Page 17 of Crushed Vow

“I’ll get him back,” he said, voice steel. “I’ll make them an offer they won’t refuse. I’ll bring him home.”

But I didn’t hear anything after that. I sank into myself, pressing my forehead into my hands, trying to breathe past the despair clawing at my throat.

Why does everything bad always happen to me?

The car eventually slowed, then stopped. I barely felt it. Grief had hollowed me out.

“Charlotte,” Cassian said softly, almost cautiously.

I lifted my head. My eyes stung, bloodshot from tears. The world around me blurred.

Cassian stepped out, walked around the car, and opened my door.

He extended his hand.

I stared at it—but didn’t take it.

It wasn’t until I stood beside him that I realized where we were.

His gated estate.

The penthouse that once served as my prison.

And just like that, the weight of it all came crashing down on me. I remembered the echo of my loneliness, and the way the walls had watched me unravel every single night.

“No,” I breathed, stepping back. “I’m not going in there.”

I waved at the driver. “Take me back to Ethan.”

The car peeled away without hesitation, leaving me alone with Cassian.

“No, Cassian,” I said, my voice shaking. “You can’t force me. Not this time.”

“We’re still married,” he said calmly. “And it’s only right that we live together.”

“No.” I shook my head, backing away. “I made myself clear. I’m still healing from everything I went through in that psych ward. You—” I pointed at him. “You trigger me. The only person who’s helped me feel remotely safe is Ethan.”

“Ethan’s a child,” Cassian snapped. “He can’t protect you. Hell, he can barely protect himself.”

“He found me when you didn’t!” I fired back. “You had all your men, all your money, all your power, and still—he was the one who saved me!”

Cassian’s jaw clenched. “I thought you were taken out of the country. I thought whoever grabbed you would be smart enough to keep you far away. I never imagined you were being held right under my nose. I was looking everywhere else—Europe, Asia, South America. I spent millions. Bled for you. Died in pieces every goddamn day. I wasn’t watching New York.”

His voice cracked.

“I was losing my mind,” he whispered, like there was more he wanted to confess—only he swallowed it back instead.

I froze. “What are you hiding from me, Cassian?”

Because I could feel it in my bones—he wasn’t telling me everything. And part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

He looked away. “Nothing that should matter to you right now. Just... live with me. Until I find your brother.”

I stared at him, my body trembling with exhaustion. “You used my mother to get me to stay once. Now you’re using Vincent.”

“I told you the truth about your mother,” he said. “And as for Vincent—this isn’t a puzzle Ethan can solve with computers and surveillance. This is the Bratva. If he tries to interfere, they’ll kill him. If you want to protect the person who saved you, keep him out of this. Your problems are mine now, Charlotte. And I’ll carry every single one of them. As your husband, it’s my right.”

The worst part? He was right—and I hated it.