جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

CASSIE'S POVI wake to the weight of an arm slung across my waist. I stir in the sheets, subconsciously smiling. My skin still hums from last night, every nerve alive in a way it never has been before.Yesterday was my wedding day and as far as I can remember I had been very happy walking down the alter with David Jeffson. I shift, pressing back into the warmth, and his grip tightens like he's afraid I'll slip away. Turning, I find his mouth and kiss him slow and soft.The tingle between my legs flares again, sharper than anything I'd ever felt with him before. Last night I came — hard — and I'd never done that with him. Not once in five years. This wasn't just a consummation. It was a reminder, a proof that we were now bound to each other. Finally, irrevocably his.My phone rings on the nightstand. I reach for it without looking, still half-lost in the afterglow. "Hello?""Honey, I'm so sorry." David's voice fills the line. "I had to fly out last minute for an important deal. Got st

Mark's POV My gaze follows Cassie as she turns towards the door, ready to storm out. My cheeks still burns from the slap she had delivered moments ago.Most women were afraid of me. Cassie wasn't.The crazy thing was that it only made me want her more.I drag a hand across my jaw and watch her reach the entrance. For a second, I consider going after her.Then she freezes. Her entire body stiffens and a familiar voice echoes through the foyer.“Cassie."My stomach twists. David. I watch her spin around and rush toward him. The anger that had been blazing in her eyes vanishes instantly. Like it had never existed.Like she had never been furious enough to slap me."D-David!"She throws herself into his arms and my brother catches her effortlessly. The sight punches something ugly inside my chest.I watch her melt into his embrace. Her voice soft and full of love. The kind of softness she had never used for me. My heart burns as I divert my gaze. Because if I keep staring, I might actual

Cassie's POVIt's been four days since I last saw Mark. And somehow the house breathes differently without him in it. Easier, I tell myself. Lighter, less dangerous. I repeat the words every morning like they might eventually feel true.They don't.The silence he leaves behind is not peaceful. It is the particular quiet of a thing held at a distance by force. My body knows he's gone and does not forgive me for it.I throw myself into routines. From morning coffee to emails. Long showers that do nothing to calm me. I catch myself standing at the kitchen counter where he caged me against it and I walk away fast, like the memory has edges.Then on the fifth day David comes downstairs with a different kind of energy, restless and repentant in the way men get when they know they've fallen short."Come out with me today," he says.I look up from my cup."Just us." He leans against the counter. "It's for the whole day. No calls, no meetings. I mean it this time."I feel a pang of hope stir.

Cassie pov.Mark didn't blink. He just stood there with that dark smile, waiting for my world to fall apart.“They want my vote to kick David out, Cassie,” he said again, his voice dropping into a low, smooth whisper that made my stomach twist. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't give it to them.”My heart hammered against my ribs so hard it hurt. I stared at him, looking at the exact same face as the man I had married five days ago, but everything else was different. David’s legacy. His entire life’s work. The one thing David actually cared about more than me, more than our date, more than anything—it was sitting right in the palm of Mark’s hand.“You can’t do that,” I whispered. My voice shook, sounding small in the quiet room. “He’s your brother, Mark. You can’t just ruin him.”“Watch me,” Mark countered coldly, taking a slow step closer. He didn't look like a brother right now. He looked like a predator who had finally cornered his prey. “David has been playing a dangerous

Cassie's pov The west wing of the estate had always been quiet, a sprawling maze of empty guest rooms and dust-covered furniture that nobody ever used. But over the last forty-eight hours, that quiet had completely vanished. Every footstep echoing through the corridors felt heavier. The air itself felt charged, thick with a dangerous, suffocating energy that made it impossible to breathe.Mark had officially moved in.I threw myself into a desperate, frantic routine to keep from losing my mind. I woke up earlier than usual, pouring over emails at the kitchen island, forcing myself to stare at the glowing laptop screen so I wouldn’t look at the empty space beside me.I took agonizingly long showers, letting the hot water scold my skin, trying to wash away the lingering phantom weight of his hands on my hips from that midnight encounter.But it was entirely useless. Every single corner of this house had a memory attached to it now.I was standing by the marble counter, holding a lukew