*Music recommendation - Innocence - DJ Goja and Suleymer*

"Not happening." He said it with an air of enigmatic authority without needing to raise his voice.

Morning light was streaming through the window beside him, pouring over the pale wooden floor and catching at the sharp line of his cheek. One arm was resting along the sofa armrest, the other ankle drawn over the opposite knee. He looked relaxed and Cixi the opposite.

Cixi bit her lower lip, lost in deep thought, while Cassian’s gaze lingered on that action. As her lips turned dark, a frown creased his brow, and a hint of something flickered across his face.

Cixi, summoning her thoughts, leaned forward.

"How about you sign the contract, and I go live with your family? Which, by the way, sounds insane considering you are not even there." Her fingers tightened over her knees. "You are still officially a missing person in the eyes of the law." The more she spoke, the more the unpleasant idea soured in her mouth, and she decided to say it louder.

"Now that I am truly thinking about it... are you trying to humiliate me? Is this the kind of game you are trying to play with me?" Yes, he had said he was obsessed with her, but what if he was pulling some prank on her? She couldn’t be sure. "They would throw me out of that palace the moment I told them I wanted to live with them!" Her brows pulled together, and she informed wealthy Cassian, "Taxis do not even go to that estate. The last time, I got there only because your cousin gave me a ride, and she had to bring me back as well."

"You can always ask her to do the same!" he teased, a faint smirk curling at the corners of his lips as a playful glint danced in his eyes. He said it so evenly that she nearly wished to throw the nearest object at his handsome face.

Cixi clenched her fists upon her lap and ground her teeth before asking, with dangerous sweetness, "And why, exactly, would she do such a thing?"

Cassian’s gaze remained upon her with quiet certainty. Sunlight touched one side of his face, though it failed to soften him. If anything, it only made the darkness in him stand out more clearly.

"Because," he declared, "I shall transfer company shares into your name."

For what felt like the tenth time, perhaps that morning, her mind simply stopped, and she stared at him with slightly parted lips.

The sunlight, the room, the sofa beneath them, and the very air around her seemed to pause.

After a moment had passed, she finally lifted one hand and rubbed her forehead, as if that might steady the confusion ringing through her skull.

When she spoke, she had to force the words past the thickness in her throat. "You said you are obsessed with me." She repeated the words Cassian had spoken a few minutes ago, probably to make sure that he understood what she had understood, and he could correct her if she misunderstood something. But no rectification came from his side.

Cassian gently replied, "I did." He said it without holding himself back, and Cixi’s heart skipped another beat.

Cixi searched his face. Some foolish, traitorous part of her wanted to ask plainly: should not a man do and say these things only when he was in love? Yet pride would not let her shape the words so nakedly.

Instead, she asked, "Do you transfer company shares every time you become obsessed with someone?"

At her question, his mouth curved, though not into a smile. There was something almost offensive in the faint shift of it.

"I have never been obsessed with anyone before."

"Never?"

"Never!"

"What about your cat?" the question slipped out before she could stop it.

A beat passed, and she received no response from Cassian.

Then, because disaster had clearly chosen her as its favourite child, she made it worse.

"I mean your ex-cat?"

Something shifted in Cassian’s gaze, perhaps curiosity. His eyes narrowed, and though he remained seated, he did not alter his posture in any dramatic way; the room suddenly seemed to change around him, as if a strange brightness had touched the air with his astonishment.

"I am beginning to suspect," he said slowly, "that you have done quite a thorough investigation into my life."

Cixi cleared her throat and summoned the composure she could muster.

"Well... I may have looked into certain matters when you were missing. I was looking for you..."

His brow arched.

"And your research led you to compare yourself to a cat?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

She twisted her lips.

"I am simply asking."

"If you want to know if I transferred any shares to the cat, no, Lousy Kisser, I didn’t." His voice remained smooth. Yet there was a dark edge beneath it now, something amused and dangerous both, his fingers tapping once—just once—before stilling again.

"I intend to claim that Palace for myself in due time," he confessed. "And before that happens, I require you inside it. There is something I want done."

The answer fell over her like cold water.

So that was it?

Not because he wanted to protect her, but because he wanted her to do something for him.

Scumbag!

"You should have started with that. That you needed something from me." She crossed her arms and legs. "Fine! I will go. But you need to sign the kissing contract."

Cassian looked at her for a long second, and under that look, Cixi felt the absurd urge to defend herself, her search history, and the poor, unfortunate cat all at once.

"Why are you behind the contract?" Cassian finally asked. "What is there in it for you?"

"I do not want you to kiss anyone. I already told you."

"So you are ready to watch me if I fuck someone else, but the kiss should be yours?" He repeated the same question he had once asked in his office when Cixi had first brought this madness before him.

And she nodded at that.

But Cassian was not done. He held her gaze, making sure she could not escape the weight of what he was saying. "You want to do this because you do not want to tie me to you completely, and yet I am still yours. This is your way of showing how much you love me?"

Cixi hesitated for a little moment, but then she immediately nodded her head in agreement, perhaps a little too fast.

A mirthful glint played in his eyes. Cixi saw it, but she could not tell whether it was good or bad, or whether something far more sinister had begun moving inside his mind. To her surprise, he leaned forward and asked her again, more slowly this time, as though he were offering her one final chance to save herself.

"Are you sure you want this?"

"Yes!"

"Have you really thought about it clearly enough?"

Why did it seem as though Cassian was offering her one final opportunity to escape from him? Yet, she wasn’t capable of leaving him because he has already confessed his obsession for her and stated from moments to moments that she belongs to him... whatever that signifies in his terms.

Despite the feelings that unsettled her deeply, she knew she couldn’t take back her words... her curse hung in the balance. She felt a deep fear of him, yet she had to stand her ground, even as a part of her longed to flee. She had come too far and embarrassed herself too often to back down with any sense of dignity. This was what she wanted, and she told herself it was the only way forward.

"Yes," she insisted. "I thought about it very well."

And then a wide grin appeared on his face, and in that very instant, Cixi knew it. Yes.... She had made a contract with the devil.

No one could save her, not even the Reaper.

And for a second, neither of them spoke.

Cassian simply sat there, watching her with a look that made her feel as though some invisible seal had just been stamped over her fate. There was no mercy in that look. Only a look of satisfaction that said he had been waiting all along for her to step willingly into the trap.

Cixi’s heart began to beat faster. She tried not to let it show on her face, but inside, unease was spreading through her chest like cold smoke.

Still, she kept her chin lifted.

If she looked uncertain now, he would mock her for the rest of her life.

Cassian said nothing more. He simply reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone with calm ease.

Then he dialled a number.

The call connected quickly.

"Mark," he said, his voice turning cool and commanding at once, "bring me the contract. Now."

The moment those words left his mouth, something in Cixi’s stomach dropped.

It was happening.

It was truly happening.

And as Cassian lowered the phone again and lifted his eyes back to her, the grin had not quite left his face.

That look alone told her enough.

She had lost the battle.