Cassian’s POV – Flashback
I stood on the balcony, the wind whipping through my hair as I stared out into the sprawling cityscape. It was a view I had grown accustomed to—one that had once brought me comfort, but now felt like a prison. The night was dark, the only light coming from the dim street lamps below, and my thoughts drifted back to the choices I had made. The choices that led me here.
I wasn’t always this person. The man who carried the weight of too many secrets. The man who built walls between himself and anyone who could get too close.
I hadn’t always been cold. Not always.
But somewhere, in the twisted maze of power, deceit, and broken trust, I lost myself. The hunger for control. The thirst for power. It became too much.
Years ago, I was a different person. I was young,
