All Chapters of Five Years Talking to His Earpiece: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Then Cassian opened his arms to me out of habit.In the past, whenever we fought, all he had to do was open his arms. I'd give in, lean into his chest, and let him kiss me.But this time I stood where I was, staying completely still.His arms hung in the air for two seconds before he casually dropped them and went back to flipping through the files on the table."Also, the wedding next month..."He raised his left hand, palm facing me, shushing me.Then he tapped the black earpiece in his ear and mouthed the words:"Go back to your room. I'll make it up to you when I'm done with this."I watched him lower his eyes again and swallowed the rest of my sentence.The walk-in closet was at the end of the hallway. That walk felt endless.I pulled my suitcase out from the back and folded my clothes into it one by one. My hand brushed against the custom suit at the very back of the closet. I'd given it to him last year.When he was officially made Underboss last year, I helped design and tailor

I didn't wait around like a fool for Cassian to come back the way I used to.I'd already handed over all the legal files for the Family's businesses. All they needed was his final signature.I left the originals with the consigliere, emailed him the digital copies, packed up my things, and walked out of the building.That afternoon, I went to the wedding chapel we'd booked.The wedding planner was still trying to talk me out of it. I gently cut her off. "The setup is perfect, but the wedding is off."I signed the cancellation papers and handed back the booking receipt along with them.Walking out of the chapel doors, I called a real estate agent and made an appointment to look at a new place out of state tomorrow morning.Cassian didn't come back to our apartment all night.I packed my ID and important documents into my suitcase. Before bed, I double-checked tomorrow's route for the apartment tour.At seven the next morning, the doorbell rang.I thought it was the cleaning service. I o

My throat started closing up, and red hives broke out across my bare forearms.With trembling hands, I hit the emergency call button by the bed.Cassian finally pulled the earpiece from his right ear and glanced at me."What's wrong now?"Paige spoke up before I could. "She probably drank it too fast and choked. Or her stomach's acting up. I'll go get a nurse."As she backed toward the door, static crackled in Cassian's earpiece. Someone was calling in an attack on our turf.He glanced down at his watch, then at the nurse pushing the door open, and casually set down the container of soup."Keep an eye on her. I have to go handle something."I tilted my head back, watching him slip that black earpiece right back into his ear."Cassian."He stopped and looked back, his thumb distractedly brushing my burning cheek."I hate you so much."My throat was already so swollen I could barely form words, my voice reduced to a harsh rasp."I never want to see you again."He nodded absentmindedly."

After moving back to my parents' house, I got a new number.I put my old SIM card into a spare phone, keeping it only until my final retainer cleared.When Cassian couldn't reach me, he started getting our mutual friends to pass messages along.He had a friend tell me he hadn't touched his earpiece in days, his ringer was always on, and he was waiting whenever I was ready to talk.My friend hesitantly tried to talk me around over the phone. "I can tell he really knows he messed up this time...""I have nothing to say to him."I was looking over the quote from the moving company and added two more items to the list."Stop playing messenger for him. If you're free this weekend, come with me to the apartment to grab my things."My friend sighed and agreed.Early Saturday morning, we drove over to the apartment building at the agreed time.The bodyguards who usually stood watch out front were all gone. Cassian was standing alone at the bottom of the lobby steps.The second he saw me get ou

After passing the final partner interview, I joined the new law firm out of state on a trial period.Just two weeks into the job, the firm's HR director suddenly called me into her office.She told me they needed to reassign the major M&A case I'd been working on.She wanted me to step back and handle internal compliance reviews instead, leaving the heavy travel and discovery work to other associates so I wouldn't burn out.I pressed her directly on why I was being pulled off the case out of nowhere.The director hesitated for a moment before lowering her voice and telling me the truth. Cassian had used Family connections to reach out directly to the senior partners."Cassian is just worried about you. He mentioned you had a health scare recently. The partners talked it over and felt a lighter workload would give you time to recover."I didn't argue. Keeping my tone professional, I asked her to hold off on the transfer for now and leave me on my original cases.Walking out of the offic