The world did not wait for permission to tear him apart.
Cassian stood alone in his office, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a city that looked far too calm for the chaos clawing at his name. His phone vibrated nonstop on the desk. Calls. Messages. Notifications stacked endlessly, each one demanding something from him.
Answers. Explanations. Submission.
Rumors spread faster than truth ever could.
Contract marriage.
The words were everywhere. Twisted into different shapes depending on who was selling them. Some called him a manipulator. Others accused him of mocking the public with a carefully scripted lie. A few went further, digging for secrets, convinced there was something darker hidden behind his silence.
Cassian neither denied it nor confirmed it.
Silence had always worked for him.
This time, it only fed the fire.
