Chapter2

My chest felt hollow, but my feet moved entirely on their own.

I was a doctor. A human life was at stake.

I ran down the back stairs, got into my car, and followed his speeding Maybach all the way to the emergency room.

When I arrived at the hospital, I stopped behind the glass doors of the ER waiting bay.

I didn't go in. I stood in the shadows and just watched.

Cassian was covered in Seraphina's blood. He was crying.

The ruthless, cold billionaire was openly sobbing, furiously begging the frantic nurses to save his family.

Hours bled into the sterile neon lights of the hallway.

The chaotic shouting of the emergency room eventually faded into a grim, devastating quiet.

Once Seraphina was stabilized and transferred upstairs, I finally took a deep breath and stepped into her VIP maternity ward.

There was no rhythmic heartbeat on the monitor. Just a deafening, heavy silence.

The bleeding had been entirely too severe. Seraphina had lost the baby.

She lay weakly against the crisp white pillows.

She wept violently into her hands, playing the devastated, grieving mother perfectly.

Cassian Vale sat heavily on the edge of the bed.

Eight years ago, he had promised me eternity.

Now, his strong arms were wrapped protectively around her shaking shoulders.

He heard my footsteps and looked up.

Those dark eyes used to soften whenever I entered a room.

Now, they leveled me with a frigid glare. He looked at me like a stranger.

Worse, like a cold-blooded murderer.

"Are you here to admire your handiwork, Lark?" Cassian snarled. His tone was pure ice. "You killed my child."

I stared at him. The air caught painfully in my throat.

"If you couldn't control your jealousy, you could have just walked away," Cassian barked, his eyes blazing with absolute hatred. "Instead, you murdered my heir. I am having the hospital board revoke your medical license. I will see you behind bars."

This was the man I loved.

The man I had compromised my entire identity for. He genuinely believed I was a murderer.

Seraphina expertly shifted into the role of the merciful, heartbroken victim.

She leaned softly against Cassian’s chest, sobbing weakly.

"Cassian, please, don't send her to prison," she murmured sweetly. "Losing our baby is tearing me apart. But destroying Lark's life won't bring our child back. She didn't do it on purpose."

She fluttered her tear-clumped lashes. "Lark just needs to apologize. And offer a small token of compensation for me."

Cassian exhaled heavily. His tense shoulders relaxed at her artificial mercy.

He nodded in aristocratic approval and turned back to me. "You heard her. You owe her a massive debt."

A gleam of calculated malice danced in Seraphina’s eyes.

She slowly raised a manicured finger and pointed directly at my collarbone.

"I want that necklace."

My hand flew up instinctively. My fingers brushed against the hidden metal.

My heart gave a violent, sick lurch. I didn't want to give it to her.

It was no ordinary piece of jewelry.

It was a vintage maritime compass, encased in heavy platinum.

Eight years ago, Cassian’s mother threatened to disinherit him for dating an "uncivilized indigenous girl." Cassian hadn't wavered.

He braved six grueling hours of fierce blizzards. He risked his life on perilous icy roads just to buy this precious birthday gift for me.

He had returned completely drenched and shivering.

He knelt on my worn carpet and fastened the heavy chain around my neck.

“My family is a toxic storm, Lark,” he had whispered. “But as long as you wear this, you are my only one. I will fight everyone in my clan before I let anyone hurt you.”*

This gift bore all his deepest love.

It helped me survive 36-hour surgical shifts and swallow this transactional pregnancy.

I endured it all for him.

"Well?" Cassian demanded impatiently. "Give it to her."

"Cassian..." My voice trembled with heavy grief. "You know what this compass means. You risked your life for it. You said—"

He interrupted coldly. "I said a lot of things when I was young. It’s just an old trinket. Sera lost her child. She likes it. Take it off."

He brutally severed our foundational memory with a few careless words.

I remained frozen in shock.

Cassian stood up. He quickly closed the distance between us.

He showed absolutely zero gentleness.

He reached out. He hooked his fingers forcefully beneath the platinum chain.

And he yanked.

The heavy metal dug deeply into my skin. It snapped with a violent crack.

A bright red line bloomed across my neck. It burned fiercely.

But the physical sting was nothing compared to the truth.

My heart had permanently turned to ash.

Cassian didn't even glance at my bleeding scratch. He turned his back.

He gently placed the compass into Seraphina’s waiting hands.

"Here," he murmured with a tender smile. "As long as it makes you happy."

I stood entirely forgotten in the shadows of the doorway.

The paralyzing fog of my grief finally vanished.

I figured out so many things at this exact moment.

For eight years, Cassian believed he was my savior.

He thought he was the wealthy heir graciously elevating a struggling girl.

He used his status to command and punish me, but he was entirely oblivious to who I truly was.

I wasn't just "Lark." I am Lamu Dawa.

I am the sole bloodline heiress to the massive matriarchal clan of Skylark Bay.

In our world, women dictate the absolute rules.

Men enter our houses strictly on our terms.

If they fail us, we dismiss them without a second thought.

Vale Holdings was a rounding error compared to my family's colossal, generational wealth.

I had hidden my true identity. I tolerated his parents' endless cruelty because I craved a pure romance.

I desperately wanted Cassian to love my soul, not my Canadian borders.

I stared at the broken chain in Seraphina's hands. The weakness bled right out of me.

"You're right, Cassian," I stated softly.

My voice was completely stripped of warmth. The pathetic pleading was gone.

"Enjoy the trinket, Seraphina."

I turned on my heel. I walked toward the sterile hospital corridor.

My spine was perfectly straight.

"Lark!" Cassian barked. His voice echoed sharply down the hall.

He strode forward. "I didn't say you could leave. You murdered my child. You haven't formally apologized—"

His heavy footsteps sounded right behind me.

He wanted to aggressively seize my wrist.

He wanted to drag me back and force me to my knees.

I didn't stop. I didn't even look back.

He wanted me to beg. But Lamu Dawa never begs.

I was completely exhausted. I was entirely done.

I simply walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby.

The metal doors slid shut, permanently cutting off Cassian's furious shouting.