"

He pointed at my knuckles. "Your skin. You've been holding your fist so tight, you managed to cut it. Do you want a Band-Aid or do you just want to bleed all over the place like an amateur?"

"Shut up," I grumbled, shaking out my hand. But he wasn't wrong. There was blood on my hand.

When Belle walked out like that, it’d done something to me.

It seemed she'd been bottling her discomfort until the interviewer asked her that one—"Marriage, a last name able to change your fate, public appearances?"

I should have known better but then again, her discomfort wasn’t any of my business.

"Do you want to cancel the second half of this?" Devon asked me again although this time he did it more quietly. "Because your face? You're scowling like someone kicked your dog."

"No,” I replied. “Let's get it over with."

He didn’t argue. He just handed m
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  • My Southern Lover   Chapter 28 - Cassian

    CASSIANHer message came in at midnight.Belle: Tell me when you're ready to be honest.I stared at it like it was a snake.Honest?What was she saying I wasn't being honest about?That I was trying to maintain this whole setup professionally? That I wasn't thinking about her every other second I wasn't with her? That I hadn't been replaying that kiss, that bathtub, the sound of her crying in my arms on repeat?Or maybe she was talking about Callie.Damn it.I tossed the phone onto the empty couch and stood up, striding across the rug of the library. Devon's words from moments before echoed in my head."This isn't about business for you anymore."He was right. But I wasn't quite ready to admit it to myself yet. I barely was now.I didn’t mean to go back to the manor that night. But there was something in Belle's message that indicated I wouldn't sleep otherwise. I needed to go see her. Not to talk, or argue about things but to just make sure she was still the woman who tormented me.-

  • My Southern Lover   Chapter 27 - Belle

    BELLEI didn't know how I was still holding the clipboard.My fingers were numb, my ears were ringing with static, and my knees—God, my knees—were begging to just buckle."Let's move these panels over a little to the right," I said, my voice coming out strained. I tried to infuse my tone with some authority as I addressed one of the contractors.Selena was beside me, as usual but she’d been quiet for way too long. I didn't look at her.I couldn't.Not after the way she'd been looking at me all morning like I'd gotten some sort of invisible bruise on my cheek.The third member of our team, Davis, had wandered off to speak with the electricians. And that left me alone with her.Selena moved beside me and cleared her throat. "Belle."I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "Hmm?"She hesitated. "Don't freak out." Then she spoke softly, "But… you need to look at the news."My stomach curled up into a thousand knots. I already knew whatever it was, was probably going to be bad."I'm b

  • My Southern Lover   Chapter 26 - Cassian

    CASSIAN"You're late," I growled, looking down at the lukewarm cappuccino on the table in front of me. The service was thirty-minute late on delivering the one thing I'd ordered exactly thirty minutes ago."You know how I love being fashionably late," said an all-too-familiar voice behind me.I spun around and there she was.Callie Monroe, strutting into the café as if she still owned a piece of me. As if I hadn’t let her because all she wanted was my name, money and legacy.She wore red lipstick and higher heels, her blazer tightly wrapped around her. Her strawberry blonde curls were styled in an elegant bun and she wore that smile I hated."Still mooning alone in public, Cass?" she said, leaning down to hug me.I didn't move fast enough and her body pressed too forcefully against mine. I stiffened and the scent of her expensive perfume crept its way up my nostrils irritating me further."Don't," I whispered, backing up. "Let's just sit."She pouted but sat across from me, crossing h

  • My Southern Lover   Chapter 25 - Belle

    BELLEI didn’t know how to feel about everything.The fact that my son was declining or that Cassian had followed me to go see him. Worse of all, I had to tell him to promise me he’d never call me mommy in front of Cassian or anyone that wasn’t Selena.He was heartbroken but agreed. My little warrior.“Belle,” Selena said, calling back my attention. “Are you okay?”I blinked twice and turned to face her.“Yeah, I’m fine,” I whispered, stacking the files on my desk. “Just a lot going on, you know.”Selena put down what she was doing and turned to face me. “Let’s go to an amusement park.”Confused, I looked at her fully. “Well, that was awfully random, Sel,” I said.“Random, yes,” she continued. “But needed. Except for the fact that we haven’t hung out properly in a long ass while, you also haven’t spent that much time with Leo. Well, except yesterday when you were called to the school.”I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Selena, I have a deadline. The manor—""The manor will be

  • My Southern Lover   Chapter 24 - Cassian

    CASSIANI watched Belle walk away from Savannah as if she hadn't just been ravaged open in public.She didn’t blink or even flinch. But even if I didn’t want to, I'd known Belle long enough to notice the slight jerk of her fingers at her sides. To see the pain that shone in her eyes for one brief second before she masked it with that stoic, professional facade she always wore around my mother.She didn't react to Savannah's venomous comment and somehow, I regretted not saying anything. No one, not even Belle, deserved to be on the receiving end of my mother’s sharp tongue. I should have walked up behind Belle, slipped my hand into hers, and made it crystal clear that the only one doing the choosing was me even though it was to make her suffer.But I didn't.We were in the study later on, the two of us working in an uncomfortably tense environment. Belle was at the large table where blueprints and estimates lay spread out in front of her and I was in my chair by the fireplace, scrollin

  • My Southern Lover   Chapter 23 - Belle

    BELLE"You're trending."Cassian's voice sounded way too casual for a man who'd just set the internet on fire. I turned to him as we stalked away from the photoshoot his mom had organized for us, his hand was wrapped around mine tightly lke he didn’t want to let go of it.The camera lights were blinding and I was sure my face was numb from the amount of times I had to smile like I was enjoying the shoot.To the public, I’m sure I look like a woman living her best life with a man as rich and well-connected as Cassian but deep down, I just wanted to hold my son close to me. Especially after that cryptic message I got that put the fear of God in me."And whose fault is that?" I whispered without looking at him.His grip tightened a bit on my hand, warm but firm. "You asked me to smile for the cameras.""I didn’t tell you to take my hand like we're out for a Sunday walk in Hyde Park, now did I?"Cassian bent his head then, low enough for his breath to linger on the shell of my ear. "You d

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