CHAPTER 2.THE DEVIL'S CONTRACT
1150 Words
I The city had turned into a rich gold colour through the penthouse windows. It looked like a kingdom built on silence and sin. I stood at the edge of Cassian Locke’s world, rain still clinging to my clothes, heart pounding against my ribs and in that moment, I felt little and fragile. .
Marble stretched beneath my feet, polished to a mirror’s sheen. Every step echoed and the air smelled of leather, whiskey, and something darker… like the smell that promised comfort and her didn't want to tow this path with you. Cassian sat across from me, framed by the skyline like a fallen god. His suit was black and Immaculate and his tie loosened just enough to suggest he was having a crazy day.
On the glass table between us, a thin folder waited. My name was printed across it in silver.
“You know why you’re here?” he said, voice quiet but edgy.
I swallowed hard. “You said there was a footage.”
He gestured toward a screen behind him and it came to life showing a grainy security feed from the alley. I watched in silence as I saw the story could be manipulated into anything. Anyone could spin that story a hundred ways and every version would end with me destroyed.
Cassian leaned forward, eyes locked on mine. “Saint Dorian’s prides itself on purity. Imagine how quickly they’d cast you out.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong.” My voice cracked, thin and hollow.
He tilted his head, gaze cutting like a scalpel. “Truth doesn’t matter and you know that. Perception does. And right now, perception says you’re one rumor away from expulsion.”
I clenched my fists, desperate for air. “What do you want from me?”
His answer came like a verdict. “Your silence. In exchange, I’ll give you mine.”
He slid the folder toward me and the paper inside was unmistakable. A contract and it read,
NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT OF COMPANIONSHIP”
My pulse stumbled. “Companionship?”
He didn’t blink. “You’ll spend time with me when I call. You’ll do what I ask and you’ll follow my rules. And in return, the footage never sees daylight.”
“That’s not…” I broke off, shaking my head. “Isn't that blackmail.”
Cassian stood, slow and deliberate, circling the table until he was behind me. His presence pressed down on me like heat, heavy, magnetic and impossible to ignore.
“It is a matter of perspective. Think of it as… preservation,” he murmured, voice brushing my ear. “You want to stay at Saint Dorian’s. I want silence I can trust.”
I turned, breath catching as our eyes met. “And if I say no?”
His lips curved into something that wasn’t a smile. “Then you watch everything you worked for burn. One piece at a time.”
The words sliced through me. I could see it, the whispers, the pitying glances, the expulsion letter. My years of sacrifice gone in a heartbeat. I couldn't risk that.
Cassian stepped closer, fingers brushing the edge of my collar. “Sign it, Julian. It’s just paper.”
Buy it wasn’t, I knew better. This was an invisible chain. Permanent and already tightening. But a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
My hand trembled as I picked up the pen that looked like it was worth more than the life it was about to ruin. The moment the ink touched paper, the air shifted. Cassian’s breath eased, like something in him had finally settled.
But I just stared at my signature stark against the white sheet. Julian Vega. What have I done? I’d just sold something I didn’t even have a name for.
Cassian took the folder, closed it with a soft snap, and set it aside. “Good.”
He turned toward the window, hands clasped behind his back. “You’ll report here every Friday or whenever. You’ll answer when I call and you’ll speak the truth, and only when asked.”
“I don’t even know what you expect from me.”
His gaze slid back over his shoulder, dark and unreadable. “Obedience, honesty and attention.”
The words rolled over me like a trap. They sounded like something more dangerous than he presented it as. He walked toward me again, eyes never leaving mine.
“Stand up.”
I obeyed before I could think.
“Shoulders back.”
I stiffened.
“Look at me.”
I did. My breath hitched as his stare pinned me in one place.
“You slouch when you’re nervous,” he said, tone calm but cutting. “It makes you small. Never let them see you as small.”
He stepped closer until his chest almost brushed mine. His hand rose, slow and deliberate and straightened my tie. His fingers slid along the fabric and grazed my throat. It was a light touch, too light but it burned all the same.
“The first thing you should know, Julian,” he whispered, his voice low and rough, “is that I don’t buy silence. I own it.”
My pulse betrayed me, thundering beneath his fingertips. He felt it and he knew what it meant.
His eyes darkened in recognition, a silent admission of the charge between us. Something electric and evitable.
For one suspended second, the air around us was damp. If he leaned in just a little closer, if I tilted my head just a little higher…
He stepped back, cutting my train of thoughts.
“Leave,” he said, voice rough.
“Sir?” I blinked, unsteady.
“I said, get the f**k out of my house. I’ll call you when your service is needed.”
The dismissal hit harder than it should’ve. I grabbed my coat, desperate for distance and for air that didn’t smell like him.
But as I reached the door, his voice followed me low and dangerous.
“Don’t be late next Friday. You’ll learn what companionship means.”
A shiver crawled down my spine as the elevator doors slid shut behind me, but the silence didn’t bring relief. It echoed.
And as I stepped out into the night, lost in my thoughts, a sudden flash lit the darkness bright and blinding.
A camera.
By the time I realized what it was, it was already too late. Someone across the street lowered a camera. My gaze fell on the stranger’s gaze which was undoubtedly fixed on me.
The lens clicked again, then he turned around and vanished into the crowd of people rushing past.
I could have run after him but I knew better. On these streets, there was no way I would catch up.
My life just might have gotten messier and the contract I’d just signed? That was the genesis.
- Writer
