Chapter 7
Scarlett denied it at first.
Not convincingly.
Then she stopped.
They had been together years ago.
Before Anthony died.
Before I courted her.
Cassian ended it after her father’s death.
Why?
Because grief made her dangerous.
She wanted answers.
He needed distance.
Then three years later, when my marriage negotiations with the Vaughns began, Cassian returned to her life quietly.
Not as lover.
As witness.
He told her he knew what happened to Anthony.
He fed her the story slowly.
Dorian ordered it.
Dorian hid it.
Dorian now wants to marry you because guilt is easier when the daughter sleeps in his house.
Cruel.
Effective.
I looked at Scarlett.
“And you accepted my proposal.”
She met my eyes.
“To get close enough to know.”
There.
The engagement had never begun cleanly.
“Know what?”
“If you killed him.”
“Did you ever ask me?”
Her face twisted.
“Would you have admitted it?”
Fair question if you already believe the answer.
That is how manipulation works.
It makes verification feel pointless.
Cassian said:
“I was protecting her.”
Scarlett turned toward him.
“No.”
First time she truly opposed him.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Good.
She removed her engagement ring.
Placed it on the table.
No drama.
Just truth.
“I did plan tonight.”
I said nothing.
“I knew something would be put in your drink.”
My jaw tightened.
“I knew Vaughn men would enter.”
More.
“I knew Cassian would claim temporary authority.”
More.
She cried.
“I wanted you helpless long enough to admit what you did to my father.”
There.
Not power originally.
Revenge.
But revenge had grown ambition around it.
Her family had already been promised positions once the doors opened.
Her brother would control mansion security.
Her uncle would take two clubs.
Scarlett knew.
She allowed it.
Pain became permission.
I looked at her.
“You wanted truth.”
“Yes.”
“You built a lie to get it.”
She closed her eyes.
That was the line she could not escape.
Then Iris spoke from the doorway.
Quietly.
“There was another man in her room.”
Everyone turned.
Scarlett went white.
Cassian looked genuinely confused.
May you like
Good.
The conspiracy had one more participant neither of them fully controlled.
