Cassian #3
“You want my help? You got it. I'll share with you everything I know. Including every file, conversation, favor, corrupt judge, politician, and officer in his pocket. This information will entail every connection Marius has ever used.”
Kade nodded once. “And Elias?”
The question was loaded because everybody standing there understood what he was asking. Judge Emory closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.
“If Elias knowingly sent those officers after Isaiah and Kayla knowing what could happen, then he made his choice.”
“Nobody gets protected anymore.”
The finality in his voice left no room for debate.
Not for Marius. Not for Elias. Not for anybody.
For the first time since this mess started, I got the feeling that something had changed.
We weren’t chasing rumors anymore. We weren’t uncovering secrets anymore.
We were building an alliance, and whether Judge Emory realized it or not, the moment he chose a side, there was no going back.
After wrapping up our meeting with the judge, we left feeling like we’d crossed another thing off our list. We now had a judge in our back pocket and were that much closer to bringing Marius down. Whether he knew it or not, the walls were closing in around him from every direction.
I’d been watching his location like a hawk and it hadn’t moved from that spot since we looked at it last. There was no stopping what was already in motion, and I just hoped he was ready for the aftermath of a war he started.
Too many lives had been destroyed. Too many people had suffered.
One way or another, this shit was coming to an end.
Parting ways, I drove back to the office to finish up some work I’d put on hold when Kade called me earlier. I was close to finalizing another deal and wanted to close everything out before heading home for the day. Business never stopped, even when the rest of your life was actively falling apart.
While I tried to focus on work, Sera kept popping up in my mind.
The more I tried to ignore it, the more she occupied my thoughts.
Eventually I gave in and called her. When she didn’t answer, I shot her a text before forcing myself back to the task at hand.
After several hours of work, negotiations, emails, and paperwork, I finalized the details and sent everything off.
Looking over the completed documents, I couldn’t help feeling proud.
It was another accomplishment, another deal, another win.
Shutting everything down for the evening, I headed home ready to spend the rest of the night with my woman. But nothing could’ve prepared me for what waited on the other side of that door.
The second I stepped inside, my entire body went rigid.
The place looked like a tornado had ripped through it.
Furniture was overturned, cabinets stood open, pictures had been knocked off the walls, glass littered the floor, drawers had been emptied, and cushions had been sliced open.
It looked less like somebody was searching for something and more like somebody wanted to destroy everything they touched.
“What the fuck?” My eyes scanned the room until they landed on a single sheet of paper sitting in the middle of what used to be my coffee table. Walking over, I snatched it up and recognized Sera’s handwriting right away.
Cassian,
I hope every lie you told me was worth it.
I hope looking me in my face every day and pretending you loved me was worth it.
I hope protecting your family was worth destroying everything between us.
Because I know it was you. I know you sent that video to my father.
I know your brother burned down my mother’s clinic.
And the worst part is that neither of those things surprises me anymore.
I know all of you have been sitting around deciding what truths I deserve to know and which ones I don’t.
The funny thing is y’all swear you’re different from him, but every single one of you are exactly the same.
You lie. You manipulate. You keep secrets.
Then tell yourselves it’s for somebody else’s protection.
You watched me lose everything and still looked me in my face every day pretending to love me.
Do you know what that feels like? Do you know how humiliating it is to find out everybody around you knew pieces of your life except you?
While I was fighting to rebuild myself, you were making decisions for me.
While I was trying to heal, you were deciding what I could handle.
While I was learning how to trust again, you were lying.
Your family ruins everything they touch.
Your family ruined my career, destroyed my reputation, damaged my relationship with my parents, and nearly cost me my life.
I finally started putting myself back together and somehow your family still found a way to drag me back into the middle of this bullshit.
Every road leads back to one of y’all. Every secret leads back to one of y’all.
Every time I think I’m free, another truth comes crashing through the door.
So I hope it was worth it, because whatever reason you convinced yourself justified all of this, it wasn’t enough.
You don’t get to decide what’s best for me.
You don’t get to decide what truths I can handle.
And you don’t get to lie to me, then expect me to understand why you did it.
You will never find me. And if you do, don’t bother looking for forgiveness. You don’t deserve it.
Sera
For several seconds I stood there staring at the paper. Then I read it again. And again. And again. Every time my eyes moved across the page, the knot in my stomach tightened.
“What the fuck...how?” The words came out to nobody. Pure disbelief, confusion, and panic came crashing together at once as I tried to figure out what happened and who got to her.
Kicking over what remained of the already broken and lopsided table, I ripped the note to pieces and pulled my phone out so fast I nearly dropped it. The call connected on the second ring.
“We got a problem.”
“What happened?”
“I’m about to come over.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I hung up, turned around, and walked right back out the front door. Whatever had happened, whatever Sera thought she knew, whatever had pushed her this far, one thing was crystal clear. She had officially gone to a place of no return.