Cixi woke up around ten in the morning.
The first thing she did was reach for her phone. She tapped the dark screen, searching for any new notifications, specifically a reply from Cassian regarding her text. The screen remained blank.
A sharp pang of disappointnt hit her chest.
She berated herself in her head. Why was she thinking about him first? The rules were clear. She needed to make him fall in love. She needed to manipulate his mind so that she would beco the first thing he thought of when he woke up and the very last thing he thought of before he closed his eyes, not the other way around.
She had never been in a relationship. Her practical knowledge of romance was zero. After watching a trafficking docuntary, the algorithm had fed her true cri videos, detailing how many won had been murdered by their ex-boyfriends or husbands simply because they had broken up with them.
It was not that Cixi thought all relationships were bad. But after being bullied in college and navigating a toxic boss, she had zero faith in her own fate. Life was never going to magically drop a boyfriend into her lap, filling her days with flowers and sunshine.
Look at what fate had actually handed her. She now had to make a man fall in love with her who had known countless beautiful, wealthy won. A man who happened to be a mafia lord. A man who killed people for whatever reason suited his mood.
And what could she possibly offer him, when won far smarter and more successful than she was had failed to hold his attention? They had simply been forgotten by him after a week spent at his side. Ironically, he had completely forgotten her too, right after their first kiss.
Arse!
And she could not forget that he had already caught her in lies.
She could not present herself as a shy, innocent virgin in front of a man who was a master in the bedroom. He likely preferred those who were experienced and knew how to truly satisfy a man.
She rolled onto one side.
Her life felt like a dark parody of a cliché children’s book where true love’s kiss lasted forever and granted a happily ever after.
In her brutal reality, a single kiss had quite literally cursed her to the Cassian Crown.
And hypothetically, if she succeeded—if she made him fall in love, broke the Reaper’s curse, and then dumped him—what would he do? He would kill her, exactly like the psychos in those true-cri docuntaries.
Cassian was not a simple, eccentric billionaire. He was the Devil. Normal, ordinary people ran away from n like him, whereas she needed to crash straight into him.
Her life had turned into a total tragedy.
She sighed and then lay on her back beneath the blanket, staring blankly at the white ceiling with the phone clutched in her hand.
Another dark thought shoved its way into her mind.
Cixi’s mood plumted even further as Andi’s smug face flashed before her eyes.
Andi from the club. The man who had told her he possessed a deepfake pornographic video of her, along with his circle of friends.
Her morning instantly turned pitch-black. A freezing chill dragged its way over her skin.
Even the sleazy man in the Crown Hotel lobby had recognised her from that video.
If her na were officially attached to Cassian Crown, her face would be plastered across magazines and blogs. It would only be a matter of ti before soone among the masses recognised her, dug up the deepfake video, and sent it viral.
What would Cassian do then? His reputation would be ruined by his association with her. He would definitely kill her without a second thought.
The ex-Empress Reaper had been right. Catching his soul was nowhere near as easy as it sounded.
She needed to deal with the video imdiately. She had to talk to Officer Bill.
Bringing her focus back to the phone screen, she swiped to his contact and hit dial.
"Officer Bill! Can we et today? Lunch?" she rushed out the mont the line connected.
A chewing sound ca through the speaker. Bill was eating a doughnut. "No pleasantries? Just a direct demand for lunch?" he grumbled.
"Good morning. Lunch?" Cixi repeated flatly.
She could practically hear Bill shaking his head through the earpiece.
"If this is about Cassian Crown—"
"No," Cixi interrupted cleanly. "It is about the video."
A heavy second of silence filled the connection between them before Bill swallowed his food. "One o’clock. At Augustin."
"Agreed," Cixi said, then disconnected the call.
Without pausing, she dialled Marion’s number next. She knew her friend would be awake, probably surviving on a severe lack of sleep.
"Cixi!" Marion yawned loudly, not bothering to hide her exhaustion. "Did you not sleep either ?"
"No, I slept. But I need to talk to you urgently. Can I co over to your place?" Cixi asked. She knew Marion could not easily leave the house. After Martin had allowed her to spend the whole night out, he would throw a fit if Marion left the children again the very next day.
"Sure. What ti are you planning to co?" Marion agreed instantly. She could hear the distinct sound of distress bleeding into Cixi’s voice. Was it about her dangerously handso mafia fiancé? Marion wisely kept the thought to herself. She would interrogate her friend in person.
"Any ti works for after three."
"Co whenever you feel like it. I am ho with the children."
"Thanks, Marion. See you soon."
"Anyti, Cixi."
The line went dead.
Cixi pulled the phone away from her ear and checked her ssages one last ti.
Nothing. Not a single text from Cassian.
She locked the screen and tossed the device onto the mattress. She refused to sit around waiting for his ssage. But her literal soul was on the line, and the Reaper had taken away every other choice she had, unless she wanted to spend eternity talking to the dead.
An involuntary shiver ran down her spine at the re thought of wandering as a ghost again.
No, she thought grimly, throwing the blanket off her legs. Cassian Crown was a better option than ghosts.
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