She Rejected The Heir. I Married Him. Chapter 08
The Ashfords were finished.
Cassian kept his word.
When the market opened the next morning, several Ashford Design Group subsidiaries faced debt collection actions and investor class-action lawsuits at the same time.
At three that afternoon, Ashford Design Group announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection.
The once untouchable Adrian became the biggest joke in Greyhaven’s business world.
At four, I left the architecture firm owned by Voss Capital.
Cassian had put me in full charge of the Orion Properties interior renovation project.
I’d just reached the entrance when a disheveled figure reeking of alcohol burst from the landscaping.
“Mira!”
Adrian.
He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket. His shirt hung open at the collar, and his eyes were sunken.
He looked like a gambler abandoned by every director and creditor he’d ever had.
He lunged toward me, but the guards at the entrance immediately pinned him to the ground.
“Let go! I need to see Mira!”
He struggled wildly, staring at me.
“Are you happy now?”
“My family is ruined! I have nothing!”
I looked down at him from the steps.
“Isn’t this what you chose?”
“What I chose?” he roared.
“If you hadn’t latched on to Cassian Voss and used him to destroy me, would I be here?”
“You vicious bitch!”
“All that sweet, obedient crap was an act!”
I listened to his helpless rage without feeling a thing, regarding him with the indifference I’d give a pile of trash.
“Even now, Adrian, it’s always someone else’s fault.”
I walked down two steps.
“Was it my fault you tried to make me admit professional negligence to please Sienna?”
“Was it my fault you pushed me into a marriage you thought would be hell?”
“Was it my fault you altered project specifications for your own benefit and destroyed your company’s credibility?”
I looked at him.
“You did this to yourself.”
He froze, teeth clenched, tears mixing with sweat on his face.
“Mira…”
His tone changed abruptly, turning desperate and humble.
“I regret it. All of it.”
“I know you still love me. You loved me for eight years. You can’t just stop.”
“Please forgive me. We can start over.”
The thought was so absurd it was almost funny.
A black Bentley Flying Spur pulled up at the curb.
The door opened, and Cassian Voss stepped out.
He wore a black trench coat, his presence cold and commanding without a word.
He barely glanced at Adrian pinned to the pavement.
Instead, he came straight to me and slipped an arm around my waist.
“Are you done?” he asked quietly.
I nodded. “Yes.”
Adrian stared at Cassian’s hand on my waist, his eyes burning red.
“Cassian Voss! You’re taking a woman I threw away!”
He shouted like a madman.
Cassian finally spared him a glance, as if he were looking at an ant he could crush at any moment.
“You threw her away?”
He gave a soft, contemptuous laugh.
“You’ve misunderstood something, Adrian.”
“You didn’t reject her. She rejected you.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but every word drove into Adrian like a nail.
“And one more thing.”
Cassian leaned down slightly, his eyes icy.
“You don’t get to talk about my wife.”
“Let me hear her name leave your mouth again, and you’ll never find another door in Greyhaven willing to open for you.”
He turned and guided me toward the car.
Adrian’s desperate sobs followed us.
He finally understood he hadn’t merely lost someone he could manipulate.
He’d lost a woman he would never be good enough for again.
The car door closed, cutting off the noise.
I leaned back and let out a long breath.
Eight years.
This time, the break was clean.
Cassian turned toward me.
“Feeling better?”
“Much better.”
“Then it’s time to deal with the other one.”
He started the car as casually as if he’d commented on the weather.
I knew who he meant.
Sienna Carlisle.