Chapter 2 - The Contract of Steel
The private chapel was silent enough that the patter of rain against the stained glass sounded like gunshots. Margaret Aldridge took an involuntary step back, her silk dress rustling sharply against the marble floor.
"Mr. Vale," Margaret stammered, her polished composure cracking wide open. "There's been a minor miscommunication. Evelyn was... indisposed this morning, but Lydia is a devoted member of our household—"
"Quiet," Cassian said. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. The single word possessed the weight of an iron door slamming shut.
He never took his eyes off me. "I asked you a question, Lydia. Who forced you into this dress?"
My heart hammered violently against my ribs. I knew the rules of the world I lived in. If I spoke the truth, Margaret would call her estate manager before the hour was up, and my mother would be tossed onto the curb without her oxygen machine. If I lied, this ruthless man standing before me would know it instantly.
"My mother is sick," I said, keeping my head high despite the trembling in my knees. "She lives in the cottage on the Aldridge estate. If Evelyn didn't walk down this aisle today, the Aldridges were going to ruin the family business—and my mother was going to lose her home and her medical care before sunset."
Cassian’s eyes narrowed slightly. The pale scar over his left eyebrow pulled taut. "So you traded your life for a house."
"I traded my afternoon for my mother's life," I corrected him softly.
A faint, unreadable shift occurred in Cassian's dark eyes. He turned his head slowly, looking past me toward Margaret and her husband, who was trembling near the back pew.
"An exchange of debt," Cassian murmured. He turned back to his lieutenant, a tall, broad man standing near the altar doors named Marcus. "Marcus. Bring the Aldridge contracts."
Marcus stepped forward instantly, pulling a thick leather binder from his coat. Cassian didn't even look at the pages as he flipped them open.
"The Aldridge family owes my organization twelve million dollars in defaulted shipping liens," Cassian said, his voice calm, clinical, and deadly. "Evelyn was the collateral meant to seal a restructuring agreement. By attempting to trick me with a substitute, the Aldridges have committed an act of bad-faith fraud."
Margaret let out a strangled gasp. "Cassian, please! We can find Evelyn! Give us forty-eight hours!"
"You have thirty seconds to leave this chapel," Cassian said, his tone devoid of all emotion. "If you are still on these grounds when the clock strikes one, my men will seize every asset bearing the Aldridge name. Including the cottage."
Margaret and her husband didn't hesitate. They turned and fled through the heavy oak doors, the heels of their expensive shoes clicking frantically against the stone until the doors slammed shut behind them.
I stood alone on the altar, wrapped in twenty yards of stolen silk, surrounded by twenty armed men.
Cassian turned back to me. He looked at my hands, still stiff and raw from scrubbing tiles three hours ago.
"Your mother's cottage," Cassian said. "Who holds the deed?"
"The Aldridge family trust," I whispered.
Cassian held out his hand to Marcus without breaking eye contact with me. Marcus immediately handed him a sleek fountain pen and a fresh single-page document. Cassian signed his name at the bottom with swift, violent strokes.
"Not anymore," Cassian said, handing the paper to Marcus. "Transfer the deed of the cottage directly into Helen Carter's name. Clear all medical liens attached to her profile. Pay her care facility five years in advance."
My jaw dropped. The breath hitched in my throat. "Why... why would you do that?"
"Because I don't like being played," Cassian said, stepping closer until he was standing mere inches from me. "And because the Aldridges think you are worthless. I prefer to show people like them exactly what their arrogance costs."
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He looked down at my face, his dark eyes scanning every line of my features.
"Now, Lydia," he said softly, his voice dropping into a dangerous, mesmerizing baritone. "You have two choices. You can take off that dress, take the deed to your mother's house, and walk away clean. Or you can finish this ceremony, walk out of here as my wife, and help me tear the Aldridge family to the ground."
