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Checkmate in the Dark

Author: ICE
last update Last Updated: 2025-08-07 03:26:20

~CASSIAN~

I haven’t slept since last night. Not for a damn second. And now, with the sun hanging high, it was already past noon. I’ve been drinking since the sky was still a dull, early gray—before the world remembered to wake up. Bourbon was my only company, glass after glass poured in silence, chasing a stillness that refused to come.

Whatever was happening wasn’t supposed to be my problem.

She wasn’t supposed to get under my skin.

This whole marriage was just a contract, nothing more. A temporary arrangement tied to convenience, legacy, and leverage not love. And we haven’t even been married that long, plus I’d planned the exit before the ink dried up. Yet, here I was, half-drunk, wide awake, and angrier than I’ve been in years… because she looked at me like I was a stranger, which I'd been to her since the beginning anyways.

I tipped the glass back again, letting the bourbon scorch its way down my throat.

“Good,” I muttered, pouring the last of it with a steady hand.

Across the ro
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  • THE WOLFE LEGACY: HEIRESS OF THE EMPIRE   THE SOUND OF LAUGHTER

    ~CASSIAN~She wasn’t at breakfast. That was the first thing I noticed - an absence that echoed so loud.The dining hall felt bigger without her. Colder, maybe. I told myself it didn’t matter, that I had a full day ahead and a meeting that would likely stretch past what my patience could tolerate. But as I sat there, coffee in hand, eyes on the head of the table where she usually sat silent but present, something in me itched.I set the cup down.“Where is Aria?” I asked without looking up as Dani passed behind me, carrying a silver tray.“She hasn’t come out of her room yet, sir,” she said gently. “I believe she’s still asleep.”Still asleep. That's strange. She was usually up early, or at least pretending to be awake when I saw her.“Did she seem ill yesterday? Maybe in the afternoon?” I asked before I could stop myself.“No, sir.”I nodded once, dismissing her. “Let her rest, then.”But I couldn’t shake off the thought of her tangled in blankets, lost in whatever dreamless sleep had

  • THE WOLFE LEGACY: HEIRESS OF THE EMPIRE   Flour-Dusted Smiles

    ~ARIA~My eyes cracked open against the brightness. My head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton.Morning. Already?I blinked slowly, my body heavy and uncooperative. I didn’t remember dreaming. Just… nothingness. Then light. Late-morning light.A yawn escaped my mouth before I could stop it. My limbs ached like I’d run a marathon in my sleep.Why was I so tired? It wasn’t like I had chores. I wasn’t working. I barely had anything to do but exist in this house, eat, and sleep.Still, I had to drag myself out of bed. Every movement felt like I was swimming through something thick and invisible. I forced myself into the bathroom and let the warm water of the shower wash over me, hoping it would wake my spirit the way it did my skin, but it didn’t.By the time I was dressed in soft, casual clothes, I still felt like I hadn’t really arrived in the day.I made my way downstairs for breakfast. When I got to the dining hall, it was empty.Cassian was already gone.Of course, he was. I’

  • THE WOLFE LEGACY: HEIRESS OF THE EMPIRE   A Quiet Becoming

    ~ARIA~A week ago, everything about this place felt foreign - its vastness, its silence, the way the staff bowed slightly when they passed me in the halls like I was someone important. I didn’t feel important. I felt lost. Caged in velvet walls. But now… it wasn’t the same.Somehow, slowly, I’d begun to loosen.I still didn’t remember who I was to this place or to Cassian but I was learning how to exist in it, and I had grown quite fond of Dani and her beautiful, bright smile. She'd been the warmest presence in the unfamiliar place, always knowing when to talk and when to simply walk beside me in silence. Three days ago, she showed me two places that out of the entire estate felt more alive. Quiet corners of beauty and calm tucked away from all the cold opulence. A sunroom and a garden.She led me to the sunroom first, her smile bright as always. “Come on, Miss Aria” she’d said, pushing open the glass door. It was tucked behind a veil of ivy, a room made entirely of glass that caught

  • THE WOLFE LEGACY: HEIRESS OF THE EMPIRE   Compromised Control

    ~CASSIAN~[Wolfe International Boardroom]The boardroom felt like an entirely different world. Cold, sharp, exacting and I wore its armor well. My face was stern, sculpted into the kind of cold neutrality that made grown men second-guess their words. I was no longer the man from the estate - the one who watched her sip tea in the morning light like it was the only thing anchoring him to peace. Here, I was a Wolfe.___They rose when I entered, a display of etiquette disguised as respect, but I knew what it truly was - fear wrapped in formality. Wolfe International wasn’t just a company. It was a fortress. And no one wanted to be caught on the wrong side of its gate.We started with the Adamas Holdings meeting. The representatives were already jittery, feigning patience behind designer ties and shaky pens. Their threats were a bluff, and they knew it. Pulling out of a deal with me wasn’t just bad business, it was suicidal. I played into that, let the silence drag when it needed to, l

  • THE WOLFE LEGACY: HEIRESS OF THE EMPIRE   Something More Important

    ~CASSIAN~The sun hadn't risen fully, but I found myself pacing in my room contemplating if I should or shouldn't go to her room yet, but after a while I decided to wait.I didn't sleep last night, I couldn't, even though the doctors had left me reassured. I kept seeing her crumpling in my arms like a broken wing, her skin clammy, her breath shallow. It was like watching a porcelain figure collapse, and all strength stripped away. It reminded me too much of the explosion. Of the first time something in me broke because of her.That memory haunted me more than I was willing to admit.Once it was thirty minutes past eight, I found myself walking toward her room. When I reached her door, I paused just briefly before knocking once and stepping in.She was awake.Not just awake, freshly showered, standing by the window in denim shorts and a simple white T-shirt, her damp hair neatly tied back. Sunlight caught on the edge of her cheek, softening the tension that always lived between her br

  • THE WOLFE LEGACY: HEIRESS OF THE EMPIRE   In His Arms

    ~ARIA~“I need to ask you something,” I said softly.He turned slowly, his eyes locking onto mine like I was the one thing he hadn’t expected to see.And just like that, the quiet air between us shifted like gravity had rearranged itself and I was standing just slightly off-balance.I opened my mouth to speak, but before the words could form, a sharp, sudden ache pierced my temple.My head throbbed violently. A deep, gnawing pain that pulsed behind my eyes like a warning bell. I gasped, pressing a hand to my forehead. The world tilted.“Aria?” Cassian’s voice cut through the haze, sharp with concern.I reached out instinctively, searching for something, anything, to ground me. My hand brushed the cold surface of the stone wall, but my knees buckled before I could find balance.I didn’t hit the ground.Cassian caught me in one swift movement, his glass crashing to the floor and shattering unnoticed at our feet. He didn’t even glance at it. His arms were strong and steady as he scooped

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