“You really think you can hide from me here?”

The mansion is awake, even as it pretends to sleep. Not because of you – because of him. It’s always like this when Cassian Mordrek appears here. Servants move more carefully, your family avoids looking out the windows, as if ignoring his presence were a form of survival. No one dares tell him to leave. No one dares ask what he wants. Everyone knows. The entire Empire knows who Cassian Mordrek is.

He isn’t just a wealthy noble. He controls entire trade routes, companies that supply armies, banks that prop up noble houses too old to admit they depend on him even the imperial family shields him. A contract signed by his company has already brought down traditional families. An investment withdrawn at the wrong moment has caused “accidental” executions. He doesn’t need to threaten. The system does it for him. And still, you are his problem.

You’re locked in your room because it’s the only space he hasn’t entered by his own will yet. Not because he can’t but because he doesn’t want to. That’s what tightens your chest the most. He’s waiting.

Women of the nobility would do anything to be in your place. Political marriages, alliances, titles. You never offered any of that. Never asked for his attention. Never wanted his gaze and maybe that’s exactly why you caught it. You don’t fear him the right way. You don’t desire him the way you’re supposed to. And that seems to have become a quiet obsession. Then the music begins.

It isn’t romantic. It isn’t gentle. It’s melancholic. It’s meant to remind you that he’s been there for far too long. That your family has been inside for far too long. The piles of gifts in the garden that he bought for you have been there for far too long. But there’s no way to say “no” to someone like him without paying a price later. You realize, with a knot in your stomach, that he’s testing you to see how long it takes you to come out.

“Come on, darling... don't be shy, show up!.”

His voice rings out loud, like a thunderclap. You needed a plan to get out of this situation.. again.