Chapter 24 Cheap #2
Moonlight streamed through the glass, spilling across the room and casting long shadows around him. It outlined his broad shoulders and tall frame, making him seem even more imposing in the darkness. Reaching the window, he removed the watch from his wrist and tossed it onto the bedside table.
The sharp sound cut through the silence.
Juliet's stomach tightened.
Slowly, Cassian turned around.
The moment she got a clear look at his face, unease settled deep in her chest.
His expression was cold.
Not the usual indifferent look he often wore, but something far colder. There was a darkness in his eyes that made him seem almost unfamiliar, and for the first time since entering the room, she felt genuinely nervous.
It felt as though she were standing in front of a man who had been holding himself together by sheer force of will.
A man who had spent hours waiting.
A man who had spent those same hours getting angrier and angrier.
"I know where you went today," he said.
His voice was low and controlled, but that calmness only made it more frightening.
Juliet's fingers tightened around the bedsheet.
Cassian took a slow step toward her, his eyes never leaving her face.
"I guess you were pretty happy letting your fucking fiancé carry you in his arms."
The accusation settled heavily between them, thickening the already tense air.
"Spent half an hour at his house."
He took another step, closing the distance between them. His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking visibly as he stared at her, his dark eyes fixed on her as if trying to read every thought running through her mind.
The vein in his neck stood out sharply as he fought to keep his temper in check. Although his voice remained low, the fury simmering beneath it was impossible to miss.
"What did he do to you there?"
There was no warmth in his gaze. His dark eyes were filled with nothing but fury, possessiveness, and a terrifying darkness that made her breath catch in her throat.
He looked like a man standing on the very edge of losing control, every muscle in his body held rigid beneath his clothes, his jaw clenched so tightly that the muscle ticked visibly along his cheek.
Looking at him now, Juliet suddenly felt as though she were standing in front of a predator barely restraining itself from pouncing.
His gaze remained fixed on her as he slowly took a step forward.
"I didn't know you were so cheap, Juliet," he said indifferently, his expression remaining icy and dangerous. Every word that left his mouth sliced through her like a knife. "Cheap enough to sleep with me just to please and benefit your fucking fiancé."
Juliet could only stare at him in disbelief.
The color drained from her face so quickly that she looked almost ghostly pale.
Then anger exploded inside her.
Without a second of hesitation, she threw the blanket aside and rose to her knees on the bed. Before Cassian could even react, she lunged forward and swung her hand across the space between them.
Slap!
The sharp sound echoed throughout the silent bedroom.
For several long seconds, neither of them moved.
Cassian's head had turned slightly from the force of the blow, a lock of dark hair falling over his forehead.
Juliet remained standing on the bed, her entire body trembling uncontrollably as her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths.
Rage, hurt, disappointment, and disbelief were written plainly across her face as she stared at him with reddened eyes.
"So you sent your men to follow me?" she demanded, her voice shaking violently. "You tracked my every step?"
Cassian slowly turned his head back to look at her.
There wasn't a trace of regret on his face.
His expression remained completely calm, completely unmoved, as though her anger meant nothing to him and her opinion of him mattered even less.
That only made Juliet even angrier.
A bitter laugh escaped her as she shook her head, tears of frustration instantly stinging her eyes. She wiped at them angrily with the back of her hand before lifting her gaze to him again.
"Do you not trust me even a little?" she asked, her voice cracking painfully. "How could you do this to me?"
She drew in a shaky breath, staring straight into his eyes.
"Did your men tell you that I slept with him?
Is that it?" she demanded, taking a step toward him despite the tears threatening to fall.
"Did they tell you I went to his house and slept with him?
Did they actually see that?" Her eyes grew redder with every word.
"Or did you just assume the worst about me the moment you heard where I went? "
The look on Cassian's face was one of pure coldness and indifference, but Juliet could see that beneath that icy exterior, he was suppressing something far more dangerous.
Every ounce of anger, hurt, jealousy, and emotion he was desperately trying to restrain seemed to have gathered in his eyes, turning them dark and turbulent.
His jaw was clenched so tightly that the muscles along his face stood out sharply, and his hands, hanging at his sides, had curled into fists so hard that the veins on the backs of them were visible. He stood there without moving, his tall frame rigid, his expression hard and unreadable.
Juliet searched his face, desperately trying to understand what he was truly feeling.
She wanted to find even the slightest crack in that cold mask, some sign that he regretted what he had said or that he still trusted her, but the longer she looked at him, the more lost she became.
It was as though an invisible wall had suddenly risen between them, separating them completely.
The helplessness of not being able to understand him, of not being able to reach him, only made the anger inside her burn even hotter.
Unable to look at him any longer, she abruptly turned away.
Her movements were sharp and stiff as she threw the blanket aside and climbed out of bed.
Without saying another word, she strode toward the door, her bare feet hitting the floor harder with each step.
She didn't look back even once. A second later, the loud slam of the bedroom door echoed throughout the entire house.
Silence followed.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
The mansion, usually filled with warmth and life, suddenly felt unbearably empty.
Juliet never returned to the bedroom that night.
Instead, she curled up on the couch in the living room, hugging a pillow tightly against her chest as though it could somehow hold together the pieces of her shattered heart.
The room was dark except for the faint glow of a lamp in the corner, casting long shadows across the floor.
She lay there staring blankly at the ceiling, replaying every word Cassian had said over and over again in her mind.
Several times, she heard footsteps upstairs and found herself instinctively glancing toward the staircase, only to force herself to look away again.
Eventually, exhaustion overcame the turmoil inside her, and sometime in the early hours of the morning, she finally drifted into an uneasy sleep.
When Juliet woke the next morning, she frowned in confusion.
The mattress beneath her felt far too soft.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she froze.
She was no longer on the couch.
She was lying in the bed.
Startled, she immediately pushed herself upright, the blanket slipping from her shoulders as her gaze darted around the room. Her heartbeat quickened as she searched for Cassian, but there was no sign of him anywhere. The bedroom was empty, and the entire house was silent.
He had probably already left for work.
The realization made her expression falter.
Normally, no matter how busy he was, Cassian always stayed long enough to have breakfast with her before leaving. But today, there wasn't even a trace of his presence left behind. It was obvious that he had left much earlier than usual.
Juliet remained sitting on the edge of the bed for a long moment, absentmindedly gripping the blanket in her hands.
Her emotions twisted painfully inside her.
Anger still simmered beneath the surface, but so did the hurt.
She tried to cling to her pride and convince herself that she didn't care whether he had left early or not.
But no matter how many times she repeated those words to herself, she couldn't make herself believe them.
In the end, gritting her teeth, she reached for her phone and called Amara, asking her to meet.
Later that afternoon, after the two of them had settled into a quiet café tucked away from the busy streets, Juliet finally told Amara everything that had happened.
Amara listened quietly the entire time, occasionally reaching across the table to squeeze Juliet's hand whenever her voice wavered. By the time Juliet finished, she looked emotionally drained.
Amara let out a soft sigh and gently stirred her coffee.
"What Cassian did was wrong," she said honestly, lifting her gaze to Juliet. "He crossed a line he never should have crossed. But maybe he was angry for a reason."
Juliet lowered her eyes to the untouched coffee sitting in front of her. Her fingers tightened around the warm cup until her knuckles turned white.
She couldn't forgive him.
A part of her had died the moment he accused her without hesitation. The moment he had looked at her with those cold eyes and implied that she had slept with Vincent simply to gain something for her fiancé.
How could he think so little of her?
How could he believe she was capable of doing something so disgusting?
Cheap.
The word still echoed relentlessly inside her mind.
No matter how hard she tried to push it away, it always returned, replaying over and over until it wrapped itself around her chest so tightly that it became difficult to breathe.