Chapter 8
Meanwhile, back at the Thornwell estate, Cassian was completely losing his mind.[]
He was pacing around the marble foyer like a maniac, his voice already shot from hours of yelling at the maids. “Where the hell is Mrs. Thornwell?! Someone better have some answers for me!“[]
The housekeepers and maids just stood there looking terrified,just shaking their heads.[]
Cassian dragged both hands down his face,
e he
was two seconds away from a complete breakdown.[]
He’d missed picking Aurelia up from the hospital of s
home that night, Miles told him she’d just… disappeared.]
What the fuck was she thinking, pulling a stunt like this?
some emergency board meeting that couldn’t wait. When he finally got
He was grabbing his jacket to go search for her again when Verena came floating down the stairs in that silk nightgown, with Caleb trailing behind her.]
She walked right up to him and slid her arms around his
neck.
“Baby, you need to relax. She’s probably just having a little meltdown, maybe went to crash at her brother’s or something. She’ll come crawling back later. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?“]
“Yeah, Daddy! Mommy’s probably just visiting Uncle Silas. Don’t worry about it!” Caleb piped up.
Cassian’s whole face lit up.]]
The Westvale mansion! Why the hell hadn’t he thought of that?]
Sure, Aurelia’s parents had been dead for years, and Silas was always jet–setting around Europe. []
But he’d heard that Silas was back in town.[]
Maybe Aurelia had run straight to big brother to cry about her marriage.
He shoved Verena away so hard she nearly fell backward.]
But Cassian was already out the door, not giving two shits about her dramatic performance.
Outside the Westvale estate on Fifth Avenue, Cassian had been camping out for over twenty–four hours straight.[]
But there is nobody.
Inside, Silas stood at his office window watching this pathetic display with pure disgust.]
His butler, Winston, approached quietly. “Mr. Silas, Mr.Thornwell has been standing out there since yesterday. Perhaps we should at least offer him some coffee?”
Silas didn’t even turn around. “That asshole?He didn’t deserve any hospitality from Westvale family. Whatever him.“[]
The truth was, Silas had been working around the clock building a bulletproof case against Cassian for that baby–switching scam he’d pulled four years ago.
The son of a bitch had destroyed his little sister’s life, and Silas was going to make him pay for every tear she’d shed.]
Wife’s Temptation: Returns as Heire
Chapter 8
As for Verena, Silas had already FedExed detailed evidence of her kidnapping, assault, and attempted murder of Aurelia to both the DA’s office and Cassian’s family lawyers.]
He was actually excited to watch Cassian’s perfect world implode when he found out what his side piece had been up
Right then, thunder cracked overhead and rain started pouring down like someone had opened the floodgates.]
Cassian wiped the water off his face but didn’t budge an inch.]
His security team had turned Manhattan upside down looking for Aurelia, but they hadn’t found jack shit.[]
She had to be hiding in that house. Where else would she go?
He wasn’t leaving until she came out.
- to.
What Cassian didn’t know was that Aurelia was already on another continent, starting fresh in Switzerland with her real son.]
He stood in that freezing rain for another full night.]
By sunrise, he was so hypothermic and sleep–deprived that he started seeing things. When Winston cracked open the front door to grab the newspaper, Cassian actually smiled, thinking Aurelia had finally forgiven him.[]
Then he collapsed face–first onto the wet sidewalk.]
When the paramedics found him, he was barely conscious and running a fever of 104.]
Now he was lying in a hospital bed, his body completely wrecked, but he was still smiling.
Because in his fevered hallucinations, Aurelia was right there with him, stroking his hair and kissing his forehead just like she used to.
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