Chapter 5

Lilith's POV

Immediately after he left, I started calling my lawyers. All of them. Back to back. I wasn’t waiting for some miracle, I wanted answers.

And fast.

Because something wasn’t right.

Before I married Theo, I remembered signing off 20% of my shares. Just twenty. It was a discussion we had, brief, under the candlelight, after a full dinner. I wasn’t even thinking straight that night. I had wine, steak, and some stupid truffle dessert. I was full, relaxed, and they handed me a folder.

“Just formalities,” he had said.

I didn’t read it, so I signed it.

But now the court was telling me I had signed off everything, 100% of my assets. My properties. My investments. Even my damn art pieces.

It didn’t make sense. I knew what I signed.

My hands were shaking as I went through the scanned files the lawyers sent. Then I saw it.

The contract had something else layered behind the surface text, it was faint invisible ink. The bastard had overwritten the 20% clause with full transfer clauses, using disappearing ink over my part of the agreement..Standing here, I looked rich. But I was superficially broke.

Every cent I owned was technically still mine, but on paper, I had nothing. And in court, paper was just gospel. Theo had played me, and he had played me well.

Cassian had called his lawyers too, he was already pacing before I even got off the phone with mine. He kept saying there had to be a way, some loophole, something they could pull apart. But after two hours on call, pacing and swearing into thin air, he finally slumped down with a heavy sigh.

“Theo’s lawyers made copies. Digital, physical, timestamped. Everything is totally locked in,” he said, defeated.

I blinked. “What about the ink?”

“They said it doesn’t matter. You were sober when you signed. No proof of manipulation. The ink wasn’t visible, no, but the scanned versions look completely clean. Nothing to argue.”

My chest felt like it had caved in.

No loopholes. No cracks. No shred of leverage????

Nolan sat beside me, his hand lightly tapping my shoulder. “If it’s a house you need, Lil, I’ll buy it for you. You want a car? It’s nothing. We’ll get you back on your feet.”

But I didn’t want a handout.

It wasn’t about luxury. It was about everything I built. Every brick, every sweat-ridden night, every deal I closed without the family name behind me. I didn’t come this far just to have someone else buy my way forward.

I came from a good family, yes. My family name held weight, sure. But this empire? My portfolio, my holdings, the five businesses I managed to grow even when people doubted me? That was all me.

And I wasn’t going to let Theo, or his half-naked secretary-turned-live-in pet steal that.

Because yes, apparently Selene had moved in. Full-time. I saw her heels at the front door when I went back with Nolan briefly to grab my birth certificate from the safe.

In fact I almost had a meltdown again...but Nolan, he gave them the stink eye on my behalf and took me out, assuring me that I would get everything again.

____

The house was quiet. With Nolan gone to the office and Cassian off to coaching, it was just me, alone.

I hadn’t planned on snooping. Honestly. I only meant to dust a few shelves, maybe straighten up a little. They had done a lot for me, and the least I could do was return the favor with a clean living room. But one thing led to another, and soon I found myself moving past the hallway.

Cassian’s room was first. I meant to just peek in but a box caught my eye. A wide, flat one tucked under his reading desk. Curiosity had its claws deep in me already.....so I opened it.

Badges, crests, jackets with symbols stitched in red and black. They didn't seem like any normal colours....

"Shit." My eyes went wide as soon as I recognized them.

These were gang colors.

Motorcycle gang, to be specific. The leather was heavy as always. And next to Nolan's slightly faded jacket, folded with almost reverent care, was another. Same crest. Same weight. Same everything, except this one had a C embroidered into the collar.

Cassian.

What?

Suddenly, it clicked.

The tattoos. The matching ones on their forearms I had chalked up to best friend quirks. But no, these weren’t just random ink. They were marks, insignias. Cassian and Nolan were bikers.

And I was sleeping in a house owned by two people who clearly had a lot more going on than charity and kindness.

~

My brother, the person who introduced them to this, was a biker. Yeah I knew. But not anymore, at least, that’s what I believed. He wasn’t into that lifestyle these days, right? Nolan said he left it too. Cassian? Same story.

But then... the insignias.

The leather looked worn, sure, but recently worn. Like someone had been using it frequently and just hung the jacket up before I walked in.

I frowned, touching one of the patches. Then the door creaked open.

Nolan stepped in first, immediately reading what was going through my head, my hands raised slightly. “Lilith, look, I’m not in anymore. I told you, right? That stuff? I left it. I just sponsor legal rides now, that’s it. I don’t even talk to half the guys I used to.”

“Then what about Cassian?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

He looked past me, a flicker of guilt in his eyes .I turned around almost instantly, catching him. Cassian was behind me, trying to sneak through the back door like I wouldn’t notice, but I did. His shirt was drenched with blood, soaked all the way to the belt.

I stepped back fast, heart thudding. “Cassian, w-what the hell did you do?”

“I never left, Lilith,” he said. “Not really. I’ve got things going underground, stuff you wouldn’t understand. I couldn’t walk away if I tried.”

“Why is your shirt bloodied?” I asked, taking a few steps back.

Cassian didn’t move. “I got into a fight.”

“With who?” I demanded.

He hesitated, just for a second.

“Theo sent someone.”