RYANI watched Victoria carefully as she settled into the chair across from me.Her expression was a careful mask, but I could see the flicker of anticipation behind her eyes.She was poised, confident, yet there was an edge of uncertainty ,one I intended to gauge carefully.“My mother will meet me,” she said softly, almost matter-of-factly, yet the words carried a weight I couldn’t ignore. “That is certain. She will come.”I studied her, measuring the conviction in her voice. “Where,” I asked calmly, “do you plan to meet her?”Her gaze flickered to the side, thoughtful, and then returned to mine. “At my father’s home,” she said. Her voice carried a strange reverence. “The place where he died.”Julian, standing beside me, raised an eyebrow but nodded slowly. “That will work,” he said, voice firm but controlled. “She will definitely believe it. It’s exactly the kind of setting that will make her guard fall.”I inclined my head slightly, letting my thoughts settle over the possibility.

RYANThe call ended abruptly, the line going dead with a final click that made my chest tighten.I stared at the blank screen for a long moment, heart hammering.Mrs. Elizabeth’s words had been sharp, uncompromising. “If you love your daughter,” she had said, “you’ll do as I say.” And she had hung up before I could argue further.My hands trembled slightly as I set the phone down.Dropping it had felt almost instinctive, a release of the panic I could barely control. I ran a hand through my hair, pacing the room, the weight of urgency pressing down on me from all sides.Every second that passed without action made the knot in my stomach tighten further. Time was slipping through my fingers, and I couldn’t let it.Not now.Not when she was still out there.“We have to move,” I said, my voice tighter than I wanted, carrying that edge of fear I couldn’t hide. Julian’s eyes met mine, calm as ever, his voice steady despite the chaos racing through me.“Ryan, breathe. We will get her. No n

SERAPHINETwelve minutes passed, and Victoria’s voice came through the speaker again.Even from this distance, I could hear the heaviness in her breathing.Elizabeth’s voice followed, low and tight, as if she was standing in the center of the parlor, turning slowly. “All the memories she brought to me are still here. Every flashback… it’s coming back.” A pause. “I remember when my father was shot. And how she covered it up. That heartless woman.”I swallowed. Her anger wasn’t sharp—it was deep, carved into her voice like something that had lived there too long.Julian listened without blinking.Ryan kept his head slightly lowered, trying not to let the guilt on his face show.But my own thoughts were churning.How could a family like this live with themselves?How could a mother kill a father and then pretend nothing happened?How could a daughter survive all of that?It was a kind of cruelty that didn’t make sense to me.And I had seen many things ,but the Cassian family had a darkne

RYANThere was a long, cold pause on the line.Then her voice came through steady, sharp, poisonous.“I see the plan you pulled off,” Mrs. Elizabeth said. “You really want to risk your daughter’s life for a throne. I know Julian would have helped you with that. He always does.”I felt my jaw tighten.Julian glanced at me, then at the phone. His voice cut through the tension, firm and controlled. “You better come out now, Elizabeth, if you know what’s good for you. You hide like a child scared for his life. You will be punished according to the law of the Cassians.”A low, humorless laugh came from the other end. “I didn’t hide long ago, and you still couldn’t get to me. Julian, you are not as smart as you think. Don’t you want this throne? The heir? Everything? Why waste your time with this doctor’s life?”The words hit like a slap.She held my daughter’s life in her hands, and still she insulted me.Still she mocked me.Still she spoke like she owned everything including Jasmine.Jul

RYANMy hand shook as the pen hovered above the paper.I could feel the weight of everything pressing down on me: the Cassian legacy, the empire, the plans we’d set in motion, all of it threatening to collapse in an instant.But this time… I didn’t care. None of it mattered if it meant keeping my daughter safe.As soon as I get Jasmine in my arms, I’d run. I’d disappear to a place so far, so unreachable, that no one—Elizabeth, her guards, no one—would be able to touch us. The thought was simple, raw, and intoxicating.A clean escape.A chance to breathe.A chance to finally be alone with her, away from all the scheming, away from all the blood, away from the throne that had caused nothing but pain.But even as I reached for the pen, doubt crept in, gnawing at me.Why not tell Rachel the truth? She was the one who could tell me where Jasmine really was.Maybe if I spoke to her, I could get my daughter without stepping down.Seraphine’s words echoed in my mind, she’d urged me to talk t