He didn’t give me time to answer. Just turned and started walking, and I followed like I was being dragged by the throat.

We arrived at a hospital café. Looked bougie. Empty. Soft jazz played over hidden speakers.

Cassian took the booth facing the entrance. His black button-up was rolled at the sleeves, his arms resting on the table like he was settling in for a date.

I slid into the seat across from him, frowning.

He didn’t speak. Just raised one hand, a small flick of his fingers.

One of his men walked over from the far end of the room. Grey suit, envelope in hand. He placed it on the table and walked away again.

Cassian slid the envelope toward me with two fingers.

“You really came with fucking paperwork?” I spat. “You arrogant, manipulative piece of shit. You thought this through that much? You really assumed I’d agree to this circus?”

“I assumed,” he said, slowly, “that when you were choking on debt and your father was choking on his own lungs, you’d at least want to see your options.”

He smiled at me. I wanted to rip his lips off his face. “Let’s not pretend, Sadie. You’re not here to bargain. You’re here because you’ve got nothing left.”

“You’re unbelievable,” I muttered.

“You’re poor,” he said plainly.

I blinked.

“Flat broke,” he continued. “Your credit’s dead, your bank accounts, and your stable is weeks away from collapse. If Silvermane was a horse, I'd shoot it.”

“Fuck you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You bastard!” I slammed my hand on the table. “You think you can waltz in and take everything because you’ve got a fucking checkbook?”

Cassian leaned forward. His voice dropped, soft enough to make me lean in. “Your father took three million dollars from me. Over eight years. Some cash. Some wire. Some through accounts he never told you about. You want to talk about courage? Try lying to your daughter while mortgaging her future.”

My head spun. “Three million?” I breathed. “He wouldn’t—”

“He did,” Cassian cut me off. “In fact, you co-signed one of the first loans.”

My stomach turned. “I was twenty-one. That was… he told me it was for vet expansion.”

Cassian gave a short laugh. “Vet expansion? He used that loan to fence extra acres of land. Land he never got zoning permits for. You want to know how much tax he owes on that land?”

I didn’t answer.

“Seventy-two thousand. Just in back property taxes.”

I tried to speak, but my throat clamped.

“And here’s the fun part,” Cassian added. “Because Silvermane is a registered partnership between you and your father, guess who’s also responsible for every single criminal violation?”

He waited. His eyes didn’t blink.

“You.”

I blinked hard. “No. There has to be some mistake, he wouldn’t—”

“He did,” he said again. “He forged your signature on two more loan documents.”

My body started to tremble. “He… he said everything was under control…”

“It was,” Cassian said coldly. “Under my control.”

“You’re lying.”

He didn’t answer. Just looked at me like he felt sorry for how naive I still was.

I gritted my teeth. “If you’re so fucking confident, why not just take us to court?”

“Because I’m giving you an out, Sadie. Sign over the estate, and I’ll make the paperwork disappear. Keep playing dumb, and you’ll be sharing a cell with your old man. I hear prison’s real fun for pretty girls with debt fraud charges.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“And there’s more,” he said, leaning back. He looked at me like he’d just ripped my world apart and found it amusing.

I shook my head. “No. Stop.”

But he was already reaching into the envelope calmly.

Too prepared.

He pulled out a stack of papers, unfolded them, and laid them out in front of me like cards at a poker table. “Here’s the real reason I’m coming for Silvermane.”

I didn’t move.

“The government’s about to shut it down,” he said. “Back taxes. Environmental violations. Illegal expansions. It’s all coming to light. I’m not letting it go under until I get every damn cent out of it.”

He tapped a line with his finger.

“Read.”

My fingers hovered over the page, then I scanned it. My name, clear as day. The amount, six million dollars. Then a list of deductions.

Transfer of Property – Silvermane Estate

Seller: Sadie Sinclair

Buyer: Cassian Wolfe

Purchase Price: $6,000,000

Outstanding Debt and Liabilities: $3,000,000

Net Payout to Seller: $3,000,000

And below that, a clause with his real angle:

Championship Race Clause

“A final championship horse race will be hosted at Silvermane within thirty days. All profits will be split equally between both parties. Buyer reserves all creative and operational rights for the duration.”

I stopped reading.

Cassian leaned in, grinning, like he was handing me my noose. “You help me run the race. Make it the biggest event Silvermane’s ever seen. You work under my roof. You stay in my house. You do the job. If the race does well, you get a ten million dollar bonus. Clean.”

I swallowed hard. “You expect me to work for you?”

He tilted his head like he was bored. “No. I expect you to make a choice. Save your family’s name. Or let the government chew up what’s left. Your father made this bed. You get to lie in it. With me.”

I shuddered at the image.

“You want me to move under your goddamn roof?”

He grinned, I hated it. “That’s the idea. I want you close. I want you useful. I want to watch you sweat to fix the mess your daddy made. You’ll run the estate. Manage the horses. Handle the staff. Shake hands with every greedy bastard I bring in for that race. And you’ll do it all while wearing the name Silvermane like it means something again.”

I snorted. “So what, I’m your assistant now?”

He leaned forward, voice cold. “No. I don’t want an assistant. I want a maid. A fixer. A show pony. You’ll fetch, carry, lie if I tell you to. You’ll clean up the blood if this deal gets dirty. And you’ll smile for the cameras, play the perfect little face.”

“You’re insane.”

“Am I?” He lifted a brow. “You’re drowning in your father’s debt. And I’m offering you salvation. Choke down that pride, Sadie Sinclair. Work for me.”

“You mean bow and slave?”

“You mean save your family name from rotting in court records. And make three million plus a bonus while you’re at it.”

The bile was rising. I hated him. I hated how calm he was. How he was enjoying this. “And if I say no?”

He smiled like it tasted sweet. “I sue you. I leave your father to rot. You lose the estate, the land, the horses. You lose everything.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“And here’s the best part,” he said, reaching into the envelope again. “There’s a clause. Just for you. You do the job, fine. But if at any point you start catching feelings, if you so much as look at me like I’m more than the devil who came to collect, I revoke every damn cent. Race bonus. Property payout. Gone.”

My mouth fell open.

He tilted his head. “You don’t fall in love with me. You don’t daydream. You don’t get confused. You work. You perform. You hate me like you always have. That’s the deal.”

I shook my head, half-laughing, half choking. “You think I could ever fall for you?”

“I think pride’s a tricky thing,” he said softly. “And I’ve seen the way you flinch when I get close. It isn’t all hate, Sadie. There’s something else under it. I’m just smart enough to name it before you do.”

“You are so fucked in the head.”

He leaned in, eyes cold now. “Maybe. But if you think you’ll survive thirty days in my house, in my world, hating me without hating yourself a little more... we’ll see.”

I opened my mouth to fire back. He shut it with a single move, sliding the second envelope across the table.

“Sign this if you’re done whining.”

Inside: Contract Terms: Subject may report to breakfast in sweats, no face, no prep. Confession permitted. Feelings not.

I stared at it.

“You see?” he said, voice silk. “I give you a little. You give me a lot.”

He pulled a pen from his pocket. Clicked it once. Slid it across the table.

“Just like old times.”

My fingers closed around it.

I hated how they trembled.

I signed. Quick, careless. My chest was tight. I just wanted to breathe again.

Cassian didn’t touch the paper. Just flipped to the back, like he’d been waiting for the moment I walked into this room.

He tapped the final clause with one finger. Looked up at me.

Then read it aloud.

“For the duration of this contract, Sadie Sinclair agrees to portray the role of Cassian Wolfe’s fiancée, both publicly and privately, with full access granted to her likeness, time, and person.”

My stomach dropped.

“You belong to me now. Try to act like it.”