Page 53 of Cruel Deception
Only the echo of what I’ve lost,
And the weight of everything you owe.
You’ll be mine, until I’ve taken back everything your bloodline stole.
I looked at him. Really looked at him.
Black suit. Cold eyes. A man carved from steel and vengeance.
“You’ve always known, haven’t you?” I whispered.
Cassian didn’t answer. Just watched.
“You know everything about me. About him. About my mother.”
My voice cracked. “Why the hell am I the only one kept in the dark?”
He said nothing. But I could feel the control seething in his stillness.
“I would have died,” I said softly. “You left me there to die.”
His reply came without hesitation. “If you have to die... it’ll be on my terms. By my hands. No one else earns that right.”
Now that I’ve pieced it all together, it’s clear—I’m just a pawn in something bigger. Something older.
My grandfather pushed me into the Moretti marriage. My father wanted me with Luca instead. And Cassian? He knows things no one should.
Things about me—intimate, impossible things. My spider phobia. My mother—who vanished ten years ago like she was swallowed by the earth. He probably knew me as a kid, long before I ever knew his name.
Hell, maybe he even knew about my breast surgery before I told him.
That’s how it feels—like I’ve been laid bare before him. Exposed. Stripped of privacy, of safety.
And still, no one tells me a damn thing.
Someone out there knows the truth. Maybe my father. Maybe Luca. But Cassian? Cassian knows everything.
So why the hell am I the only one in the dark? Why is everyone keeping me blindfolded in this twisted game?
God—it’s driving me insane.
I’m so damn tired of being played.
“I want out,” I said, my voice brittle—like it might splinter into pieces if I spoke too loudly.
Cassian didn’t even blink. “You’re not listening. Only death separates us. And if it comes to that... it’ll be by my hands.”
My breath shook. “So what happens when I’m discharged? Are you going to drag me back into your cage?”
He gave me a long, unreadable look. “That depends. Are you done being difficult... or should I teach you again what it means to challenge me.”
“So... I’m not getting locked up again?” I asked, desperately trying to read the fine print in his voice.
No reply. Just those cold, lion-sharp eyes fixed on mine.
“I heard someone,” I said, needing to say it, even if I already knew he wouldn’t flinch. “There’s a woman in the cell next to mine. Locked up... Begging. Screaming.”
Cassian didn’t move.
