Chapter 2 : The Saviour

Killian glanced at the paper— divorce paper with a mix of surprise and confusion that Sawyer went left behind, sport car peeling out of the street leaving dust in its wake and confusion.

"What is this?" Killian muttered, trying to connect dots that didn't point at anything understandable except Cassandra knew he was out of the prison.

The question is; Did she initiate the divorce?

The same woman he gave his freedom away for, his innocence, literally his life because he could have died in that hell of a place if he hadn't turned invincible.

Killian didn't want to conclude yet. Maybe Sawyer West had given the wrong document to the wrong person. But she recognized him. Her trajectory couldn't be a mistake, her hostile expression, the distance she gave him like he was plagued, it was clarification she recognized him. 720 days in the prison couldn't have changed his appearance beyond recognition. But that, is the only plausible explanation he could give to everything even though it wasn't genuine. Because again, looking at the bottom of the paper, Cassandra's familiar signature was cleanly scribbled there.

His confusion deepened.

Deciding he needed an explanation, Killian arrived at the building of Ashbourne group headquarters, a towering ten storey building of glass and steel, overlooking other structures surrounding it with an arrogant glint.

The structure hadn't changed except for the interior which had been redesigned with materials more expensive than Killian remembered and faces of new staff employees he wasn't familiar with when he would bring breakfast for Cassandra every morning.

Killian took the elevator to the last floor. Tenth floor where Cassandra commanded the company's operations. The elevator stopped, the door parted with a gentle hiss.

Killian stepped out to the hallway that glimmered with light cast against expensive marble.

Finally, he was going to see his wife.

At that moment, memories surfaced.

Two years ago, everything looked like a cruel transaction for the Ashbourne freedom.

Cassandra stumbled in that cold night, trembling, blood smeared over her blazer. Killian had just walked out of the kitchen to her asking what was the matter.

"I have killed someone. I have committed murder." She cried, her voice shaking.

The family gathered. Tension filled the hall.

Cassandra narrated she stabbed a man to death in her office while defending herself from getting raped. It was supposed to be a business meeting but unbeknownst the man had other intentions.

The man was Jack Moore, heir of a prestigious family in the city known for their ruthlessness and unforgiving nature. They were enraged when they heard the heir of their family was murdered.

The Ashbourne family was just average at the time. The Moore family could wipe them out with their Connection and power.

It was a deadlock for the Ashbourne.

Cassandra was going to prison. Ashbourne was going to fall.

Cassandra crumbled to her knee.

"Please Killian. Save me. I don't want to go to prison."

Diane her mother, the woman who never liked him from the beginning, seizing any chance to Humiliate him crumbled to his feet, pleading with tears in her eyes.

"Please, my son. Save her. She won't be able to survive in that place."

The matriarch and the patriarch of Ashbourne were on their knees, pleading for Killian to save the family reputation.

What they were asking was just impossible even though he wished he could help the family. But not this way.

Not until Cassandra shattered his defense completely, placing hand on her belly.

"I'm pregnant, Killian. Our baby. Your baby.."

Killian submitted his innocence for guilt.

He did it for the Ashbourne, for his unborn child and wife that won't survive a day in that hall of place.

What felt like a transaction at that time now looked like the right decision he could have regretted if he hadn't been submissive.

"Boy or girl?"

Killian smiled lightly, imagining Cassandra's expression when she saw him and how old his child had grown.

He placed a gentle knock on her office door, heart racing with anticipation despite training that Sharpened his mind.

He pushed the door open and stepp—

The sight that caught his eyes made his bone froze.