Bound By A Broken Night novel Chapter 21

“Cassidy?”

I stiffened at the sound of my name- that voice. My body froze, every muscle drawn taut, as if I’d been caught mid–breath.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe properly. My lungs seized while my heart slammed violently against my ribs.

It’s just your imagination, I told myself desperately. A trick of the mind.

There was no possible way someone could recognize me here, in a foreign land where I was meant to be invisible. Even less likely–someone I knew.

Someone I knew too well.

The business meeting had ended earlier than expected, leaving me with nothing but time—and a pressing urge to return home, to be with my son.

I had planned to return to the hotel and prepare for my flight later that night. Zandrie and his father chose to stay another evening, for reasons that didn’t need explaining. I understood them well enough. And I didn’t mind. I had long grown accustomed to Zandrie’s rendezvous.

But this?

Running into the last person I ever expected to see here felt like a heart attack waiting to happen.

“Cassidy.”

This time, there was no mistaking it. It was him.

A shadow fell over me–tall and unmistakable–its presence heavy, suffocating. The voice was closer now. Solid. Real. Terrifyingly familiar.

Trapped. I swallowed hard, my throat dry and tight, before slowly lifting my head.

And when I looked up, there was no escaping the truth staring back at me.

“So it is indeed you,” he said casually, as if he’d merely noticed a stain on his shoe.

Our gazes locked, but my mind went blank. Not even a simple greeting formed. Should I acknowledge him? Or ignore him the way he had ignored me three years ago–like I had never existed at all?

“So you came here after you left Bay City,” he added, sliding his hands into his pockets.

I stayed silent, scrambling for something–anything–to say.

“Yes,” I finally answered, my voice steadier than I felt. “I decided to try my luck away from Bay City.”

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+25 BONUS

I didn’t tell him the truth–that I was only here for a business meeting and would be flying out in a few hours. It was better if he believed I lived here now. Better if he thought I belonged somewhere far away from Bay City, more so Savannah City.

“And how is your luck going in this city?” he asked.

The question caught me off guard. Since when did he care about my life?

“Just fine.” I shrugged lightly, masking the frantic pounding of my heart.

I glanced around the restaurant, deliberately avoiding his gaze, silently hoping he’d take the hint and leave. I wanted nothing more than to order an early dinner and pretend this encounter had never happened.

He stayed quiet for a long moment.

I thought that was it—that he would walk away. That this strange, unwanted reunion would finally end. Three years had passed. There was nothing left between us. Nothing worth revisiting.

“You’re here for dinner too?” he said at last. “I’m looking for a seat. You don’t mind if I join you?”

Before I could respond, he moved to the opposite side of the table and sat down.

Uninvited. Unwelcome. And far too close.

Three years had passed, yet his effect on me remained cruelly unchanged. My heart still reacted to him the same way it always had–wild, reckless, betraying. I was terrified he could hear it, the violent pounding echoing everything I had tried so hard to bury.

But I couldn’t act like the lovesick girl I used to be the one who watched him from afar in Bay City, loving him in silence and shame. That girl no longer had the right to exist.

I couldn’t even bring myself to tell him that I wanted to eat in peace. That although his presence still unraveled me, I didn’t want to share the same space with him. Being near him was dangerous

to my heart, and to the secret I had protected for three long years.

“One medium, and medium–well for the lady.”

His voice–calm, effortless as he spoke to the waiter–pulled me back to the present.

I stared at him, my breath uneven. “What are you doing, Ashton?” I asked, forcing composure I

didn’t feel.

He had ordered the steak exactly the way I liked it. He remembered.

The realization sent a sharp, unwelcome flutter through my chest–and I hated it. Hated that something so small could spark hope where none should exist. What I’d felt for him had always been hopeless. Always one–sided. And yet here he was, acting as though time had stood still.

Chapter 22