26
Oh my God, oh my God... Just how stupid was Isabelle? She chose a coal over a diamond? Was she blind?
I turned to find Cassian a few steps behind me.
He looked like he had just stepped out of a war zone. His hair was slightly dishevelled, his black suit jacket was unbuttoned, revealing the ink beneath, and his eyes... they weren’t the icy blue I remembered.
They were dark, churning with a silent, murderous fury.
Randy stood a few paces behind him, looking pale and keeping his distance, like a man forced to be in proximity with a ticking bomb.
Cassian didn’t look at Joel, who had hurried out from the study. He didn’t look at Roxanne.
His gaze locked onto me, then flicked to Ryan, who was standing just a bit too close to me.
That was when I noticed Ryan was standing beside me.
"Impossible... I... I don’t remember saying that. You must have heard wrong," I said, only for Roxanne to frantically shake her head.
"No, I hardly forget things. You said it yourself. Even Ryan was there," she said, and then turned to face Ryan. "You haven’t forgotten that day, right? We had both picked up Isabelle from Manifigue after her piano lessons."
Ryan nodded, his lips curled into a smile. "Of course, I remember."
I stepped away from Ryan, approaching Cassian on weak legs.
How did I think inviting Roxanne over was a good idea?
Her mouth was a pressure cooker!
"Cassian," I breathed, my voice failing me. "You... I... I didn’t know you were coming."
He didn’t answer me. He stepped into the room, his presence shrinking the space until there was nowhere left to hide. He stopped three feet away, his gaze raking over my face, lingering on my lips, then settling on Ryan with a lethal intensity.
"Out," Cassian said.
His voice wasn’t loud. It was a low, rasping command that brooked no argument.
"Excuse me?" Roxanne blinked, confused.
Cassian’s eyes flicked to her for a fraction of a second—a look so cold it made her take a step back. Then his gaze returned to Ryan.
"I said ’out’," Cassian repeated, his hand flexing at his side. "I want to speak to my fiancée. Alone."
Ryan didn’t move at first. He stood his ground, looking between Cassian and me, as if he was worried, his face a mask of fake brotherly concern. "Cassian, we were just—"
Cassian took one more step forward. The air between them practically sparked with violence. "I wasn’t asking, Morgan. Leave. Now. Before I decide your presence is a personal insult."
The silence in the room was deafening. I could feel my pulse thundering in my throat.
I looked at Ryan, silently glaring at him to leave us alone.
Why was he even stalling?
Ryan finally relented, though his expression was one of pure venom. He grabbed Roxanne’s arm. "Come on, Roxy. It seems the Lord of the Knights has arrived."
They brushed past Cassian. As Ryan passed him, I saw their shoulders nearly collide—a silent, physical challenge.
He didn’t forget to glance at me, a subtle smirk playing on his lips, and a look that said: "This isn’t over".
Then, the room cleared. Joel and Estelle vanished into the hallway, sensing the danger.
Randy pulled the heavy doors shut, leaving me alone with the storm.
Cassian didn’t move. He just stood there, breathing heavily, his eyes boring into mine as if he were trying to strip the skin from my bones to see what was underneath.
"You didn’t pick up," he said, his voice full of rage.
"I... I was busy. I didn’t see the phone," I said, my voice trembling.
He moved then, so fast I couldn’t react. He was in my space, his hands gripping my waist and lifting me until I was pressed against the cold marble of the mantelpiece.
"Don’t lie to me," he rasped, his face inches from mine. "I sent you a text, Isabelle... you didn’t reply; I called you 15 hours later, and then your ’brother’ answered your phone?" In the middle of the day? While you’re ’busy’?"
He leaned in, his forehead resting against mine, his breath hot against my lips.
The reading glasses I was still wearing nearly slipped down my nose, and I pushed them back.
"Tell me the truth," he whispered, a desperate, dangerous command. "What the hell is going on between you and Ryan Morgan?"
"I...I can explain."
What the fuck, Yvette? Do you want to die?
"I swear, it’s not what you think," I corrected.
"And what do you think I’m thinking?"
"I... I don’t know... I just feel like you’re judging me."
"For good reason. You told your cousin he’s your type of man."
"Cassian..." I didn’t know what to say. "I don’t even remember saying that."
Cassian nodded once, his jaw set so hard that I thought his teeth might snap.
"I grew up with him like a brother. I... I just respect him a lot, that’s all."
His darkened eyes bored into mine. He looked at me like his mind had already been made up.
"Your breathing keeps changing, Isabelle. I know there’s something you’re not telling me. So give me a fucking reason why I shouldn’t pluck out his eyes. Tell me why I shouldn’t make him blind since he looks at you like you belong to him?"
My heart tightened and I could feel a knot forming in my stomach.
H–he wanted to make Ryan blind?
"What?"
"Don’t let me repeat myself, Isabelle," he drawled, stepping away from me, but I could still feel the heat of his body. "One reason... Tell me why I shouldn’t make him not look at you again."
"Cassian," I rasped, looking at him above the rim of my glasses. He was so tall that it made me feel small.
"You shouldn’t say things like that. You can’t make him blind—"
"I’m sorry, sweetheart. But did I give you the impression that you can tell me what I can and cannot do?"
He stepped forward again, his scent invading my breathing space and towering over me.
My eyes trailed the dark ink crawling up his throat, disappearing under his jaw. He looked like a creature made of shadows and sharp edges, and I was the only thing in his path.
"No," I whispered, "but that’s Ryan; my parents see him as a son."
"Your parents are fools, Isabelle. They see a son; I see a man who tastes your name every time he speaks it. Do you think I’m as blind as they are?"
"But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s like my brother; you can’t make him blind, Cassian. He—"
"Has his sights set on you. And I don’t like sharing what belongs to me."
"I don’t belong to you," the words left my mouth before I could stop them.
Cassian’s eyes turned downright predatory, his nostrils flaring.
"What? You belong to Ryan now?"
"I don’t belong to anyone; you’re the man I’m going to marry. Isn’t that what’s important?" I said, letting out a slow exhale. "Forget it, if you want to vent, just go ahead and punish me... I’ll take whatever punishment you have in mind."
I had meant it as a surrender to his temper. But the way his gaze dropped to my mouth, darkening with a different kind of hunger, told me he had heard something else entirely.
I hadn’t offered him an apology; I’d offered him a challenge.
"Oh, sweetheart, do you even understand what you’ve just said?"
That was when I replayed my own words in my mind... And I realised—it didn’t sound as innocent as I had intended.