Chapter 14
Cassian regarded her with a gaze so cold it was as if she were already six feet under. “Shut up,” he spat. “Don’t disgrace the word ‘love.“”
Callum sneered, his voice laced with ice. “Someone who schemes against others could never embody love. Selene, Dad doesn’t want to see you again. Not now, not ever.”‘
He exhaled heavily, the disappointment weighing on his every syllable. “What I don’t understand is why. The Wynn family treated you with nothing but kindness, and yet you went after Thalia so viciously. Why, Selene? Why?”
At those words, something in her snapped.
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Selene’s voice rose, defiant and biting. “Went after her? Target her? It was your mother who came after us!”
Callum’s face stiffened, utterly unprepared for such a retort. But Selene didn’t stop, a bitter scoff escaping her lips as her voice dripped with venom. “Don’t you dare look at me with those hateful eyes. Back then, when my parents were together, it was that witch Isolde who ruined everything. If she hadn’t seduced my father, my mother and I would never have been exiled overseas for Do you hear me? YEARS.”
years.
The truth, however, was twisted beyond recognition. It wasn’t Isolde who had chased after Seraphim–it was he who had fallen for her at first sight, relentlessly pursuing her. Yet, their truth had been warped into her mother’s self–serving narrative.
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Callum’s fists clenched, his veins bulging with fury as his contempt for Selene deepened. “Your mother,” he snarled, “was the one who seduced my dad. SHE was the mistress—and, clearly, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
The words hit Selene like a dagger to the heart, but her lips curled into a bitter smile. Instead of breaking, her hatred seemed only to grow. “Cassian, Callum,” she said, her voice thick with malice, “you honestly think everything Thalia endured was my doing?”
Her narrowed eyes locked on Callum. “Callum, if it weren’t for you, how would I have ever gotten people to infiltrate her life? They were your people–handpicked by you, weren’t they? If we’re assigning blame, look in the mirror. You’re the one who hurt her the most. So tell me, what gives you the right to pin this all on me?”
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Callum’s eyes widened in shock, her words piercing through his defense like bullets. “No… That’s not… I didn’t know,” he stammered, his voice trembling. “I never meant…”
His words faltered into silence, but Selene picked them up with a cruel smirk. “Of course, you didn’t know. You just thought you’d teach her a ‘small lesson, right? But your ignorance doesn’t absolve you. Innocent? Please. You’re every bit as guilty as
am”
Callum’s face drained of color, panic flickering in his eyes. “No!” he exclaimed, barely audible. “I… I was set up… I swear I didn’t know! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Thalia, I’m sorry. I never-”
Since Thalia’s departure, he had been
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unraveling–his mind, his emotions, and hist guilt all spiraling into chaos.
Cassian, however, wasn’t willing to listen to their pathetic excuses any longer. His voice cracked like a whip. “Enough. Tell me now- where is Thalia?”
Selene looked at him, then burst into mad, ringing laughter, one that echoed through the room and seemed to defy reason.
The laughter came to an abrupt end when Cassian’s hand struck her face with a resounding slap. His expression was as unyielding as stone. “Where. Is. Thalia?”
The smirk faded from her lips, replaced by a chilling calm. She met his icy glare with a frosty one of her own. “Do you honestly think I would have waited this long if I’d had the means to hurt her? Cassian, Thalia left
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on her own. Search your soul–you know it’s true.”
Cassian froze, her words like a cold blade slicing into his heart. He didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was undeniable. Thalia… hadn’t been taken from him. She had chosen to go. And she had erased every possible trace of herself, rendering his search futile.
That was what devastated him the most.
Did she despise him so much that she wanted to disappear completely?
Selene watched his torment with a wicked smile. “It hurts, doesn’t it, Cassian?” she murmured, her voice laced with mock sympathy. “When you and I were together in her room that night, your precious Thalia saw everything. She watched it all unfold-
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every sordid second.”
Her words hit him like a thunderclap, and his burning gaze turned to her with fury unmatched.
“You,” he growled, his voice deadly low. “You planned it. You seduced me just so she’d see.”
Selene scoffed, her disdain evident. “Oh, please. If you hadn’t wanted it, do you really think
your could’ve succeeded? You played
your part willingly. Just imagine the rage
and heartbreak she must have felt, standing there and watching the man she loved betray her.”
The pieces finally clicked in Cassian’s mind, the full scope of his foolishness cutting through him like a knife. How could she have stayed, after that? No wonder Thalia
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removed every trace of him from her life. It was all because of that night–because of his weakness.
He squeezed his eyes shut, his chest tightening. But when he reopened them, all warmth, all humanity, had vanished. His voice was colder than ice. “Enjoy your freedom while it lasts, Selene. Soon, neither you nor your mother will ever see the light of day again. I’ll make sure you endure every ounce of the pain Thalia suffered.”
Selene’s smirk faltered. She stared at him, raw fury spilling onto her face. “No! You can’t do this to me! My dad–he’ll never let you get away with this!”
Cassian’s lips curled into a smile devoid of humor. “Your dad?” He chuckled darkly. “If he cared about you, he wouldn’t have disowned you in the first place. He’s made it clear-
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he’d rather die than acknowledge you exist.”
Selene’s defiance crumbled into despair, the world around her collapsing.
Meanwhile, miles away, Seraphim drowned in his regrets. Night after night, he consumed bottle after bottle, collapsing into a drunken stupor, always murmuring the same two names: “Isolde… Thalia… I failed you both. I failed.”
Callum, now burdened with heading the family business, sought redemption in a way that bordered on self–destruction. While undergoing treatment at the hospital, his thoughts were consumed by one singular purpose: to find Thalia.
Night after night, as he lay in bed, sleep eluded him. His guilt played on endless repeat in his mind; his little sister, whom
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he had wronged so profoundly, haunted his every thought.
One day, he vowed. If he found her, he would fall to his knees, beg for forgiveness, and confess everything. He would tell her that none of it was ever her fault–that his blindness and betrayal had driven her away.
And if she forgave him? He’d devote the rest of his life to making things right. To giving her the love and protection he should have offered from the start.
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