Chapter 9 ~ 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝙻𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 ~

Cassandra adjusted the collar of her blouse for the third time that morning, her fingers trembling slightly even though the office was warm. She had barely touched her coffee, the bitter taste still on her tongue from a rushed sip, but her heart wouldn’t stop pounding.

It had been three nights.

Three nights since she slipped out of a hotel room without saying a word. No name. No goodbye. Just silence and the echo of her heels clicking down the hall like a retreating heartbeat.

It was supposed to be nothing. A mistake. A secret. A moment of weakness.

So why did it feel like he’d taken something with him?

She didn’t remember his face clearly — just pieces. A sharp jaw. The heat in his eyes. The way he smelled: smoke, leather, and something expensive.

The lights were low. Her mind was foggy. She had gone out to forget herself, and instead, she found a man who looked at her like he already knew who she was. His voice—low, calm, unshakable—still echoed in her memory.

She told herse