Page 28 of Vows of Deceit
Delia walked in, tablet in hand. Her expression was cool and confident.
“I’ve got the final piece.”
Cassie straightened. “The video?”
Delia nodded, dropping the tablet onto the coffee table. She played a clip.
The footage was clear, timestamped. Damien’s office. Kelly entering late at night. Their embrace. Kisses. Words exchanged.
Then, the damning line from Kelly “We’ve been doing this since the night before the wedding. She doesn’t deserve you like I do.”
Cassie’s chest tightened but her face remained composed.
“You alright?” Delia asked softly.
Cassie nodded. “I expected worse.”
Jared turned down the volume, tension vibrating through the room.
“Timeline matches up?” Cassie asked.
Delia flicked through screens. “Every single time. Emails, text messages, footage. Two years. Meticulously catalogued.”
“And the copy?”
“Already backed up to two external drives. One for Leo. One for Harper.”
Cassie exhaled. “Good.”
Jared crossed his arms. “This could ruin both of them. You sure?”
Cassie looked each of them in the eye. “They ruined themselves. I’m just revealing the truth.”
Later that evening, Kelly scrolled through the gala teaser on her phone. Something about it made her skin crawl. The images were too perfect. The colors too pristine. Cassie’s voice too… resolute.
“She’s planning something,” she muttered.
Damien looked up from the couch. “Not this again.”
“I’m serious, Damien. It’s in her eyes. She’s calm, too calm.”
He sighed. “You’re paranoid.”
Kelly rose, pacing. “We need to be careful. If she finds out—”
“She won’t,” he snapped.
But even as he said it, doubt twisted in his gut.
Across the city, Cassie sat in her darkened suite, watching the final edit of the “legacy montage.”
Her voice whispered over years of lies:
“Love isn’t built on grand promises. It’s built on truth. On choices. On seeing someone for who they are… and choosing them anyway.”
Cassie pressed pause. Then smiled.
“The last touch,” she whispered.
