Chapter 10 – The Debt I Can’t Repay

Eva Point Of View'' 

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The silence in the house wasn’t peaceful. It was a punishment. Cassian hadn’t said a word since he dragged me back.

The front door was still locked. My phone was still missing.  The contract—the damn thing—lay there on the vanity, folded up like a slap to the face.

I paced the bedroom like a trapped animal, my breath coming in sharp gasps, my limbs twitching with rage. I wasn’t a wife. I wasn’t even a person. I was just a possession—branded, bought, and locked away in a gilded cage.

My hands trembled as I looked down at the contract. All his promises, all his control. And I’d signed it. Every time I tried to claw my way free, he’d find another way to chain me tighter.

But Liam… God. Liam was running out of patience for this.

I held onto the edge of the mirror, fighting back tears, but they slipped down my cheeks anyway—hot and silent, leaving streaks on my face. His last doctor’s call had been brief and brutal: He needs surgery. It’s now or never.

And I had nothing.

No freedom. No access. No power. Only this contract—this useless paper that had never protected me or him.

I grabbed it and ripped it in half. Once, twice, again and again until all that was left were tiny shreds scattered across the floor.

I felt this urge to scream, to set everything ablaze and watch it all burn to the ground. I was done obeying. Done surviving. If Cassian wanted a wife, he could keep the corpse.

I rushed down the hallway, my bare feet slapping against the floor, my body shaking, and my heart pounding so loudly I could hear it in my ears.

But just as I was about to pass the main sitting room, I suddenly stopped in my tracks.

Two staff members whispered quietly near the window. One of them held a folder. The name caught my eye: Liam Reyes.

My feet moved on instinct. “What is that?”

The maid jumped, clutching the file to her chest. “It’s nothing, Mrs. Reyes—”

“Give it to me.”

She hesitated, then handed it over.

My fingers flipped through the pages without breathing.

Hospital. Surgery. Paid in full.

My eyes skipped to the bottom line. Anonymous transaction. But I knew. I knew.

Cassian.

My knees nearly gave out. I sat hard on the velvet couch, file still open in my lap.

He’d done it. Quietly. Without telling me. No demands. No conditions.

Just action.

I crushed the file against my chest and stood. The rage didn’t leave—it just sharpened. I wasn’t grateful. I was livid. Because he’d done the one thing I couldn’t fight.

He’d been kind.

I didn’t knock. 

I burst into his study and slammed the door hard enough to rattle the frame. He looked up from behind the desk, as calm as ever, his eyes blank. “Eva.” “You bought Liam.” 

“Yes.” That was it. No explanation. No smugness. No show. “Why?” I spat. He put down his pen. “Because you were going to leave.” “So you thought buying my brother’s life would keep me here?”

“No,” he said softly. “I did it because I didn’t want you to leave.”

The room spun.

He didn’t raise his voice. Didn’t try to touch me. Didn’t wave the contract in my face or use my grief against me. He just sat there—calm, still, real—and tore down every wall I had left.

I took a step back. “Don’t... don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make me think you care.”

He stood up slow and deliberate. “I didn’t ask for anything in return.”

“That doesn’t make it better.” My voice cracked. “It makes it worse.”

He nodded once, as if he understood. And maybe he did. Maybe he knew exactly what he’d done to me.

Because now I couldn’t hate him.

I wanted to. God, I needed to. But how could I when he’d just saved the only person I loved?

I turned and walked out before I fell apart right there in front of him.

Back in the room, I stared at the shredded contract on the floor. It didn’t matter anymore. Cassian had replaced every word in that document with something I couldn’t rip apart.

He didn’t just buy time.

He bought something I couldn’t afford to give.

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He didn’t just pay the debt.

He made me owe him something I couldn’t repay.