Chapter Five

Lianna

The Wedding Night

The applause keeps ringing in my ears, it's too loud and wrong. 

As if everyone in this room hasn’t just witnessed the destruction of my life.

I can’t feel my legs.

I can’t feel anything except the crushing weight of the ring on my finger and my eyes remain fixed on it, the huge diamond on my finger. That cursed, glittering diamond.

It sparkles under the chandelier as if mocking me. I barely register the reception that follows.

People approach us and congratulate us. I fake a smile and shake hands and play pretend. I force air into my lungs and stay upright, that becomes my only goal.

At some point, champagne is placed in my hand.

I don’t drink. Food is served but I don’t eat.

Music plays but I hear none of it.

I feel like a ghost trapped inside someone else’s body.

Several times I catch people staring at me.

Not admiring or studying

As if trying to understand why I am here instead of Bianca.

As if waiting for the truth to explode.

Beside me, Cassian barely speaks.

He doesn’t smile or socialize.

He simply exists and somehow commands the entire room.

Power radiates off him so naturally it feels terrifying.

No one interrupts him. No one challenges him. No one even lingers too long in conversation. They fear him. Every single person here fears him.

Hours later or maybe minutes, I can’t tell anymore the reception ends.

My body stiffens the moment Cassian rises.

My pulse spikes so hard my vision swims.

He looks at me, just one look is enough.

I stand but my legs feel weak. He says nothing as we walk. The mansion is quieter now.

Only our footsteps echo through endless hallways. His stride is steady and shaky. 

I feel like I’m walking toward my execution.

We stop before massive double doors and he opens them, I step inside.

The bedroom is enormous. Floor to floor ceiling windows overlook the city lights.

Everything about this room feels like him.

Controlled and precise that's what it feels like, a beautiful prison. The door shuts behind us. The click of the lock slices through me.

I spin around and it's locked, he locked it. 

Locked.

“Open it.” My voice trembles “Open the door!”

Cassian stands several feet away, already removing his jacket calm and collected and infuriatingly calm.

As if my panic doesn’t exist.

As if women don’t break apart in front of him. Rage floods through terror.

“How can you be so calm?”

He places his jacket on a chair and loosens his cufflinks and unbuttons the top button of his shirt.

Every movement feels dangerous and Intimate. 

I back away, “What are you doing?”

His eyes lift to mine.

“Undressing.”

The blunt answer steals my breath.

Fear spikes again. My body turns cold.

I scan the room for weapons, a lamp, a vase anything. My hand lands on a crystal vase.

I grip it with both hands and Cassian notices, Of course he notices.

His gaze drops to it then back at me. 

“Don’t come closer.”

 His expression doesn’t change.

“I wasn’t planning to.”

My voice cracks.

“Don’t lie to me!”

He says nothing.

That silence breaks something inside me and I scream.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?”

The vase leaves my hands before I even fully decide and It flies toward him.

Smashes against the wall beside his head.

Crystal explodes.

I wait for anger but he did not even flinch. 

Not once. Not even when glass explodes inches from his face.

He just watches me. And that unnerves me more than rage ever could.

I hate crying.

I hate how weak it makes me feel.

I clutch my arms around myself.

Trying to hold myself together.

“You kidnapped me.”My voice breaks.

“You forced me into marriage.” I shake my head, “I don’t even know why.”

A sob escapes me. “Why me?”

The question comes out smaller now.“Why me Cassian?”

Cassian finally moves one step, his voice low “You are safe in this room.”

“What?”

His gaze stays fixed on me.

“No one enters this room without my permission.”

I struggle to understand what he is saying .

Confusion cuts through fear.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything Lianca”

Nothing he says makes sense. I shake my head.

“No.” my anger returns.

“No, stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Speaking in riddles!”

My voice rises again “Just tell me the truth!”

He studies me long and something shifts behind his eyes.

“Because letting you leave tonight would get you killed.”

My body goes still.

“What?”

His face remains unreadable.

“You heard me.”

“That’s insane,” I repeat. “Who would kill me? I am a nobody who would want to kill me?”

Cassian doesn’t answer immediately. Instead his jaw tightens.Then he says quietly, 

“That is what I intend to find out.”

A chill slides through me.

“What?” He steps closer.

“You arrived at this estate exactly when the real bride disappeared.”

My pulse spikes.

“No I told you” He cuts me off.

“You share enough features with Bianca to pass under a veil.” My mouth dries.

“That means one of two things.”

His eyes lock onto mine.

“Either fate has a twisted sense of humor”

He steps closer, “or someone placed you in my path.”

Ice floods my veins.

“I’m a nobody.”

The words leave me instantly because they’re true.

I’m nobody. Just a girl trying to survive.

Cassian’s expression changes.

His gaze sharpens.

As if that sentence matters.

As if he doesn’t believe me.

He says something so quietly I almost miss it.

“No one is ever a nobody.”

My breathing turns shallow again as fear

returns.

“This is crazy.”

“It may be.”

“Then let me go.”

“No.”

“Why?!”

His answer comes immediately.

Because to him, it is obvious.

“Because until I know who wants you here”

He closes the remaining distance.

Now he stands directly in front of me.

Close enough that I stop breathing.

Close enough to feel his warmth.

Close enough to understand something terrifying.

He isn’t lying.

He genuinely believes I’m in danger.

His voice drops lower.

“you are safest where I can see you.”

The room feels too small. His gaze drops to my hand, to the wedding ring. Then back to my face and when he speaks again his voice turns deadly.

“If someone wanted you in this house” His jaw hardens, "they made one fatal mistake.”

“What mistake?”

Cassian’s gray eyes darken. Something lethal flashes in them.

Then he says the words that send ice through my blood.

“They made you mine.”

The word lands like chains locking shut.

A knock sounds at the door. Three sharp knocks. Cassian goes still.

Every trace of warmth vanishes.

A male voice speaks from outside.

“Boss.”

Cassian doesn’t look away from me.

“What?”

“We found Bianca.”

But the next words are worse, much worse.

“She is not alone and she says she knows who your wife really is."