By sunrise, I had learned two things: the Mafia boss waiting to marry me had already driven six wives out of his house, and if I refused to become number seven, my sick mother would lose her home

Three days passed in quiet luxury.

The news was dominated by the complete collapse of the Aldridge family. Richard was held without bail, Margaret was staying in a cheap motel outside the city waiting for her assets to be processed, and Evelyn had been forced to take a Greyhound bus back from Florida, only to find the gates of her family home chained shut by federal marshals.

My mother's health improved drastically under the care of the private doctors Cassian hired to visit the estate. For the first time in my adult life, I didn't wake up at five in the morning to the sound of screaming orders or heavy physical labor.

Yet, an underlying tension lingered in the air.

Our deal was essentially complete. The Aldridges were ruined, my mother was safe, and the red ledger had cleared Cassian's organization of any wrongdoing.

On the fourth evening, I was sitting in the estate's massive library, reading a book by the fire, when the heavy double doors clicked open.

Cassian stepped inside. He had removed his suit jacket, his white dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar, revealing the sharp lines of his throat and chest. He carried a single glass folder in his hand.

He walked over to the armchair opposite mine and sat down, setting the folder on the small coffee table between us.

"The legal team finished the paperwork," Cassian said, his voice quiet in the vast room.

I looked down at the folder. Inside were the annulment papers. Signed by his attorneys, requiring only my signature to officially dissolve our four-day marriage. Attached to the back was a cashier's check for five hundred thousand dollars made out to Lydia Carter.

"What is the money for?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Consider it a consultation fee," Cassian replied, his face unreadable. "For finding the ledger. And for stepping onto that altar when you had every reason to run."

My hand hovered over the folder. This was everything I had asked for. Freedom, financial independence, and a clean exit from a dangerous world.

"And if I sign this?" I asked softly. "I go back to living in the cottage with my mother?"

"You can live wherever you wish," Cassian said. "A town house in Manhattan, a cottage in the countryside. The money is yours. The protection of my family remains attached to you and your mother permanently."

I looked into his dark, intelligent eyes. "And what about you, Cassian? You go back to being the terrifying boss with six ex-wives?"

A faint, self-deprecating smile touched his lips. "It's the life I built. It keeps my people safe. It keeps my enemies at bay."

"It's a lonely life," I remarked quietly.

Cassian didn't deny it. He leaned back in his chair, watching me with an intensity that made my skin tingle.

"I've spent eleven years surrounded by people who either want to kill me, rob me, or use my name to elevate themselves," Cassian said, his voice dropping into a deep, gravelly register. "In four days, Lydia, you are the only person who looked at me and saw a man instead of a weapon."

My heart hammered against my ribs. I reached out and picked up the fountain pen sitting next to the folder.

I unclipped the cap. I held the pen over the signature line of the annulment document.