Bound By A Broken Night novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68

“Divorce her.”

Ashton’s voice sliced through the silence–low, deliberate, lethal.

Zandrie gave a short scoff, lifting his head to meet the other man’s icy stare.

“Why would I?”

“Because she deserves better,” Ashton shot back without hesitation.

Their gazes locked, the air between them tightening into something brutal and unyielding.

Zandrie shrugged, infuriatingly calm. “If she wants a divorce, that will be her decision. It won’t come from me.”

Ashton’s jaw clenched, restraint finally cracking.

“Are you even ashamed?” he demanded.

“Do you feel guilty at all? You cheated on her with her own sister. You betrayed her.”

Something dark flickered across Zandrie’s face.

“And you think you’re any better than me, CEO Pierce?” he asked coldly, his words ground out through clenched teeth.

“Have you forgotten what you did six years ago? Or do you just choose to ignore it?” He let out a sharp, humorless snort.

“You betrayed her too.”

Ashton didn’t flinch.

“The only betrayal I committed,” he said quietly, “was not believing her.”

His voice lowered, heavy but steady.

“And I don’t need to excuse myself by pretending otherwise. I never gave her false hope. I never let her believe she had me.” His gaze sharpened, unwavering.

“I was never with her. And she knew that.”

The room seemed to shrink around them, walls closing in under the weight of old sins and unresolved

truths.

“I have my reasons,” Zandrie said at last, breaking eye contact as he turned away.

“And I have mine,” Ashton replied coldly.

“But never would I let her believe in a fairytale just to crush it with my own feet.”

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Zandrie’s lips twitched.

“She knew from the start that what we have was never a fairytale,” he muttered flatly.

“She knew my reputation with women long before we got married.”

For a fleeting second, something unfamiliar flickered through his arrogance–something raw. Ashton caught it.

“She’s fine with it,” Zandrie added, shrugging casually, as if the words weighed nothing.

“And you let her live with your betrayal every single day?” Ashton’s voice hardened.

“As I’ve said,” Zandrie persisted, unmoved, “she was fine with it.”

“For six years, she never once mentioned divorce,” he continued with a low snicker.

“So why would I bring it up?” His mouth curved into an arrogant smirk.

“I won’t let her go unless she asks for it.”

Ashton stared at him, disbelief and disgust mixing in his expression.

“Are you even a man?” he muttered coldly.

Zandrie met his gaze again, this time with open challenge.

“If you were in my position,” he asked, “would you let Cassie go?”

He stepped closer, eyes narrowing.

“Whatever reasons you had for what you did in the past–they exist because you know Cassie too well. And that’s the same reason you’re trying to force your way back into her life now.”

A dangerous calm settled over him.

“We have the same motives, CEO Pierce.”

His stare hardened, unflinching beneath Ashton’s razor–sharp glare.

“And I will not let Cassie go–unless she asks for it herself.”

Ashton fell silent, but his gaze never wavered. It clashed with Zandrie’s once more, the two men locked in a wordless duel as the air in the empty suite grew thick and suffocating.

Then, after a long, loaded pause, Ashton spoke.

“Then I’ll make her.”

The words were quiet, but the resolve behind them was ironclad–unyielding.

“Six years ago,” he continued, his voice low and edged with grit, “I let her go.”

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His jaw clenched, the memory clearly still a wound that hadn’t healed.

“I prepared myself for whatever life she chose. I told myself I was ready to see her in another man’s arms, as his wife.”

His eyes darkened.

“But I expected her to be happy. To be cherished the way she deserves.”

He took a slow breath, as if steadying something volatile inside him.

“Seeing her like this,” he went on, “I won’t step back again. Her return-” his gaze sharpened, cutting straight through Zandrie, “-and the life you gave her… it gave me every reason I needed to force myself

back into her world.”

Ashton straightened, every trace of hesitation gone.

“And this time,” he said, voice dropping into a warning, “I will do whatever it takes to steal her away from you.”

The threat lingered in the room long after the words left his mouth–heavy and deliberate.

Their silent standoff was broken when the bedroom door opened.

Cassie stepped out, already dressed–composed, elegant, every inch the woman preparing to meet Madame Carina Pierce. The soft click of her heels against the floor cut cleanly through the charged air.

The moment her eyes landed on the two men, she felt it. The tension was thick–dangerous. Like a wire

stretched too tight.

Her gaze moved between them, sharp and assessing, instinctively reading the room.

“I’m ready to leave,” she said, her voice even as her eyes settled on Ashton.

“Great,” Ashton replied, forcing calm into his tone as he managed a restrained smile.

Cassie turned toward the door, then stopped–mid–step–as if something had just occurred to her.

“I’ll presume business will go as planned, Drie?” she asked, turning back to Zandrie.

He met her gaze, his expression unreadable, both hands tucked into his pockets.

“As planned,” he answered simply.

“See you at the party, then?” she asked, earnest but controlled.

“See you, Cassie,” Zandrie replied with a small nod.

That was all she needed.

Cassie turned and walked toward the door. Ashton followed immediately, but not before casting Zandrie a cold, warning glance over his shoulder.

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