2026-03-25 18:18:13For a split second after Cassian spoke, the hall fell into a strange silence.
Then Fiona and Leon burst into loud mocking laughter meant to humiliate.
“Did you hear him?” Fiona said between laughs. “He said the banquet won’t hold if he leaves. Cassian… do you even hear yourself?”
Leon wiped the corner of his eye dramatically.
“This is the funniest thing I’ve heard all year,” he added loudly. “Brother, are you drunk? Or is this what happens when househusbands stay unemployed for too long?”
The surrounding guests began whispering openly now. Some smiled in amusement and others looked at Cassian with thinly hidden contempt. To them, this was entertainment, just a useless man trying to pretend he still mattered.
Fiona took a step forward, her eyes full of cold disdain.
“You really haven’t changed,” she said. “In three years of marriage, you achieved nothing. You had no ambition, no money, no connections. You couldn’t even support yourself properly. All you did was cling to me and live off my success.”
Her lips curled.
“And now look at you. Still useless and still delusional. You will remain like this forever.”
A few people nodded in agreement and Leon smirked proudly and added fuel to the fire.
“Men like you should learn to stay in the kitchen,” he said. “Big stages are not for people who wash underwear for a living.”
The laughter grew louder and even Zora, who had been standing beside Cassian, slowly turned her face away.
Her brows were slightly creased.
Inside her mind, confusion mixed with disappointment. She had warned him already. This place was filled with powerful figures, business magnates, heirs, hidden investors. One wrong word could destroy a person completely. Yet he kept talking as if he didn’t care about consequences.
Why is he doing this… she thought.
She knew he used to be some rich heir. Everyone had heard the story. The once-prominent Vane family had collapsed overnight. Enemies swallowed their assets. Their name was practically erased from the city’s memory. Cassian himself had disappeared for years and returned as a man with no status, no backing and no reputation.
So why was he still talking like this?
How can she save a man who doesn’t even want to be saved…
Zora sighed faintly.
She didn’t step forward to defend him but she didn’t agree with Fiona either so she simply watched, observed and measured.
Cassian noticed all of it.
The mocking faces, amused whispers and the silent doubt from his newly registered wife.
He smiled calmly
He owed no one any explanation.
He didn’t argue or even bother to defend himself.
He simply stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking at the crowd like someone watching children fight over toys they didn’t understand.
Fiona let out another cold scoff as she watched Cassian stand there without reacting and she hated it.
“Enough of this bullshit,” she said sharply. “Security, throw him out. I don’t want to see his face here anymore.”
Several guards immediately stepped forward, their expressions turning firm.
The guests nearby leaned in slightly, sensing the climax of a humiliating scene. Fiona then turned toward Zora with a faint smirk that carried both pity and mockery.
“You should think carefully,” she said. “Cassian is a good-for-nothing. I lived with him for three years, I know him better than anyone. If you’re trying to build something in this city, don’t drag yourself down by keeping him beside you.”
Her eyes swept over Cassian dismissively before returning to Zora.
“Don’t be fooled by his face. Handsome men don’t pay bills. Charm doesn’t build companies. A useless man is still useless no matter how good he looks.”
A few women nearby nodded faintly, clearly agreeing though their eyes were clearly seizing him up.
Leon stepped forward at that moment, his confidence growing with every passing second. He adjusted his cufflinks slowly, then looked Cassian up and down with obvious contempt.
“Today,” he said loudly, making sure the surrounding guests could hear, “I’ll let you understand the difference between our statuses.”
He took a step closer.
“You are nothing. You don’t deserve success. You don’t deserve respect. And you definitely don’t deserve any of the women standing near you.”
His voice became sharper.
“Men like you should learn to stay out of places meant for real players.”
He waved a hand impatiently toward the guards.
“Remove him.”
The guards moved at once.
Shoes scraped lightly against the marble floor as they closed in on Cassian from both sides. The air grew tense and some guests even pulled out their phones openly now, ready to record the moment a once-rich heir would be dragged out like trash.
Cassian remained still, hands in pockets and expression bored.
Just as the nearest guard was about to grab his arm, a sudden commotion erupted near the entrance of the banquet hall.
A staff member rushed in, breathless and pale.
“The… the chairman of the Skyline Dominion Group has arrived!” he announced loudly.
The words spread through the hall and instantly, conversations stopped and faces changed.
Even Fiona’s proud expression stiffened slightly. Leon straightened his back, smoothing his suit subconsciously. The guards froze mid-action, unsure whether to continue or retreat.
The most important figure of the night… had just stepped in.
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Chapter 91
Chapter 91: Five Million for JunkThe first thing on stage was a painting.It was brought out by two attendants wearing white gloves, carried with the kind of solemn care that immediately made several guests sit a little straighter. The frame was old, carved in dark wood with faint gold lining along its edges, while the painting itself showed a misty mountain landscape with a lone pavilion half-hidden beneath pale clouds. St first glance, it had the quiet charm of an antique piece, the brushwork delicate, the colors aged enough to look valuable, and the entire thing carried that vague old-world feeling collectors often liked to romanticize. The auctioneer began introducing it with a polished voice, speaking of its supposed origin, the artist’s rumored connection to a forgotten scholar, and the careful preservation done over the years, yet Cassian only glanced at it once before his interest faded.Jackson, however, sat forward.His eyes brightened as he looked at the painting, and f
Chapter 90
Chapter 90: Between Two WomenSensing the subtle tension building between the two women, and unwilling to let it stretch any further, Cassian smoothly cut in.He had been quiet long enough to let both of them test the air around each other, but not long enough for the silence to become a blade. Zora’s smile was still polite, yet Cassian could feel the suspicion tucked beneath it, sharp and controlled, while Miranda’s composure was too deliberate to be natural. Both women were intelligent and used to reading people, and neither of them liked being placed in a situation where the truth sat close enough to touch but not openly enough to confront. If he allowed them to keep staring at each other like that, the auction might start before either of them stepped into the hall, and somehow, he would still be the one blamed for it.Cassian lifted his hand slightly and gestured toward the main hall. “The auction should be starting soon. We might as well find our seats.”His voice was calm and
Chapter 89
Chapter 89: RecognitionAs the commotion settled and the small crowd began drifting back toward the main hall, a new figure approached, drawing more than a few curious glances.The attention around Jackson and Damian had not disappeared completely, but it had loosened enough for the entrance of the auction house to regain its polished calm. Guests resumed their slow movement toward the hall, attendants guided people with professional smiles, and conversations returned in low voices, though a few eyes still lingered on the Harthwone brothers, Zora, and Cassian. In places like this, people rarely stared openly. They only looked through reflections, through half-turned faces, through the pauses between polite greetings. Everyone pretended not to notice trouble, but everyone remembered it.Then Miranda Ravencroft walked into that thin layer of attention.She wore a fitted outfit that balanced elegance with authority, the sort of style that did not beg to be admired but still made people
Chapter 88
Chapter 88: A Warning in PublicBefore Jackson could answer, another voice called out from behind him, tense and urgent.“Jackson.”The voice was not loud, but it carried enough weight to cut through the small noise gathering around them. Jackson’s smirk paused before it could fully settle on his face, and the few people flanking him also turned slightly, their expressions shifting with the kind of cautious respect people showed when someone more important had arrived. Damian stepped forward quickly from behind him, his pace controlled but a little too fast to be called casual, and though his face was carefully blank, the sharpness in his eyes made it clear he had not come over to join the provocation.“Stop causing trouble,” Damian said.Jackson’s expression changed immediately. “Brother?”Damian did not look at Cassian for too long. He allowed his gaze to pass over him once, briefly and calmly, as if Cassian was nothing more than another guest standing beside Zora at the auction h
Chapter 87
Chapter 87: His Brother Is BackThe following day, they arrived at the auction house together.The building stood tall at the center of a quieter business district, its glass front reflecting the pale morning light while polished black cars rolled up one after another before the entrance. It was not the kind of place that needed loud banners or exaggerated decorations to prove its value. Everything about it spoke in a lower voice, from the clean stone steps to the discreet security at the doors, from the attendants in matching uniforms to the guests who stepped out of their cars with the calm certainty of people used to entering places ordinary men only heard about afterward. The wealth here was restrained, but it was everywhere. In the watches hidden beneath sleeves, in the soft shine of tailored suits, in the brief nods exchanged between men whose businesses crossed in public and clashed in private, in the way even laughter was kept at a polite volume.Zora walked a step ahead, el
Chapter 86
Chapter 86: The Auction TomorrowBack at the estate, Zora was waiting by the door when Cassian strolled in.She stood beneath the soft light of the entrance hall with her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised, and the kind of stillness that made it clear she had been standing there for more than a minute. Ahe was not panicking, not exactly, but her expression carried that familiar edge between curiosity and suspicion, the one she always wore whenever Cassian disappeared for longer than expected and returned looking as if nothing in the world had happened. The estate behind her was quiet, servants already moving carefully through the deeper parts of the house, but the front hall felt strangely focused around her, as if the entire place had been waiting for Cassian to step through the door.Cassian paused for half a breath when he saw her, then continued walking in like this was completely normal.Zora’s eyes followed him. “Where have you been?”Her voice was calm, but not soft. It had tha
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