Cassian reached home long before she did.
The moment he stepped inside, he knew something was wrong not with the house, but with himself. The silence pressed in too tightly. The lights felt too bright. The air felt too still.
He dropped his jacket on the nearest chair a careless gesture completely unlike him. He wasn't thinking. Couldn't think.
His mind was still at the event.
Juliette in that soft, glowing makeup.
Juliette in that backless dress.
Juliette smiling shyly while Adrian Hale leaned a little too close.
Juliette avoiding him deliberately, walking past him like he wasn't there.
She had looked different tonight.
Like someone discovering her own shine.
Someone who didn't need him.
Someone who didn't want him
He hated how it bothered him.
He paced the living room, fingers raking through his hair, trying to calm the storm inside him.
"She's just a girl," he muttered under his breath.
"She's not yours. She can talk to anyone she wants."
But those words didn't settle anything.
If anything, they made the jealousy flare hotter.
He replayed every moment in his mind her soft laugh, her refusing to meet his eyes during the photos, her walking away without looking back.
The humiliation hit him hard.
He tried to sit.
Got up again immediately.
Walked to the front door.
Stared out into the empty darkness.
No headlights.
No sign of her.
He checked the time.
10:52 PM.
She should have been home.
By 11:20 PM, he was restless.
By 11:50 PM, he was pacing like a trapped animal.
By 12:10 AM, anger had slowly, painfully morphed into something he didn't want to name.
Worry.
His heart wouldn't settle.
"Where the hell are you?" he whispered to no one.
He called her.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three
Voicemail.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Something cold slipped into his blood.
He tried a third time.
A fourth.
A fifth.
Still nothing.
His fingers tightened around the phone until his knuckles turned white.
He moved through the house again, faster now, looking into rooms he knew she wasn't in the dining room, the balcony, even her bedroom door where he stopped, breathing sharply before forcing himself to walk away.
By 1:08 AM, the silence became unbearable.
He grabbed his keys, intent on going out to look for her, then stopped at the doorway.
No.
Running blindly around the city would be stupid.
He had other ways.
He pulled out his private security interface a system only he had access to, linked to public street cameras and event perimeter feeds.
His fingers flew.
Street.
Venue.
Back exit.
The footage loaded.
And there she was.
Juliette walking out of the event building, alone, hugging her bag. Tired. Small. Pale under the streetlight.
Cassian swallowed hard.
He watched her stand by the road, checking her phone.
Watched a small yellow cab pull up.
Watched her get in.
He zoomed in on the plate number.
Ran a trace.
Switched to another traffic camera then another following the path of the cab through the city.
Juliette's silhouette appeared again and again in blurry frames.
Then…
The cab swerved.
Hard.
Cassian's brows knitted sharply.
He rewound.
Played it again.
The swerve was violent wrong almost like the driver lost control or panicked.
Cassian leaned closer, his heart thudding painfully.
The cab shot past the last camera into a blind stretch of road no surveillance beyond that point.
A cold dread seeped through him.
He called one of his men immediately.
"Track that white cab," he ordered.
"Last seen heading toward Westbury Road. I want GPS, I want the driver, I want
"Sir," the voice on the other end interrupted, hesitant.
"There's a report. A collision. A bus and… a yellow cab."
Cassian didn't wait for more.
His phone slipped from his hand, landing on the couch with a dull thud.
His breath left him in one sharp, disbelieving exhale.
No.
No. No. No.
He grabbed his coat and bolted out of the house.
The rain started halfway there thin, cold drops hitting his windshield, blurring the lights and the road. He didn't slow down. Didn't blink. Didn't breathe properly.
His heart was pounding violently, painfully, like it was trying to break out of his chest.
Every horrible possibility slammed into him.
Her phone dead.
Her alone.
Her tired.
Her in that cab.
Her hurt.
Her bleeding.
Her
He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, unable to stop the panic building in him.
"You better be alive. You better…"
His voice broke.
The wipers struggled against the increasing rain as he turned onto Westbury Road.
Then he saw the lights.
Blue.
Red.
White.
Flashing.
Reflecting against puddles.
Lighting up the wreckage ahead.
Cassian's stomach dropped.
He stopped the car so abruptly the tires shrieked.
His door flew open.
Rain soaked him instantly hair, suit, everything but he didn't even feel it.
He pushed through the crowd.
Through police tape.
Through shouting officers.
Then he froze.
The cab was crushed on one side.
Glass scattered across the road.
A bus dented, tilted, still smoking slightly.
People huddled under umbrellas, whispering.
And on the ground
A stretcher.
A small figure.
Clothes soaked with rain.
Blood on her forehead.
Her hair matted.
Her skin almost grey.
Juliette.
Cassian's breath shattered.
His world collapsed inward.
He didn't hear the shouting EMT.
He didn't feel the rain.
He didn't feel his own heartbeat pounding painfully in his throat.
He only saw her.
Still.
Unmoving.
Too quiet.
He stepped forward like a man walking underwater.
"Sir, you can't"
Cassian's glare sliced through the EMT.
"Move."
The man stepped aside instantly.
Cassian dropped to his knees beside her, the cold water splashing around him.
His shaking hand brushed her cheek cold.
Her lips pale.
Her fingers limp.
A pain tore through him, sharp and unfamiliar.
"Juliette," he whispered.
But she didn't open her eyes.
The rain ran down his face, mixing with the warmth of her blood on his hand.
He leaned closer, his voice breaking in a way it never had.
"Stay with me. Do you hear me?"
His hand closed over hers, firm, almost desperate.
"Stay"
The EMTs lifted the stretcher.
Cassian didn't let go of her hand.
Not even when they tried moving faster.
Not even when the rain got heavier.
Not even when the world around him blurred into noise and lights.
He held her hand like he was holding on to his own sanity.
Because for the first time in his life…
He was terrified of losing someone.