Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Cassie Taylor POV:

Adam came home to a war zone. The crystal decanter he loved, a gift from a Japanese investor, lay in a thousand glittering shards on the marble floor, its amber contents staining the white rug like a fading bruise. The portraits of us, smiling from various charity events and magazine covers, were turned to the wall, my face a void next to his.

He walked through the debris without a word, his expression not of anger, but of weary disappointment. He loosened his tie, his gaze sweeping over the destruction as if he were assessing a minor business inconvenience.

"Feel better?" he asked, his voice calm, which only fueled the inferno inside me.

I was sitting on the sofa, perfectly still amidst the chaos I had created. "Don't you think I deserve an explanation?"

He sighed, running a hand through his perfectly styled hair. "Cassie, I already told you. She's young. She's infatuated. She doesn't know what she's doing."

"She knew enough to call me. She knew enough to send me pictures. She knew enough to tell me she's pregnant with my husband's child." Each word was a shard of glass I was forcing him to swallow.

He had the audacity to look pained. "I was going to tell you."

"When? After the baby was born? After you moved her into our home?"

He walked over to the bar, carefully stepping around the broken glass, and poured himself a scotch from another decanter. "It doesn't have to be this way. It was a mistake."

A cold, mirthless laugh escaped my lips. "A mistake? Or a replacement?"

I stood up and walked over to him, my movements slow and deliberate. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. I let it flutter onto the bar next to his drink.

It was a letter from the fertility institute, confirming the cancellation of our final cycle.

His eyes scanned the paper, his brow furrowing in confusion. Then his gaze locked on the date. Three weeks ago. A muscle in his jaw twitched.

"What is this?" he asked, his voice a low whisper.

I leaned in close, my voice just as quiet, but laced with venom. "I closed the door on that future, Adam. The one you wanted. It's gone."

The glass slipped from his hand, shattering on the floor. His face, which had been a mask of cool indifference, crumpled. His eyes, for the first time that night, showed a raw, unfiltered emotion. Pure agony.

"You... you wouldn't," he stammered, his body trembling. "You couldn't."

"I did what was required," I said, my voice as soft as silk.

He surged forward, his voice a roar that filled the room, his rage a palpable force field between us. "Why?" he yelled, his face just inches from mine, his breath hot with whiskey and fury. "Why would you do that, Cassie?"

I looked into his furious eyes, the same eyes that had once looked at me with adoration, with a promise of protection. And I felt a strange, detached sense of satisfaction. I finally had his full, undivided attention.

This was only the third time in my life I had seen him lose control. The first was the night he acted for me. The second was when a rival corporation tried a hostile takeover, and he had dismantled the man's entire career in a single, brutal afternoon.

And now, this. For a child he never knew, with a woman he claimed meant nothing.

"Why?" I repeated, my voice mocking. "You were the one who wanted this, Adam. You set the terms."

I reached up and gently touched his cheek, my fingers tracing the line of his clenched jaw.

"This bond can only be severed, remember?" I whispered. "There is no room for her. Or for that possibility. If you try to bring anyone else into this marriage, I won't just get rid of them."

My voice dropped, the words a chilling promise. "I will unravel the very tapestry of the man you think you are, thread by painful thread."

He stared at me, his rage slowly being replaced by a dawning horror. He saw the truth in my eyes. The cold, hard conviction. He saw the girl he had created that night in the trailer, the girl who had learned that ruthlessness was the only definitive solution.

His grip loosened slightly as his eyes dropped to my hand, still resting on his cheek. He noticed the way I cradled my palm, a faint tremor from where the sharp edge of my anger had turned back on myself.

His entire demeanor shifted. The fury vanished, replaced by a flicker of the old Adam, the protector. His hands, which had been clenched into fists moments before, softened. He gently took my wrist, turning my hand over to inspect it.

"You're in pain," he murmured, his voice now laced with concern.

He led me to the bathroom, his touch surprisingly gentle. He sat me on the edge of the tub and opened the medicine cabinet, his movements practiced and familiar. He had done this a hundred times before, patching me up after I'd pushed myself too hard, after a fall during a late-night run, after I'd cut myself cooking because I was too exhausted to focus.

He cleaned the small scrape with an antiseptic wipe, his touch so careful, so tender, it felt like a violation. He was trying to fix the wound he had caused, a tiny scratch that was nothing compared to the gaping chasm he had torn open in my soul.

As he reached for a bandage, I snatched my hand back.

He looked up, confused.

"Don't touch me," I hissed, the words feeling like acid on my tongue. "You're filthy."

The hurt in his eyes was immediate and profound. It was a deeper wound than any I could inflict with a blade. He didn't argue. He didn't protest. He simply straightened up, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

He stepped out of the bathroom and spoke to one of the house staff who was hovering nervously in the hallway.

"Get Maria," he said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. "Tell her to bring the first aid kit and tend to Mrs. Carson's hand."

He didn't look at me again before he walked away, leaving me alone in the pristine white bathroom, my own injury a stark, damning stain against the porcelain.