Silence descended over the chapel, heavy and suffocating.
Outside, a jagged bolt of lightning illuminated the stained-glass windows, casting blood-red shadows across the marble floor.
"Mr. Vale, please," Margaret interjected, her voice trembling as she stepped forward.
"This is a simple misunderstanding, I assure you," she added quickly, wringing her jeweled hands.
Cassian didn’t even turn his head to acknowledge her.
He simply raised a single black-gloved hand, halting her in her tracks.
Two of his armed guards shifted their weight, the metallic click of their rifles echoing loudly in the vast room.
Margaret froze, her mouth snapping shut as a bead of sweat rolled down her powdered cheek.
Cassian kept his dark, piercing eyes locked entirely on mine.
"I didn’t ask the liar," he said softly, his voice carrying a lethal edge.
"I asked Lydia."
My chest heaved against the tight, suffocating bodice of Evelyn’s designer gown.
Every instinct screamed at me to lie, to protect the fragile life my mother had left.
If I exposed Margaret here, she would have the sheriff throwing my mother’s oxygen tanks onto the wet pavement before sunset.
"No one threatened me," I whispered, my voice cracking under the immense pressure.
Cassian’s scarred eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch.
He took another slow step closer, invading my space until the warmth of his body pushed back the chapel’s chill.
"You are a terrible liar, Lydia," he murmured, looking down at my trembling hands.
"Your pulse is fluttering in your throat like a trapped bird, and you keep glancing at Margaret before you breathe."
He reached out, and despite my best efforts, I flinched violently.
His fingers paused mid-air before gently catching my chin, tilting my face up toward his.
His touch was surprisingly warm, completely devoid of the brutality his dark reputation promised.
"Tell me the truth," he commanded quietly.
"What does this woman hold over you?"
"Lydia, remember your mother’s health," Margaret snapped sharply from behind him, desperation overriding her fear.
"The damp weather is terribly unforgiving on an old woman with a failing heart."
There it was, laid bare in the quiet sanctuary.
Cassian’s fingers stilled against my skin, his jaw clenching as the pieces clicked together in his mind.
Slowly, he released my chin and turned his towering frame toward Margaret.
The sheer malice radiating off him made the air in the room feel dangerously thin.
"Evelyn ran," Cassian stated, not as a question, but as an established fact.
"And rather than admit you defaulted on your family’s eight-million-dollar debt to me, you dressed up your maid."
"And you threatened her sick mother to make her compliant," he finished, his voice dropping an octave.
Margaret stumbled back a step, her arrogance finally shattering into pure terror.
"We needed more time to find Evelyn!" she cried out, holding her hands up defensively.
"The contract stated an Aldridge bride would stand at this altar by noon today, or you would foreclose on everything!"
"My contract stated a bride would be provided to seal the merger of our assets," Cassian corrected smoothly.
"It seems Evelyn valued her freedom more than your family’s legacy."
"She is a foolish girl, Mr. Vale, please!" Margaret begged, sinking to her knees on the cold stone.
"Take the maid for now, or give me forty-eight hours to drag my daughter back to Chicago!"
I stared at Margaret on the floor, a sickening wave of disgust washing over me.
She was still trying to barter me away like a piece of livestock.
Cassian looked back at me, his dark gaze unreadable as he assessed the situation.
"What do you know of my previous wives, Lydia?" he asked suddenly.
I swallowed hard, my throat bone-dry.
"Only the rumors, sir," I admitted honestly.
"That you drove all six of them away with your cruelty."
A ghost of a smirk touched the corner of his lips, though it held no humor.
"I married women from families who owed me money, only to realize they were all vipers like Margaret," he explained calmly.
"I didn’t abuse them, Lydia; I simply cut off their access to my wealth and sent them packing when they tried to scheme against me."
My eyes widened as the truth behind the terrifying rumors settled over me.
"The sixth one ran out in the snow because my security caught her wiring money to a hitman," he added casually.
He stepped right up to me again, looking down into my eyes.
"I am tired of greedy socialites and cowards," he said, his voice resonant and firm.
"If I walk out those doors today without a wife, Margaret will destroy your mother out of spite before my lawyers even file the foreclosure papers."
He was right, and the terrifying reality of it made my knees weak.
"Marry me instead," Cassian offered, holding out his hand between us.
"Wait, what?" Margaret shrieked from the floor, her eyes bulging in disbelief.
"Give me your loyalty, Lydia, and by tonight, the deed to the Aldridge estate—including your mother’s cottage—will be in your name," he promised.
"Plus a team of private physicians on call for her twenty-four hours a day."
I looked from his outstretched hand to Margaret’s horrified, furious face.
For years, I had scrubbed their floors and swallowed their insults just to keep my mother breathing.
Now, the devil himself was offering me the chance to burn their empire to the ground and save the only person I loved.
"What do you require from me in return?" I asked, my voice steadying for the first time all day.
"Honesty," Cassian replied simply.
"Something money has never been able to buy me."
I took a deep breath, letting go of the fear that had paralyzed me since sunrise.
I placed my calloused hand into his warm palm.
"Then tell the priest to begin," I said, never breaking eye contact with him.
Cassian’s fingers closed securely around mine, a dangerous, satisfied smile finally breaking across his scarred face.
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