All Chapters of THE WOLFE LEGACY: HEIRESS OF THE EMPIRE: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

~ARIA~(It rained the next day)I stood under a small shade in front of my apartment, the contract sealed in an envelope clutched to my chest. I was going to give back the signed contract to Cassian. It was almost poetic... One last walk through the storm before becoming Mrs. Wolfe, if only in name.My phone buzzed as I stepped into the black town car waiting by the curb.Sienna: ”Where are you? We need to talk. I need to see you.”___Sienna’s apartment hadn’t changed. Still draped in velvet.I sat down on her worn-out couch, my hands wrapped tightly on the big file I carried. She stepped out with two glasses and a bottle of fruit juice, sat across from me and poured out the juice into the glasses and handed one over to me. I took it, while placing the envelope on the table between us. “What’s this?” she asked, her eyes fixed on the envelope and a frown surfacing evidently on her face.“A marriage contract, Sia.” I said, my eyes hinting something soft.“A contract? Isn’t that a Wolf

~ARIA’S POV~The contract felt heavy in my hands.I’d found it tucked in the side pocket of my bag, the Wolfe Marriage Agreement.Signed, sealed, and forgotten… like a paper chain around my throat.Cassian hadn’t asked for it back, but I knew better than to keep something that belonged to him in my possession. Not when everything I had now was borrowed from his world. My name. My protection. My place in his house.The estate was quieter tonight. The staff had all retreated, as they always seemed to when Cassian wished it.But I knew where he’d be.I stood outside his private study, heart racing. The staff had warned me; no one entered without invitation.But tonight, my nerves finally pushed me forward. Something they hadn’t done since I first stepped into the Wolfe estate and caught the fever that was Cassian Wolfe.I revered him more than I used to, more than I wanted to.But I was also more afraid of him now than ever before.I knocked once. My knuckles felt ice-cold.No answer.I

~ARIA’S POV~I should have listened to the voice in my head.The one that sounded too much like Cassian’s, clipped and cold with danger laced beneath every word.But when I saw Sienna’s message, I didn’t think. I felt.Now, standing in that alleyway, hidden behind crates soaked in salt air and city grit, I wished I’d stayed behind the gates of the estate. I wished I hadn’t left the shadows Cassian kept me under because out here, something was unraveling, and I was at the center of it.I pressed myself closer to the wall, barely daring to breathe as Sienna’s voice cracked through the quiet.“It’s not that simple,” she hissed into the phone. “The first attempt failed. Someone seems to have neutralized both assets. The source is unknown but I'm sure we're being watched.”My fingers dug into the brick. The first attempt. Assets. Neutralized.I didn’t need Cassian’s cold briefings to translate that. Someone had tried to eliminate me. Someone had failed.And now Sienna - my best friend, my

~CASSIAN~I tasted blood.It pooled thick on my tongue, bitter and metallic - like copper and ash. I didn’t know if it came from my mouth or my broken lip, or if I’d bitten down during the blast. It didn’t matter.Everything inside me roared.My ears rang with a high, piercing screech - not just a sound, but a living thing. It drilled deep, vibrating through my skull like shards of glass. I could hear nothing else-not the fire, not the crumbling steel, not even my own breathing.Only that awful, relentless ringing, like the world itself had been muted… or maybe destroyed.I blinked through the smoke. My vision blurred.And that’s when I saw her.Aria.Crushed beneath me, limp, dust in her hair, blood at the corner of her mouth. My body had shielded hers from the worst of it, but not all. Not enough. Her skin was too pale, her chest barely moving.Panic cracked through my ribs harder than the blast had.“Aria.” My voice cracked, raw and desperate. “Look at me.”No response.Her chest r

~ARIA’S POV~The morning sun bled through the curtains and cast its little, faint rays on my face. My eyes flickered open. This was my first full night of sleep since… well, I didn’t know when but the nurse had said “several days.” I stretched in the crisp, expensive and super comfy sheets. The mattress was soft and supportive so for a few disorienting seconds, I thought I was in some luxurious hotel suite until I sat up and remembered… I didn’t know where I was.Some minutes later, someone brought in breakfast: a silver tray with steaming eggs, crisp toast, rich coffee, and fresh fruit sliced. I was cautious at first, but hunger won out over suspicion. It tasted too good, almost decadent and that made my situation worse. I wondered why a stranger would feed me like royalty in a place that smelled like antiseptic and secrets.Just then, my mind went back to when I woke up the previous day.He had come into my room like he owned the oxygen in it- tall, cold, and silent. He didn’t say