The Bride He Never Wanted (Inner Series #1)

Prologue

The glass clinked softly against the counter.

Laughter echoed around the bar, music too loud, lights too bright for a man like me tonight.

My friend slid into the seat beside me, watching me like I’d been acting strange for weeks.

“You’ve been different lately,” he said, swirling his drink. “Not the usual Cassius.”

I didn’t look at him.

“People change,” I muttered.

He scoffed lightly. “You? No. You don’t change. You destroy things before they ever get the chance to change you.”

That made me smirk faintly—but there was no real humor in it.

Because he was wrong.

For the first time… something didn’t get destroyed.
Something stayed.

Virelle

Even without saying her name, she was already there again. Like she had taken space in my mind I couldn’t take back.

My friend noticed the silence.
“Don’t tell me it’s about a girl,” he said, half joking.

I finally looked at him.

And didn’t answer.
That was enough.

He leaned back, surprised. “Wait… you’re serious?”

I exhaled slowly.

“I’m done,” I said.

He blinked. “Done with what?”

“Everything.”

“You’re telling me you really stopped everything?” he asked, leaning back on the chair like he still couldn’t believe it.

I didn’t answer right away.

I just stared at the glass in my hand.

“Yeah,” I finally said.

He scoffed. “All of it? The deals, the runs, the—”

“The illegal stuff,” I cut him off, voice calm. Too calm. “Yeah. I’m done.”

A long silence followed. Like even he was trying to figure out if I’d lost my mind.

“You built an empire, Cassius,” he said slowly. “You don’t just walk away from that.”

I let out a short breath, almost a laugh—but there was no humor in it.

“I did,” I said. “Because I finally realized I was building it for nothing.”

He frowned. “Nothing?”

My grip tightened slightly. Virelle. Her name didn’t even need to be said out loud to take over my thoughts.

“I used to look for her everywhere,” I admitted, staring at the floor now. “In every crowd, every place I went… like she was still mine to find.”

My jaw tightened.

“But she wasn’t there.”

Silence again.

“I kept living like I could replace that emptiness with money, power, noise—anything,” I continued. “But none of it worked.”

I finally looked up at him.

“Then I realized… I don’t want that life anymore.”

He blinked. “So what now?”

I leaned back, exhaling slowly.