His first love

 Cassian’s POV

​When my assistant called my cell phone to inform me that Liora had just landed at the city airport, I dropped my pen on the table, grabbed my suit jacket from the chair, and drove straight to the terminal without taking any of my security guards along with me. 

For two long years, the heavy guilt of letting my savior disappear on our wedding day weighed on my chest every single morning, so the moment I stepped inside the terminal and saw her standing near the exit doors, I moved through the crowd quickly and called out her name.

​"Liora!" I shouted, picking up my pace until she turned around, saw me standing there, and threw her arms around my neck while crying uncontrollably against my shoulder.

​"Cassian, it is really you," Liora sobbed, holding onto my suit jacket tightly as if she was terrified I would vanish into thin air if she dared to let go of me for a single second, "I was so scared to come back home, but I missed you so much every single day."

​"Where have you been all this time?" I asked, pulling back slightly so I could look at her face while guiding her by the elbow toward where my car was parked, "Why did you run away on the morning of our wedding without saying a word to anyone in the house?"

​"It was all because of Elaris," Liora cried out, wiping her wet cheeks with her hands as I opened the passenger door for her and helped her sit down inside the front seat, "she made my life a complete nightmare for months before the wedding, and she warned me that she would ruin our family if I did not pack my bags and leave."

​I closed the car door, walked around to the driver's side, and sat down beside her, feeling my heart harden completely as I listened to her words.

​"What exactly did she say to you?" I asked, turning in my seat to face her directly while keeping my voice steady, "Because her parents claimed something similar back then, but I needed to hear the truth from you."

​"She came into my bedroom late the night before the wedding," Liora said, trembling as she looked at me with wide, tear-filled eyes, "and she told me that she had been in love with you for a long time, that you belonged to her, and that if I walked down that aisle, she would make sure our parents lost every single thing they owned in this city."

​"Why didn't you come straight to me back then?" I asked, gripping the steering wheel tightly as anger built up inside my chest, "You saved my life from that wreck, Liora, so I would have protected you from her, no matter what it took."

​"I was so terrified of what she might do, Cassian," she wept, placing her small hand over mine on the steering wheel, "she threatened to hurt herself and blame me for it, so I packed a single bag, took a bus out of the city in the middle of the night, and spent the last two years living in small rooms, working terrible daily jobs just to keep a roof over my head."

​"You suffered alone for two long years because of her selfishness," I said, looking into her eyes as every small doubt I ever had about Elaris vanished from my mind completely, "and I am so sorry I was not there to protect you from the people living under my own roof."

​"Is she still living with you at the estate?" Liora asked softly, looking down at her lap with a fearful tone in her voice, "My mother called me yesterday afternoon and told me that Elaris took my place, put on my wedding gown, and married you."

​"Yes, she is staying at the mansion right now," I answered, starting the engine and pulling out of the busy airport parking lot, "her parents forced the sudden switch to save their own name from embarrassment, but I have never touched her, never loved her, and I kept her completely separated from my daily life."

​"I was so heartbroken when I first heard the news," Liora whispered, leaning her head back against the seat, "I genuinely thought you had forgotten all about me and handed my spot over to her without a second thought."

​"I could never forget the woman who pulled me from that car and saved my life," I assured her, keeping my eyes fixed on the highway as we drove toward the Virelli Mansion, "I married her only because I gave a strict promise to take care of a Sterling daughter to repay my debt, but now that you are finally back home, everything is going to be fixed."

​We reached the front gates of the mansion twenty minutes later, and as I parked the car right in front of the main entrance steps, I saw my father, my mother, and my siblings gathered near the doors alongside Elaris.

​I helped Liora out of the vehicle, guiding her up the front steps while my family gathered around her in a rush, hugging her, crying, and asking endless questions about where she had been hiding all this time.

​I looked over the heads of my crying family and caught Elaris watching the whole scene with a calm, silent expression on her face, and seeing her stand there quietly while Liora wept in my arms made my final decision effortless.

​Later that evening, after bringing Liora up to a quiet guest room and making sure the house staff took care of everything she needed, I walked down to my private study, pulled out my chair, and dialed my family attorney's personal phone number.

​"Good evening, Mr. Virelli," my lawyer answered on the second ring, "is there something urgent you need assistance with at this hour?"

​"Yes, there is," I said, leaning back in my chair while looking straight at the desk in front of me, "I need you to draft complete divorce papers immediately, make all the financial terms clean and final, and bring the documents to my estate first thing tomorrow morning."