He Broke My Heart, I’ll Break His

Chapter 5

'Had Cassian actually lied to her?'

Vespera's mind went completely blank. She couldn't wrap her head around this brutal reality no matter how hard she tried.

If he was perfectly fine, what on earth had those two years she spent exiled in Iceland even been for?

All that guilt, that gut-wrenching sorrow, that crippling regret... what had any of it been for?

And just minutes ago, Cassian had still been using his supposedly disabled legs to force her to apologize to Genevieve!

It felt like all the blood in Vespera's body was rushing backward, and her voice came out rough and parched, like she'd swallowed sand.

"Cassian..."

At the sound of her voice, Cassian froze mid-step, then turned to look at her.

Their eyes locked. He rattled off a few quick words to the person on the other end of the line before ending the call and striding straight toward her.

Vespera couldn't stop herself from stepping back, one unsteady step at a time.

Only when he stopped walking did she scramble for a flimsy excuse to cover the sheer chaos in her head. "Medical science is getting more advanced every day... It's such wonderful news that you've recovered enough to walk again, Uncle Cassian, after sticking to your rehabilitation."

She knew she should force a polite smile, but hot tears spilled down her cheeks before she could even twitch the corner of her mouth.

Vespera had no idea what else to say. There was only one thought screaming in her head, 'Run.'

She spun on her heel and bolted toward the elevator banks.

She was moving so fast her feet tangled beneath her. She stumbled forward and crashed hard to the floor, her knee slamming into the polished marble with a dull, painful thud.

"Vespera!" Cassian's deep, urgent voice cut through the corridor, paired with the sharp, steady stride of leather dress shoes hitting the floor.

The sound was measured, but it hit Vespera right in the chest like a lead weight.

"Don't come near me!" she snapped, her voice shaking violently. "I... I'm fine."

Gritting her teeth against the throbbing pain in her knee, she hauled herself off the ground, jabbed the elevator call button, and scrambled inside. She slammed her finger on the door-close button over and over, frantic.

The brushed-steel doors slid slowly shut, blocking Cassian's tall, imposing silhouette from view.

Vespera collapsed back against the cold metal wall of the elevator, her heart sinking straight into a pitch-black, ice-cold abyss.

Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, fast and unstopping.

How could this be happening?

Cassian had lied to her. For two whole years.

Was this all just because she'd refused to accept their breakup two years ago? Had he faked a lifelong disability just to cut ties with her completely and force her out of the country?

Vespera didn't have an answer. That stubborn, foolish devotion buried deep in her chest was still trying to convince her to trust him, to believe he would never do something so cruel.

'He wouldn't do that to me. Right. He wouldn't.'

She clung to that flimsy, desperate act of self-deception as she walked out of the corporate lobby, numb and disoriented. She had no idea where her feet were taking her, just moving forward on autopilot.

She didn't snap back to reality until a familiar voice called out to her, "Miss Vespera? Are you alright?"

Vespera blinked at the estate guard in confusion, then glanced around. Only then did she realize she'd wandered all the way back to the historic residential estate.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and forced a wobbly, brittle smile. "I'm fine."

With that, she walked through the heavy wrought-iron gates.

As she approached the Kane family manor, she spotted several luxury sports cars parked right by the portico.

'Are mom and Dad back,' she wondered, shifting direction to head toward the main entrance.

She'd barely gotten close to the foyer when the lively chatter and laughter of her family drifted out from the drawing room.

Her younger brother, Tristan, asked, "Where's my second sister? Didn't they say Mr. Thorne gave permission for her to return?"

Her older sister, Seraphina, replied with clear irritation in her tone, "Word is she's camped out at the Thorne estate. Same as always, acting like we mistreat her and refusing to step foot in this house."

Vespera's hand froze midair, inches from the brass door handle. All the homesickness she'd clung to during two grueling years in exile curdled into something bitter and hollow on the spot.

She'd been stranded alone overseas for two long years, and not a single person in her family had ever asked how she was surviving. Instead, they sat here accusing her of being the distant one who refused to come home.

Was she really the one who hadn't wanted to come back? Or was it that they never wanted her around in the first place?

A tight, burning ache twisted in her chest.

She stood there sweltering under the blazing midday sun for what felt like an eternity, the heat humming loud in her ears, before finally pulling her hand back and walking away from the Kane manor.

She hadn't even made it past the estate's outer courtyard when she spotted Cassian.

He was sitting in his wheelchair again, as though the sight of him standing tall on his own two feet earlier had been nothing more than a feverish hallucination.

He tilted his head up to look at her, clearly about to offer some calm, measured remark. "You—"

Vespera snapped, cutting him off before he could get another word out. "I'm fine. Really."

She didn't need his pity.

Cassian paused for a beat, his expression tightening, then delivered his decree anyway, "Go back to Iceland."