Chapter 4 : Signed in blood

Jack smiled at the shock on Killian's face like it was the best part of his day.

"Guess I'm not the only one who's good at surprises." He laughed, spreading his arms. "I'm not dead, Killian. Never was."

He pulled Cassandra against him, one arm circling her waist like a claim being staked.

"We let you believe what we needed you to believe. You were an easy sell." His grin widened. "Don't beat yourself up over it. We'll send you a wedding invitation — something the world's never seen. Honeymoon somewhere you couldn't dream of affording."

His eyes swept over Killian, taking in the weight he'd lost, the two years carved into his frame.

"You should eat something at the wedding. You've earned it, at least."

Realization hit Killian in waves. He looked from Jack back to Cassandra — really looked at her. There was no guilt on her face. No remorse. Just the cool discomfort of someone waiting for an inconvenience to leave.

"It gets better," Jack said, circling him slowly, savoring it. "The accident that killed me? Staged. I spent a month in a private penthouse while the world mourned. When I came back, everyone just assumed I'd recovered. Miracle survival, they called it. Sent gifts. Cried tears for a man who was never in any danger — while you rotted in that hole for a murder that never happened."

He stopped in front of Killian, grinning.

"You took the fall so we could be together."

Something in Killian's chest cracked. Not from Cassandra's betrayal alone — he'd already absorbed that blow. It was Jack rubbing his face in it, like the whole thing had been his idea from the start, that lit something colder.

He turned to Cassandra. "Tell me he's lying."

She lifted her chin and held his gaze, and for one second something that might have been pity crossed her face.

"Killian—"

"Answer me." His voice cracked like a whip, fists clenching at his sides.

"Yes." Her voice was ice. No hesitation, no shame. "It's all true."

Her composure slid back into place like nothing had happened.

"I couldn't afford a scandal. If I'd filed for divorce outright, the press would've torn Ashbourne apart — and you'd have made it worse just by existing near it."

Her voice sharpened, each word a blade.

"You were never in my league, Killian. I thought maybe you'd grow into it. You never did." Her lips curled. "Jack's family sits in the top ten in Silvergate. Power, money, connections. You want me to give that up for an ex-convict? Be serious."

She looked at him one last time, and delivered the final blow without blinking.

"We're done."

Killian laughed — low, bitter, disbelieving. Two years of his life, traded away so she could clear the path to marry someone she thought was a better investment.

He'd thought he was saving her. She'd been drowning him the whole time.

His jaw tightened. "So this was about money. Status." He shook his head slowly. "You're making a mistake, Cassandra."

She smiled, small and cold enough to cut glass.

"You were the mistake."

"My child," he said. "Where is she?"

Cassandra looked at Jack, and the two of them broke into laughter, Cassandra doubling over like she'd just heard the funniest thing all year.

"A child? Really?" She straightened, still grinning. "You held onto that for two years? I knew exactly which lie would keep you compliant." Her smile didn't waver. "There was never a baby, Killian. You couldn't even handle yourself. What made you think I'd trust you with a child?"

The confession landed harder than anything else she'd said.

"You lied to me." His voice stayed eerily calm. "Who paid off your family's debt when they wanted to sell your grandfather's organs to cover it? Who stood by you when Ashbourne was a company nobody bothered to remember? Me. Every time. So don't you dare talk to me like marrying me was some favor you did. I loved you."

He was done being used.

Something flickered in her composure — a crack. She yanked open a drawer, tore a check free, and scrawled across it fast.

"Five million dollars." She held it out like it settled something. "For your time. We're even now — though frankly, anyone could have done what you did."

Her voice went clinical. "Call it compensation for seven hundred and twenty days. I'm being generous, considering our history. That's more money than you've touched in your whole life. Take it, go somewhere far from here, and don't make trouble for me or my family. We have no more business together."

Killian looked at the check without a trace of interest. She actually believed money could close this out.

Something shifted in his chest — not softer, not sadder. Colder. Purposeful.

He'd given up his name for people who'd sold it the first chance they got.

Unforgivable.

But not here. Not yet.

Killian Dante didn't do anything without thinking it through first.

He pulled the divorce papers from the envelope, dragged a nail hard enough across his thumb to draw blood, and pressed his bloody thumbprint over the signature line.

Cassandra and Jack both froze.

"What are you—"

He dropped the paper on the desk without another word.

"I'm done with you, Cassandra Ashbourne."

He turned and walked out, leaving both their jaws on the floor behind him.

Killian Dante was gone.

And he wasn't coming back the way he left.