Cadence POV:

I sat stiffly in the plush velvet chair, my face a blank mask. My fingers traced the condensation on a glass of ice water, the cold seeping into my skin. It was the only thing I could feel.

My mother, Joyce, had called me that morning, her anxiety a palpable hiss through the phone.

"Get rid of that usual expression," she warned. "You're meeting a powerful Alpha this time. You can't afford to offend him."

An Alpha. Again. The word left a sour taste in my mouth. I was sick of it. Sick of them. Now I was alone, waiting.

The door to the private room swung open.

A man walked in, and the air in the room instantly changed. He was tall, impossibly so, with a presence that seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the space. His black suit was tailored to perfection, fitting broad shoulders and a lean frame. Beneath a sweep of dark hair, his eyes were the color of ice and storm clouds.

His gaze flickered over the empty seat beside me before landing on me. It was a heavy look, deep and unreadable, and it made the fine hairs on my arms stand up.

He moved to the chair directly opposite mine and sat with a casual grace that was at odds with the raw power emanating from him. With a dismissive wave of his hand toward the hovering waiter, he spoke. His voice was calm, yet it held an undeniable command.

"Leave us. I'd like to speak with Miss Ruiz alone."

The waiter immediately scurried out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

Now it was just the two of us. The silence was thick with tension.

I decided to break it first. My voice came out colder than I intended. "Sir, are you the person I'm meeting on this blind date? I don't think we need to waste each other's time."

"Oh?" One of his dark eyebrows arched in amusement. He pulled a silver Zippo from his pocket, his long fingers flicking it open and closed with a series of sharp, rhythmic clicks. He didn't light it. "And why is that?"

The repetitive sound grated on my raw nerves, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. "I just ended a relationship. I have absolutely no interest in starting a new one. This meeting was my mother's idea, not mine."

I expected him to be annoyed, perhaps even insulted. Instead, a low chuckle rumbled in his chest. "That's a coincidence. I have no interest in a so-called 'relationship' either."

I stared at him, my carefully constructed defenses faltering. That was not the answer I expected.

He leaned forward, lacing his hands on the table. Those ice-gray eyes held a glint of something I couldn't decipher—was it amusement? Or something else entirely? "I require a partner in name only. Someone to satisfy the elders in my pack. And you, Miss Ruiz, you require a powerful ally to escape your current... predicament. Am I wrong?"

His words hit their mark with surgical precision. A cold dread washed over me. He knew. Somehow, he knew everything.

My posture stiffened. "You investigated me?"

"Understanding a potential partner is basic courtesy," he replied, his tone smooth and noncommittal. The Zippo clicked shut.

Silence descended again, but this time it was filled with the frantic whirring of my own thoughts. An escape. A way out from under Karter's shadow, from my mother's suffocating control. This man, this powerful, unnerving Alpha, was offering me a lifeline.

It was a dangerous, reckless idea.

I bit down on my lower lip, the small pain grounding me. I made a decision. A bold one.

"Alright," I said, my voice steady now. "But I have conditions."

He gestured with one hand, a silent 'go on,' his eyes watching me with an unnerving intensity.

"I propose a one-year partnership agreement," I stated, the words feeling foreign and powerful on my tongue. "For the duration of the contract, we live separate lives. We do not interfere with each other's personal affairs. We only play the part of a devoted couple when absolutely necessary."

I took a breath, steeling myself. "After one year, the contract is terminated. We part ways, no strings attached. In return, I need your backing. I need your power to help me take back what is mine."

I braced myself for him to laugh, to negotiate, to call me delusional.

But Kane Reynolds just stared at me for a long, silent moment. Then, a slow, enigmatic smile spread across his lips. It didn't quite reach his eyes, but it held a strange sort of satisfaction.

"Done," he said.

He agreed so quickly it felt unreal. It threw me off balance.

He pushed his chair back and stood, towering over me. "Let's go take care of it now."

My head snapped up. "Now?"

"I like efficiency." He extended his hand to me. "City Hall. We can have it done in fifteen minutes."

I stared at his outstretched hand. His palm was broad, his fingers long. This was madness. Utter madness.

But it was also my only way out.

After a moment that stretched into an eternity, I placed my hand in his. His skin was warm and dry, his grip firm, pulling me to my feet with a strength that left no room for argument.

We didn't speak on the ride over. The world outside the tinted windows of his car blurred into a meaningless stream of light and color.

At the cold, sterile counter of the City Hall clerk's office, the world came back into sharp focus. The thud of the official stamp was deafening in the quiet room.

The clerk, a woman with tired eyes, slid a piece of paper across the counter. A marriage certificate.

My eyes found his name printed next to mine: Kane Reynolds.

As of this moment, he was my husband. My legal, lawfully-wedded husband.

Cadence POV:

The door of the Bentley closed with a soft, expensive thud, sealing me inside with my new husband. I clutched the marriage certificate in my hand, the paper already starting to crinkle from the force of my grip.

I stared out the window, watching the city lights smear across the glass as we moved. None of it felt real. The party, the betrayal, the man sitting beside me.

Kane didn't start the car immediately. Instead, he held out a brand-new, sleek black phone. "Your contact information."

I took it from him. The screen lit up, showing a single contact already saved.

'Husband'.

A strange heat crept up my neck, warming the tips of my ears. I quickly keyed in my number, my fingers feeling clumsy and foreign on the smooth glass.

Then, I took a deep breath. It was time to start cutting the strings.

With the new phone pressed to my ear, I dialed Karter's number. It rang for a long time. When he finally answered, the background was filled with the noise of the party, of Bridgette's high-pitched laughter.

"Cadence?" Karter's voice was impatient, annoyed. "What new drama are you trying to start now?"

The casual cruelty of his words was a sharp jab to my already bruised heart. But a layer of ice was forming over the wound.

"Karter," I said, my voice flat and even. "I'm calling to officially inform you, for the last time, that we are over. Completely."

A humorless laugh crackled through the line. "Are you tired of this game already? Just stop with the theatrics and come back." He was so certain. So arrogant. He couldn't imagine a world where I didn't belong to him.

I didn't argue. I didn't say another word.

I ended the call and blocked his number. The series of taps on the screen felt final. Cleansing.

Kane had been watching me the entire time, his silence a heavy presence in the car. When I looked up, I saw a flicker of something that looked like approval in his ice-gray eyes.

My next call was to my mother.

I didn't waste time with pleasantries. "Mother, I just finished the blind date you arranged.Now, I want back what is rightfully mine, the property left to me in my father's will, the Seraphina Grand Hotel."

The silence on the other end of the line was profound. I could almost picture her face, the shock warring with disbelief.

"What are you talking about?" her voice finally came, sharp and shrill. "The Seraphina Grand Hotel was left to the family!"

A cold smile touched my lips. "The will is very clear. The hotel's penthouse and fifty-one percent of the shares are to be transferred to me upon my twenty-third birthday.You've been hiding it from me all along, telling me to keep going on blind dates. Alright, now I'll do as you say. "

I turned to the man beside me and spoke into the phone with a threatening tone, "Or should I just reject this blind date outright?"

Silence fell. I could hear the gears in her head spinning rapidly, her mind racing with calculations; it seemed her mother really valued this blind date.

"Fine," she finally bit out, the word dripping with resentment. "I agree."

Hanging up, I felt a wave of exhaustion wash over me. It felt like I had just fought a war.

Kane finally started the engine, the car gliding silently into the flow of traffic. "Home?" he asked, his voice a low rumble.

"No," I shook my head, my own voice hoarse. "Take me to my... to the apartment I was staying at. I need to get my things."

We pulled up in front of the luxury apartment building Karter had provided for me. My gilded cage.

Before I could get out, Kane's voice stopped me. "Cadence."

I turned. He was holding out a slim, black credit card. "No limit. As my 'partner,' you will not want for anything."

I stared at the card. It felt heavy in my hand, a tangible symbol of this bizarre new reality. My pride bristled, but my pragmatism won. I needed resources. I needed independence.

"Thank you," I murmured, my voice barely a whisper.

Then I got out of the car, and without looking back, I walked into the building that held all the ghosts of my past.