Betrayed By My Fiancé, I Married His Most Powerful Enemy

Chapter 28: Caring

"You don’t need to explain," Quinn cut in, something almost eager creeping into her voice. "I’ll follow your lead. I’ve been in this industry too long, and I lost my way somewhere along the way, but you’ve shown me exactly where I should be standing. I’m ready."

I nodded, then made sure there was no room left for any confusion.

"Take everything we have and sell it to the biggest outlets as headline stories. Everything up to this point has been small. I’ve been far too gentle with both of them." I let that sit for a second before I finished. "From here on, all they get is the absolute worst of me."

"Yes!" Nicole nearly came out of her seat.

I could see something catch in Quinn too, just from watching her hear it laid out plainly like that. Any woman who’d watched me get betrayed, humiliated, and stepped over would probably have felt the same slow burn building underneath her skin. But the way I planned to fight back, walking right over both of them without flinching, seemed to light something in her that went past simple satisfaction.

Quinn already knew I lived at the Hyatt Regency, but she had no idea I actually shared a house with Caspian. I wasn’t ready to hand her that piece of information yet, so once we pulled up outside the house, I asked her to drop Nicole off first before heading home herself for the night.

Inside, Caspian was already there, stretched out across the sofa with his tall frame taking up its full length, one arm thrown over his eyes to block the light. I smiled to myself and sat down beside him, tracing my fingers lightly along his jaw.

"Why aren’t you in bed?"

He sat up slowly and looked at me. "Hairuit already sent the company you’re appearing for tomorrow a legal letter. They’re suing for fraud. The news should break by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

"That works," I said, settling against his chest with a small sigh. "I only need to be there in the morning anyway."

Neither of us needed to say much else. Caspian had already worked out exactly what I was planning, and I already understood why a company like Hairuit, one that never bothered with small players, had decided to get involved at all. He was clearing the road ahead of me without making any kind of production of it.

"Thank you, hubby," I said quietly.

"For what?" His hand started moving slowly across my back, warm and steady.

"For understanding me. For protecting me without me ever having to ask."

He didn’t answer right away. Instead he shifted and laid his head against my thigh, eyes closed, breathing slow. "I’ve been reading contracts all day. My eyes are completely done."

"Then I’ll read them to you." I picked up the stack of English documents he’d left unfinished and worked through them at an easy, unhurried pace. When I got to the end I set them down and let out a long breath. "The offer Star King gave me back then was so good. I lost three whole years chasing the wrong thing." I shook my head slowly. "And somehow I still ended up with you anyway. God really does save the best for last."

"After you cancel the Xova contract, which company are you thinking about signing with?"

"Too early to say." I hadn’t let myself think that far ahead yet, not with so much of my standing in the industry still hanging in the balance.

"Sign with me."

I laughed a little, shaking my head. "I’m nothing special to Hairuit. Getting in there isn’t realistic and we both know it perfectly well."

He smiled but didn’t push it any further. What I didn’t understand yet was that he hadn’t meant Hairuit at all. The contract he actually had in mind existed nowhere else in the world, one with him as my manager, but that was a surprise he was saving for later. Even as my husband, he wanted to be absolutely sure I was ready before he handed it to me.

What he couldn’t stand, though, was watching me undersell myself like that. He sat up, looped his arm around my neck, and pulled me in close.

"I’m not going to let you talk about yourself like that," he said, and kissed me softly.

"I knew you were just looking for an excuse," I said when we finally broke apart. I caught his hands and pressed them flat against my chest, holding them there deliberately. "I want more tonight."

His touch felt like it reached past every single wall I’d ever built for myself. He eased me down against the sofa and started working through the buttons of my shirt, slow and deliberate, like this was something that had been quietly building between us for a long time now.

"Cass." I flinched slightly, breath catching in my throat. "That hurts a little."

He stopped instantly. No hesitation, no argument, nothing. He came back up to my mouth instead, and we stayed like that on the sofa a while longer before he finally pulled back, steady and unhurried in a way that was entirely, unmistakably him.

"Tomorrow matters," he said quietly. "Sleep early tonight, okay?"

Later, in the bathroom, one of the maids helped me bathe while another worked carefully through my hair. All I had to do was sit still and close my eyes and let it happen. Caspian had been taking such good care of me lately that sleep came easy most nights, and that particular one was no different.

The next morning, Quinn and Nicole showed up at the Hyatt Regency to take me to the event. When we reached the venue, Liam was already there waiting, which none of us had expected going in. On the surface it looked like he’d simply come to support his artist. I knew better than that, though. He was there to make absolutely sure I said exactly what he needed me to say, word for word.

"How could I forget?" I said when he finally brought it up.