Beneath his veil

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Alara's heartbeat was a relentless thunderstorm inside her chest as the figure's silhouette faded into the night, leaving behind a suffocating silence... The weight of that haunting question pressed down heavily in her mind drowning everything else.

The next morning.. sunlight spilled through the curtains, but it offered no comfy. Every shadow in the room seemed to whisper warnings. Lena noticed .. "Alara you didn't sleep again" she asked softly as she woke up from the little nap she was able to get..

"No that voice... It felt like it wasn't just a threat.. it was a promise" Lena frowned, her usual lighthearted demeanor replaced by something sharper, more serious.

Alara had always prided herself in being rational, in rational, in control.. but the last few days had shattered the illusion. The more she uncovered, the more tangled the web became, pulling her into darkness she never imagined.

Her mind flashed back to Cassian, the enigmatic billionaire whose charm masked countless secrets..

Lena reached for her hand, steady and sure.. "whatever's coming, we face it together"

Alara nodded, but doubt gnawed at her. Could she really trust anyone?. Especially when Cassian's presence lingered in every corner of her thoughts.. a dark magnet she couldn't resist.. no matter how dangerous.

Her mind was replaying their last meeting, the way his eyes bore into hers like he could see every secret buried deep within.. the way his touch promised both salvation and destruction. She was caught in a game and the stakes were very high..

That afternoon, she walked through the city's cold streets, a shadow detached itself from the crowd.. a man with a familiar, chilling smile.

"Ms. Winslow"

He said smoothly with menace, "You're treading on dangerous ground"

Alara's pulse quickened. The nightmare was no longer confined to whispered threats..

Cassian's name echoed relentlessly in her thoughts. Was he truly the enigmatic billionaire she'd glimpsed, or was there something far more dangerous lurking beneath his polished exterior?

Her phone buzzed, which had been happening rather to frequently these days she felt to dismiss it but the curious part of her gripped the phone tighter dancing her fingers on the screen.. it was a picture of her aunt's old house but the lights were shattered as if a violent struggle had taken place. A voice whispering in her head.

The storm outside wasn't just in the weather, it was inside her now with no opportunity to turn back.

Her chest aches for truth, the image wasn't just a warning, it was a declaration. Someone was watching her every move, someone who wanted her to feel powerless..

Her mind raced back to the conversation with her aunt. The veiled threats, the hints of darkness beneath their family's polished facade, they were truths too dangerous to ignore. Thunder rumbled in the distance like the growl of a beast awakening.

She looked below the picture on her phone and saw a written note she had nearly missed "No escape for you, He isn't the only one hiding secrets.. neither is your blood"

Cassian perhaps? What other he could there be?.. certainly not her father who was long gone.

Was Cassian part of the nightmare or her only hope to redemption..

Suddenly she heard a name "Alara" with the tone of urgency.. she rushed out .

Cassian stood in the cavernous expanse of his penthouse, the city lights below.. he ran his hand through his hair Reckoning the incident that happened earlier.. he had received a message too .. someone threatening Alara's life.. his could anyone have figured out his weakness.. his obsession.. the weight of countless secrets pressing down on him. Every move he made seemed like a gamble with deadly snakes to protect her. The image of her alone.. vulnerable, hunted him more than he cared to admit. .

Cassian's jaw clenched. The war he'd long avoided was no longer in the shadows, it has come to his doorstep. Alara.. fragile and defiant was the prize..

Somewhere in those endless streets.. enemies waited . But so did answers.. "I won't let her fall" he whispered to himself.

The line between protector and prisoner had just been blurred. Cassian's breath hitched as memories surged ...

The penthouse was nothing but a glided cage. Cassian has learnt early that vulnerability was a weakness exploited.

Tonight as rain whispered against windows, the ghosts of his past stirred. The same forces that took his mother were circling and now Alara was crossed in the crossfire.. a living reminder of the fragility he desperately sought to protect..

Alara had walked back as she couldn't place the voice to a face and blamed it on her mental health as she had not been sleeping for a while now...

Cassian's knuckles whitened around the edge of the window's glass.

"This time I'll decide the terms"