Chapter 4

It was Demi.

Her cheeks were still flushed from dancing, but her eyes…gleamed with the smug satisfaction of a victor.

“Are you hiding out here because your feelings got hurt, sis?”

She didn’t bother to mask the gloating in her voice.

“Let’s be honest, any man, choosing between you and me, would always pick the one who’s more graceful and better-mannered. Me.”

She paused, lowering her voice, each word dipped in venom.

“But really, I do pity you. Back then, your mother couldn’t win against mine. And now, you can’t win against me either. I guess failure just… runs in your DNA.”

My fist tightened so hard the veins stood out.

Demi Vale, you dare insult my mother?

But before I could speak, something unexpected happened.

Demi suddenly staggered backward, then let out a sharp, terrified scream as she completely lost her balance and fell straight down the stairs.

A wave of chaos erupted below, shouts, gasps, the sudden swell of panic.

Cassian rushed out from the crowd instantly, catching Demi’s collapsed body in his arms.

He looked up at me, standing on the landing, rage burning in his eyes like open flame.

His voice was carved out of ice.

“Did you push her? Apologize.”

…Cassian, are you from another century?

No checking the cameras.

No asking what happened.

Just accuse me on instinct?

“It wasn’t me,” I said evenly. “And I won’t apologize.”

“You’re hopeless.”

He turned to his bodyguards without hesitation.

“Teach her a lesson. Throw her into the outdoor ornamental pool. Before the gala ends, don't let her coming out until I say so.”

“I’m your fiancée,” I shouted, “or is it Demi Vale?”

Cassian seized my wrist with a force that made my eyes sting.

There was no pity in him—only cold, precise authority.

“Exactly because my fiancée is you,” he said, enunciating each word,

“I will put others before you.”

In that moment, I understood, more clearly than ever, that the choice I made in this life was absolutely right.

Pretty faces, perfect bodies, none of it mattered when the hearts underneath were fundamentally incompatible.

The bodyguards stepped forward, grabbing me before I could brace myself.

No amount of struggling helped.

A harsh splash and icy water swallowed me whole.

The cold stabbed into my bones.

I surfaced choking, desperate, reaching for the edge, only to be shoved back under by the guards stationed there.

I clawed upward again and again they forced me beneath the surface.

“Cassian! You bastard! Let me up!”

My strength drained with every thrash.

The cold numbed my muscles, my fingers, my breath.

My voice cracked, then broke entirely.

My lips began turning blue; wet strands of red hair clung to my face, freezing stiff.

One of the guards hesitated, pulling out a phone.

Through the slosh of water in my ears, I heard Cassian’s voice, hard as forged steel:

“Continue. Otherwise, she’ll never learn her lesson.”

…Learn her lesson?

Of course.

He never wanted me.

He wanted a fiancée who obeyed.

Who stayed quiet.

Who stayed small.

Who never crossed a line.

A despair sharper than the cold closed over me and dragged me deeper than the water ever could.

My limbs finally gave out.

Darkness rushed in.

I slipped beneath the surface, and lost consciousness completely.