Chapter 20
Minutes later, Cassian stormed into my dressing room like thunder wearing a tailored suit. I didn’t flinch. I was reapplying lipstick like nothing just happened, dabbing a touch of blush back on my cheek, fixing the torn slit of my gown with the safety pin from the emergency kit they kept in the drawer. My hands were steady. My eyes were calm but my heart? Not so much.
“What the hell happened out there?” Cassian’s voice was low but deadly.
I didn’t even look up yet. I capped the lipstick and turned to him with a half–smirk. “Your girl still got it. They were sloppy and desperate. Should’ve done their homework better.”
He stared at me like he was trying to breathe through fire. I saw the way his jaw clenched and the vein near his temple twitched like he wanted to scream but didn’t. Instead, he pulled me aside and I let him. His hands checked my arms, my ribs, my thigh where the dress was ripped. His touch was gentle but his hands were shaking, and that made my breath hitch for a second.
“No bruises,” I said softly, trying to lighten it.
He didn’t smile. He just wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, like the world had just tried to take something from him and he wasn’t gonna let it. And then he kissed my forehead. Just like that. No warning.
D
C
My heart? It stopped. For a full second. Maybe two. I didn’t let it show. I just closed my eyes and exhaled like it didn’t mean anything, like that warmth didn’t crack something inside me I’d buried for years.
“I’m handling this,” he whispered against my hair. “You rest. This is my turf now.”
I wanted to argue. I wanted to say let me finish what they started. But the way he said it… the way it wasn’t a request, I let him have it. Just this once.
He stepped back and made a call, sharp and fast. In less than a minute, two of his men entered, nodding silently. Cassian didn’t look at me again. He just said, “Underground cell. Interrogation protocol C.”
They dragged the attackers like sacks of meat, and I knew what protocol C meant. Those men were gonna wish I’d finished them myself.
After they were gone, I sat back down in front of the mirror. My reflection looked like a woman kissed by death and too bored to care. I poured myself a glass of champagne and took a long sip, the bubbles biting my throat like fire, and then I leaned closer to the glass.
“She really thought that was gonna stop me,” I whispered to the girl in the mirror.
And then I smiled.
“Cute.”
Then… the atmosphere shifted.
1/3
58 6%
22:55 Mon, Jul 21
72%
X
My breath caught.
S
Boots echoed from the corridor. Not Cassian’s men. Heels clacked with them. Tighter
formation. Hakeem.
I didn’t have to see him to know. I felt it in my spine, the shift in air, the weight of presence I once begged for.
Cassian’s voice was outside now. Calm but pissed. “This is a restricted zone.”
Hakeem, that arrogant bastard, smirked like he always did when he thought power was on his side. “I just came here to see if that rising actress was really my wife.”
Cassian didn’t even blink. “You mean Margaret? If I remember right, she’s doing a press drama. Crying in some staged therapy session. You should go join her. Maybe hold her hand. Leave, Masterson.”
“Stop meddling in my life, Varela,” Hakeem snapped. “Just because you’re my estranged cousin doesn’t mean you get to question my decisions.”
My hand froze on the perfume bottle.
Cousins.
S
O
I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly. Of course they were.
Of fucking course.
#
L
+
4
1
I didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to see him. But I had to. Because running was over. I wasn’t Harmony anymore. I was the storm now.
So I stepped out.
No fear. No softness.
My new face hit the light. My chin tilted high. My shoulders squared. I met both their stares like I didn’t bleed for either of them. Because I didn’t anymore. Not now. Not tonight… Cassian’s eyes flicked to mine, ready to step between us again.
But I didn’t let him.
I walked forward, slid my arm around Cassian’s neck like he belonged to me, leaned in, and kissed his lips softly–calmly–like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Then I turned to Hakeem, met his stunned silence with a light smile and asked, “Babe… who is he? Is he a producer, director, or just some friend of yours?”
Cassian was frozen for a second but then I felt his arm snake around my waist, slow and firm like armor being wrapped around me. He pulled me into his side and tilted his head just slightly, his jaw sharp and eyes deadly calm. And just like that, he played along perfectly.
“This man is Hakeem Masterson,” Cassian said, voice smooth like silk dipped in venom. “Cousin from my mother’s side.”
Chapter 20
2/2 50 6%
22:55 Mon,
X
“Cousin from my mother’s side.”
His tone was polite, but his fingers pressed into my hip just enough to say stand behind
- me. And I did. Not because I was afraid. But because it made him look like the shield. And
Hakeem hated not being the shield.
O
Hakeem’s eyes narrowed. He stepped closer, and before Cassian could move, he grabbed my wrist.
The moment his skin touched mine, a chill crept up my spine. That grip was familiar. Rough. Possessive. Like nothing changed. Like I still belonged to him.
“You’re not gonna act like I don’t know those eyes,” Hakeem said in that low, obsessive growl. “Stop playing, Harmony.”
I gasped loud enough to turn a few heads in the hallway and immediately clung to Cassian’s chest like a frightened doe, eyes wide and trembling just enough to sell the performance.
“Babe…” I said in a broken voice, turning my head up to Cassian, “why is this man grabbing me? He’s hurting me. I don’t know him.”
Then I turned to Hakeem and added with a shake in my voice, “You need help, mister. I’m not who you’re looking for. Please step back.”
Cassian didn’t hesitate. He moved in front of me like a damn wall, his arm shielding me completely.
“Touch her again and I’ll break your fucking wrist,” he said low and lethal. “You may be blood, but blood spills easy.”
Chapter 20
