Chapter 12
Johansen told himself he didn’t need Cassandra.
He told himself it was her loss–that one day she’d regret leaving him. That she’d crawl back broken and begging, and only then would he consider forgiving her.
But the days passed. Then the weeks.
And something inside him began to unravel.
It started with the small things.
He couldn’t find his planner.
Couldn’t remember his meeting times.
His suits weren’t pressed the way he liked, and the staff at home seemed clueless, like the order Cassandra once brought with her had been erased with her absence.
The house felt colder. Larger. Like a hollow shell of everything it used to be.
Cassandra used to make everything flow–smooth, seamless. His days had structure, his nights comfort. Her hands kept his life together in ways he didn’t even realize until they were gone.
And then there was Maureen.
She had her charms–pretty, poised, always polished–but she wasn’t Cassandra. She didn’t know how he liked his tea, or how to calm him down after a rough day. She didn’t understand the silence between conversations, or the way he preferred his books arranged by theme, not alphabetically.
She didn’t fit.
One morning, he snapped.
“The house is a mess,” he muttered angrily, shuffling through papers in his office.
Maureen, lounging on the couch in a silk robe, raised a brow. “Then hire a maid.”
‘I had order when Cassandra was here.”
Maureen’s expression shifted. “So that’s it again. Her.”
Johansen slammed the drawer shut. “I’m just saying she managed things better.”
Maureen stood now. “Are you seriously still thinking about her?”
‘Yes,” he said, voice clipped. “Because unlike you, she didn’t just sit here with her makeup and ner diamonds and expect the world to cater to her.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”
‘She knew me. She actually cared.”
Maureen’s face twisted with rage. “So you were in love with her all this time?! Is that what this was? Was I just your backup plan?”
1-” Johansen hesitated. “I thought I could forget her. But I can’t.”
‘You bastard,” Maureen hissed. “I was there when she left you. I picked you up when you were drunk out of your mind. I stayed! And you’re saying I’m nothing?!”
‘You are nothing compared to her!” Johansen roared.
1:58 pm M MMG.
The slap echoed across the room like a gunshot.
Maureen staggered back, hand to her cheek, stunned. Her eyes filled with tears–not just from >ain, but from the realization that no matter what she did, she would never be enough.
This is your fault,” Johansen said through gritted teeth. “You forced me to marry you. You hreatened me. You knew I loved her.”
Maureen looked down–and gasped.
Blood.
A small, dark stain was spreading on her nightgown.
She clutched her abdomen in horror. “J–Johansen…”
His rage disappeared in an instant, replaced by panic. “Maureen?”
She collapsed into his arms.
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and regret.
Johansen sat outside the emergency room, blood still staining his shirt. The guilt clung to him, sharper now than ever. Maureen had lost a lot of blood. The doctors were still running tests. He had no idea what had happened–or if it was his fault.
He didn’t want to think about that.
But his phone rang.
Another investor.
Another withdrawal.
His company was crumbling.
He’d tried to hold on, tried to wait for Cassandra to come back on her own.
But she wouldn’t.
She was never coming back.
He had to act.
He knew where she would be–there was only one place that still felt like home to her.
Her mother’s estate.
But before he could move, another call came through.
His grandfather, so he had to go there.
His grandfather’s estate was as imposing as ever–large, cold, and suffocating with silence. He had barely stepped inside when the old man stormed down the stairs, cane forgotten in his fury.
SLAP.
The sound rang across the marble foyer. Johansen flinched.
“Is it true?!” his grandfather demanded, voice trembling with rage. “You married Maureen? Lied to everyone that you were married to Cassandra?! Is this what my legacy has become?!”
Johansen remained frozen, stunned into silence.
“I put my trust in you. I gave you the business, the name, the responsibility–and you spat on it!” His grandfather’s eyes burned into him. “You used a fake marriage to boost your image. You led
Chapter 12
3:58 pm MMMG
Cassandra on. And now? Investors are pulling out because of your mess.”
Johansen swallowed hard. “I… I didn’t mean-”
“Don’t insult me with your excuses,” the old man snapped. “You never deserved her.”
That line landed like a punch to the gut.
He didn’t reply. He couldn’t.
Because maybe, just maybe… it was true.
He didn’t deserve Cassandra. But he wanted her.
And he would do anything now to get her back. Even if the whole world had to burn.
