Page 29 of Crushed Vow

“You’ll be twenty-two soon,” Cassian said, motioning to the pile of phones like he wasn’t entirely proud of it. “So I got you twenty-two iPhones. One for every year you’ve survived without me the way I should’ve been there.”

I blinked. “Because Ethan got me one phone?”

Cassian didn’t even flinch. “Because no other man should be buying my wife anything.”

His voice was low, frayed at the edges. “Because it kills me that he got to you first. Because I still wake up choking on dreams where you’re dead—and when I realize you’re not, all I can think about is giving you everything. Even if it’s ridiculous. Even if it’s too late.”

He reached into his coat, pulled out a black metal card, and slid it across the table like it was nothing. But the gleam of the American Express Centurion was impossible to ignore.

“It’s yours,” he said. “Spend it however you want. No limits.”

I stared at the pile of phones. At the black card lying like a threat. At Ethan, who sat frozen beside me.

“So this is your version of sorry?’ I said.”‘Drown me in money so I forget how you buried me.”

I didn’t raise my voice, but the words landed like gunfire.

Cassian didn’t answer right away. His jaw clenched, nostrils flaring slightly—as if the guilt was too big to swallow.

“Is that what you think?” he said finally. “That I’m trying to buy forgiveness?”

He let out a bitter laugh. “You think any of this even scratches the surface of what I owe you?”

I stared at him. I wasn’t sure what answer I wanted.

“And if you said no? If you told me you didn’t want anything from me?”

His voice was low. Controlled. And dangerous in its restraint.

Before I could answer, Cassian made a subtle gesture—so small it was barely noticeable.

But Brooks moved instantly.

He seized Ethan by the collar and forced him to his knees in front of me.

I jumped to my feet, heart thudding. “Don’t touch him!”

Brooks didn’t respond. Neither did Cassian—their silence said everything: possession, power, and a line I was never meant to cross.

Cassian didn’t flinch. “Brooks is my most trusted guard. He’s killed more men than I care to count—and he doesn’t hesitate when I give an order.”

Ethan didn’t speak. His jaw was locked, but the flicker of fear in his eyes betrayed him.

“Brooks,” I said, voice tight, “let him go.”

Brooks didn’t even look at me. “I take commands from one person.”

The air thinned.

This wasn’t a bluff. It never had been. I was standing in the middle of a world that didn’t play by rules—where power meant obedience, and love often came twisted in chains.

“Cassian,” I said carefully, “Ethan is just a friend.”

“I’m aware.” Cassian’s eyes stayed on me, his tone eerily calm. “And yet he keeps acting like something more. Buying you gifts. Standing too close. Smiling like he’s earned something he hasn’t.”

“Please,” I whispered. “You don’t need to do this.”

His gaze sharpened. “Then he needs to stop acting like your fucking boyfriend.”