LOGINSADIE SINCLAIR Cassian did not panic. That was the first thing I noticed. The board had just made a decision to get rid of him. These were men who had become very successful by doing whatever it took to win even if it meant hurting people.. “Get dressed,” he said calmly. “We’re going downstairs.” “What?” I snapped. “You were just—” “Overthrown?” He picked up his phone again. “Temporarily challenged.” My heart was still hammering. “They’re taking your company.” He looked at me then. Fully. Sharply. “No,” he said. “They tried.” We entered the elevator. Glass walls. The city glittered beneath us like it was complicit. “You said we were already in breach,” I whispered. “Yes.” “And you’re not worried?” He pressed a button. Locked the doors. “I don’t lose control, Sadie,” he said quietly. “I redirect it.” His phone rang. He answered without looking away from me. “Yes,” he said. “Proceed.” I swallowed. “Proceed with what?” He ended the call. “With reminding them who b
SADIE SINCLAIRThe word wife rang in my head.I looked at the woman standing in Cassian’s office—She came closer, heels clicking softly against marble. She smelled expensive. Confident.“You look… younger than I imagined,” she said, studying me like a miscalculation.Cassian didn’t look at her.“Enough,” he said.She smiled anyway. “Relax. I’m not here to fight her.”I laughed. It came out sharp. Unhinged. “You married him,” I said, pointing at Cassian, “and you’re not here to fight me?”She tilted her head. “Why would I? He isn’t mine.”My pulse stuttered.Cassian finally spoke. “This marriage,” he said flatly, “was arranged before either of us could spell our own names.”She nodded. “Our parents merged industries. Steel and bloodlines.” Her eyes flicked to him. “Romance never entered the negotiation.”“So you’re not—” I swallowed. “You’re not together?”“No,” she said easily. “We’re shareholders with rings.”Cassian’s jaw tightened. “We live separate lives. Always have.”I should h
SADIE SINCLAIR The driver didn’t say a word. Not when I came out from my apartment.Not when my friend Meg hugged me so tight my ribs ache.I entered the back of the black SUV with my bag filled with clothes, and shut the door.Meg’s face fade behind the tinted glass.Next thing you know, I was gone.Cassian wolf’s house wasn’t a house.It was like a fortress.Big iron gates swung open out of the darkness like it was meant to keep people trapped.Cameras tracked the car as we drove through the gate.Money didn’t whisper here.It loomed.And of a sudden i started feeling anxious. The car stopped in front of a massive glass-and-stone estate sitting high above the city. Lights shining from the inside, Like it was trying to pretend this place wasn’t a cage.The driver got out, opened my door.“Mr. Wolfe is waiting,” he said.Of course he was. Cassian stood waiting just inside the entrance, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a glass of something dark. He wasn’t wearing a suit.
SADIE SINCLAIR“I fucking hate my life.”I kicked the suitcase again.“I hate contracts.”Another kick.“I hate arrogant billionaires with god complexes.”Kick.“I hate overpriced hospital bills. And hospitals. And fucking chemo.”Kick.“I hate this suitcase!”Fucking kick.It was half-packed, fully pissing me off, and dropped down by the side of the mattress that barely passed as a bed.It creaked like it hated me too.My apartment wasn’t much. A studio in East Hollywood with thin walls and one window that hadn’t shut right since I moved in. My dresser was a stack of boxes. My nightstand was a plastic stool I stole from the stables.My couch? Didn’t exist.Just a worn comforter I kept on the floor for when I wanted to pretend I was normal enough to have people over.The building smelled like ramen and cigarettes. But it was mine.For now.Because even this might be gone anytime.I leaned forward, forehead pressed to my knees. My fingers dug into my scalp.The house I was born in had
CASSIAN WOLFEShe couldn’t look up after she’d signed. Her shoulders were shaking. Lips pressed together so tight they’d gone white.My eyes flicked to the paper. Her name was there.Ink on contract.Done. She shoved it toward me with numb fingers and sat back like she might throw up.The old gray UCLA sweatshirt she had on was drowning her frame.Coincidentally, it was the same one she wore freshman year, the last time I saw her before I dropped out and finished at Wharton.And in all honesty, Sadie Sinclair hadn’t changed much from the stable girl I remembered.Smaller, maybe. Sadder. Her leggings clung to her legs like a second skin. Her eyes were glassed over. Nose red. Hair a tangled knot falling over one cheek as she stared past me.I reached for the paper.“The clauses kick in now,” I said. She didn’t flinch.“You move in tonight.”Still nothing.“There’s a party in three days. You’ll be there. But before that, we’ve got stable inspections in the morning. You know those horses
He didn’t give me time to answer. Just turned and started walking, and I followed like I was being dragged by the throat. We arrived at a hospital café. Looked bougie. Empty. Soft jazz played over hidden speakers.Cassian took the booth facing the entrance. His black button-up was rolled at the sleeves, his arms resting on the table like he was settling in for a date.I slid into the seat across from him, frowning.He didn’t speak. Just raised one hand, a small flick of his fingers.One of his men walked over from the far end of the room. Grey suit, envelope in hand. He placed it on the table and walked away again.Cassian slid the envelope toward me with two fingers.“You really came with fucking paperwork?” I spat. “You arrogant, manipulative piece of shit. You thought this through that much? You really assumed I’d agree to this circus?”“I assumed,” he said, slowly, “that when you were choking on debt and your father was choking on his own lungs, you’d at least want to see your op







