Chapter 115 Distance
Grey
The silence that followed her father's text was deafening. I watched Cassie's face transform as she read the message, watched the color drain from her cheeks . Whatever her father wanted, it wasn't good news. The timing was too convenient, too perfectly orchestrated to be coincidence.
"What is it?" I asked, though part of me already knew I wouldn't like the answer.
She looked up at me, and for a moment, her guard was completely down. I saw fear there raw, unfiltered terror that made my chest constrict. But then, like a shutter slamming closed, her walls went back up.
"My father wants to see me. In Joburg" Her voice was flat, emotionless. "Immediately."
The word 'immediately' hit me like a physical blow. After everything we'd just been through, after I'd finally gotten her to listen, to understand that I hadn't betrayed her willingly—now this. Another force pulling her away from me, another complication in an already impossible situation.
"Cassie, you can't just..."
"Can't what?" She turned on me, and the fire in her eyes was back, burning brighter than before. "Can't respond when my father summons me? Can't prioritize my actual family over... whatever this is?"
The dismissive way she said 'whatever this is' cut deeper than any accusation of betrayal ever could. After everything I'd just told her, after laying my soul bare and confessing that I'd destroyed my entire relationship with my father for her, she was reducing us to 'whatever this is.'
"That's not what I meant," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I just think the timing is suspicious. First Jake, then my father's machinations, now your father wants to see you urgently? It feels orchestrated."
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Orchestrated. Right. Because everything in my life has to revolve around you and your family's games, doesn't it? God forbid my father might actually need me for something that has nothing to do with your drama."
"My drama?" The words exploded out of me before I could stop them. "My drama? I just told you that I've cut ties with my father,the man who raised me, who built the company that's been my entire life—because of what he did to you. I've lost everything, Cassie. My family, my career, my future. And you're calling it my drama?"
She took a step back, but her chin lifted defiantly. "I didn't ask you to do any of that. I didn't ask you to be my white knight, swooping in to save me from the big bad corporate conspiracy. Maybe if you'd been honest from the beginning Grey"
"Honest about what?" My control was slipping, months of guilt and self-recrimination boiling over into rage. "About knowing Jake from university? About the fact that we were in the same program fifteen years ago? What exactly should I have said, Cassie? 'Oh, by the way, I once knew your ex-fiancé, so obviously I must be part of some elaborate scheme to destroy you?'"
"Yes!" She shouted back, her composure finally cracking. "Yes, you should have told me! The moment you realized who Jake was, the moment you made the connection, you should have said something. But you didn't, did you? You kept it to yourself, just like you kept everything else to yourself. Just like you let me walk around like an idiot, falling for someone who was..."
"Who was what?" I stepped closer, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Go ahead, Cassie. Finish that sentence. Tell me what you really think I am."
Tears were streaming down her face now, but her voice remained steady. "Someone who was too much of a coward to tell me the truth. Someone who let me believe in something that was built on lies and omissions. Someone who made me feel safe while handing my enemies the keys to destroy me."
The accusation hit me like a physical blow, doubling me over with its accuracy and unfairness in equal measure. Because she was right—I had been a coward. I had made excuses for my omissions, had told myself they didn't matter because my feelings were real. But she was also wrong, so fundamentally wrong about my intentions that it made me want to scream.
"I love you," I said, my voice raw with desperation. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone or anything in my life. That has never been a lie. Not for a single second."
She wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and when she looked at me again, her eyes were empty. Resigned. "I know you do. That's what makes this so much worse."
The finality in her voice was a death knell. I felt something vital and necessary break inside my chest, a snap so audible I was surprised she couldn't hear it.
"Fine," I said, backing toward the door. "Go . Run to daddy every time life gets complicated.don't pretend this is about my dishonesty, Cassie. This is about you being too scared to fight for something real."
I regretted the words the moment they left my mouth, but it was too late. The damage was done. Her face went perfectly still, all emotion bleeding out of it until she looked like a marble statue.
"Get out," she whispered.
I wanted to take it back. I wanted to fall to my knees and beg her forgiveness. Instead, I turned and walked away, leaving her standing in her living room like a queen surveying a battlefield of her own making.
The next morning, I sat in my car outside her house at dawn, waiting for any sign of movement. When she finally emerged, dressed for work in a crisp navy suit that made her look untouchable, I wanted to get out, to run to her, to apologize...the set of her shoulders, the deliberate way she avoided looking in my direction, told me everything I needed to know.
She got in her car and drove away without a backward glance.
I followed at a distance, telling myself I was being protective, not obsessive. When she disappeared into her office building, I finally drove to my own or what used to be my own. The meetings were endless, a parade of lawyers and executives trying to untangle the mess I'd made by going to war with my father. By lunch, I was desperate to hear her voice, to find some way to bridge the messs between us thay I caused with my own stupidity and pride.
I called her office. Her assistant told me she was unavailable. I called her cell. Straight to voicemail.
"Cassie," I said after the beep, my voice cracking slightly. "I know you don't want to hear from me right now, but I need you to know that you were right. About everything. I should have told you about Jake the moment I realized who he was. I should have been more careful about what I shared with my father. I should have protected you better, been more aware of how my family operates. You were right to question my intentions, right to demand the truth. I'm sorry I made you feel like you were wrong for wanting honesty. I'm sorry for what I said about running to your father. I was hurt and angry, but that's no excuse. You deserve better than my wounded pride. You deserve better than me, probably, but I'm too selfish to let you go without a fight. I love you, Cassie. That's the one truth I'll never apologize for."
Even as I left the message, I knew it wasn't enough. Words had never been enough with us. It was actions that mattered, choices that counted. And all my choices had led us here, to this impossible distance between us...