Page 116 of Crushed Vow

Then his smile vanished. His jaw ticked. “I wish I could show you just how much control I still have,” he hissed, leaning closer, his breath thick with rage. “But your blind, psycho ex-husband took that from me. Stripped me of my right—my claim.”

A vein pulsed in his temple. His eyes burned.

“And I still wonder... What does he see in you?” he sneered. “A woman carved open. Incomplete. Broken.” His gaze dropped, cruelly. “What makes you worth bleeding the world dry for?”

I froze, bile rising in my throat.

But he wasn’t finished.

“He started a war for you,” He continued, each word poisoned. “Ended it with sacrifices I can’t even fathom—burned half his empire to ashes just to crawl back to your feet. For what? A girl who doesn’t even know if she wants to die or be adored?”

He smiled again. That same empty grin. “Tell your so-called ex husband to keep watching his back. Because there are bullets with his name carved in them. And some debts, my love, demand blood.”

Manuel’s brows furrowed, clearly missing half the context. “Is there a problem here?”

“None at all,” Grayson said, rising. “Just a family reunion. Isn’t that right, pumpkin?”

He reached out and tapped my chin lightly with two fingers.

I flinched back like he’d struck me.

He chuckled—then turned to Manuel, offering his hand. “Pleasure to meet you. Truly. But she’s not ready, doctor. And trust me... she never will be.”

He walked off, just like that. No fanfare. No apology.

Just silence in his wake.

The restaurant continued around us, but I could barely hear it. My heart was thundering in my chest. My hands were numb.

“I need to go,” I said, rising unsteadily to my feet.

“Charlotte—wait.” Manuel rose too, gently catching my arm. “Do you want me to call someone? Security?”

I shook my head. “No. Just... no.”

I turned and walked fast—too fast—out of the restaurant, not caring that my heels echoed like gunshots across the polished floor. Not caring that a couple turned to gawk.

Let them look.

My chest tightened with every step toward the parking deck, breath shallow, jaw clenched until it ached.

As I reached the frigate level, the cool air hit me—and so did the weight of Grayson’s words.

Cassian ended the war.

Ended it with blood. With fire.

Sacrifices I never knew about. Maybe I didn’t want to know. Maybe he burned parts of himself to keep me alive, and I was too angry to notice.

My throat went thick.

The man I couldn’t forgive... had destroyed empires just to keep me breathing.

I blinked back the sting in my eyes, breath catching in my throat, when my phone vibrated in my purse. I pulled it out with trembling hands and read:

“If you think I’m done with you, you’re dreaming. I’ll find my chance, Charlotte, and when I do, I’ll make you wish the psych ward was your only punishment.”

The words slammed into my gut like a punch.