The Supreme Sovereign Returns

Chapter 003

"You worthless piece of trash. Even as a mute, you couldn't stay out of trouble. How did my cousin go so blind as to let a bastard like you marry into the Ashford family?"

The girl wrapped in the towel nodded vigorously, pointing at Cassian Reed as she spoke. "It was him. He contacted the madam and paid top dollar for us to come. I never thought things would turn out like this. I'm so sorry, miss. Here's a thousand dollars. I'll give it back to you. Please, just let me go."

The girl's accusation sent a flash of triumphant satisfaction through Bernice Grady and Damon Grady's eyes.

Neve Ashford glanced at the girl, then turned her gaze back to Cassian. Her expression had frozen into something utterly glacial.

An indescribable emotion surged up from the depths of her chest. The moment she raised her head and looked again at that innocent face of his, a wave of revulsion washed over her.

Cassian felt the full force of Neve's fury. She believed it. She actually believed them.

And how could she not? The trap had been laid with such meticulous care that even if he spoke now, there would be no way to explain himself clearly.

At that moment, Damon seized on Cassian's distraction. His hand shot up, malice twisting his features as he aimed a vicious blow at Cassian's temple.

This was the perfect opportunity for revenge. He was defending his cousin's honor, lashing out in righteous anger. Neve wouldn't blame him for it.

But even in his moment of distraction, even as Cassian tried desperately to find some way to explain himself to Neve, he registered the whistling rush of air. Without so much as turning his head, he lashed out with his foot.

A dull thud echoed through the room as the kick landed squarely in Damon's gut, sending him flying backward. He hit the floor in a rolling sprawl, his earlier venom replaced by a mask of agony as he writhed and groaned.

At the same instant, a sharp crack rang out and Cassian's head snapped to the side.

Neve had slapped him. Then came another slap, twisting his face in the opposite direction.

"Animal!"

"You do something this disgusting, and you dare to hit someone?"

"Cassian, I am utterly disappointed in you. I never thought you could be this kind of person."

Neve was trembling with fury, her rage painting her normally icy features a vivid red.

Her entire body shook. The hand she'd struck him with had gone numb.

But inside, her heart was bleeding.

She had never imagined Cassian could betray her with something so vile.

After the blows landed, Cassian turned back to face her. His jaw was clenched, his eyes burning with an indescribable light.

His mouth opened. His throat worked. A wisp of the Breath threatened to escape.

Ten years without speaking. Ten full years. If he spoke now, it would all be for nothing.

But if he didn't speak, he would carry this disgusting accusation forever in Neve's eyes. Their relationship would shatter beyond repair.

"I thought you were honest and straightforward, and I still held onto some small hope for you, but you really..." Neve's voice cracked, tears thickening her words.

Every word cut deep, driving into Cassian's heart like a blade.

Meanwhile, Bernice stood to the side wearing the triumphant smile of a victor. Damon had dragged himself up from the floor and now glared at Cassian with renewed fury.

"I didn't do it!"

Cassian's throat moved as he fought to suppress the Breath. A raw, rasping sound emerged from his mouth.

Neve froze in stunned silence, certain she must be hallucinating. She stared at Cassian in disbelief, taking in the anger etched across his face, the veins standing out on his forehead. She went completely still.

She wasn't the only one. Bernice and Damon looked as though they'd seen a ghost, their mouths hanging open in shock.

What kind of grievance could possibly make a mute man speak?

Cassian was still adjusting to the sound of his own voice. It came out stiff and rusty, but now that he'd started, he wouldn't stop.

He still had to suppress the Breath from fully escaping, though. That much hadn't changed.

"They set me up!"

"They hired that girl. Damon tricked me into coming here."

"They conspired together to frame me. Their goal was to make you lose faith in me so you'd divorce me and marry the Gould heir!"

Cassian's words struck like a thunderclap, leaving Neve reeling as if she'd been struck by lightning. Even Damon and Bernice looked stunned.

He could speak. And somehow, he knew exactly what they'd been planning.

"You can talk?"

"I always could. I simply chose not to. When the world insults me, cheats me, mocks me, curses me, so what? To me, they're nothing more than a pack of rabid dogs barking. Why should I bother responding?"

"A month ago, you left a Hallworth watch worth thirty thousand dollars on your nightstand. It went missing. She said I stole it and sold it. The truth? She lost it gambling, used it to pay off a debt."

"Three months ago, the contract you signed for the Westmere development project, the bidding agreement, she took it to settle another gambling debt. When the creditors came to the door, she was so terrified she hid under the desk. I watched her hand over that contract with my own eyes. But afterward, she blamed me for losing it. That night, you locked me out. I spent the entire night in the freezing rain."

"Five months ago..."

"A year ago..."

Once Cassian started speaking, he couldn't stop. He laid bare everything he'd endured, every injustice he'd silently borne.

Each accusation was a condemnation.

With every sentence, every incident he recounted, the Breath in his body stopped struggling against his control. Instead, it began to circulate faster, surging toward his inner core with increasing speed.

His grievance, his resentment, was being released at last. And somehow, it was fueling the growth of the Breath itself.

At the same time, Bernice's face underwent a dramatic transformation. With each revelation Cassian uttered, the color drained further from her cheeks.

When he finally stopped, he raised one hand and pointed at the girl in the towel. "Neve, look at her carefully. Her figure, her build. Doesn't she look like you?"

"That's right. She looks so much like you that even I didn't recognize the substitution at first."

"Half an hour ago, a photo appeared on my phone. A woman with her clothes disheveled, someone who looked just like you. So I came here, to this hotel."

"Before I arrived, I called the police. They should be here any moment. Isn't that proof enough of my innocence?"

As Cassian's final words fell, Damon's expression shifted dramatically.

He exchanged a quick glance with Bernice, then hurriedly interjected, "Cousin, don't listen to his nonsense. He's making it all up to manipulate you!"

"If you won't trust me, surely you trust your own mother?"

"She's your closest family. How could she possibly do something to harm you?"

Bernice seized the opportunity and opened her mouth to speak. "Daughter, I..."

"Shut your mouth!"

"You call her 'daughter' without choking on the word? Without feeling any shame?"

"She's out there fighting for survival, working herself to the bone. And you? You strut around the house like you own the place, but you're nothing more than a disgusting parasite!"

"You even sold her underwear to cover your debts. Did you think no one knew about that?"

Cassian's presence exploded outward with overwhelming force. The very air seemed to freeze.

His eyes burned with an intensity that made him look like a fiend, as if in the next heartbeat he might transform into a demon and devour Bernice whole.

Instinctively, Bernice clapped a hand over her mouth.