Clara let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Older than me? I think you need to go back to grade school," she sneered, her eyes scanning the oversized black shirt Nova was wearing.
Her expression twisted with jealous rage. "That is Cassian’s favorite shirt! Do you even have the slightest idea how much he spent on that one piece of clothing you are wearing so carelessly? You really know how to make yourself comfortable in someone else’s home, don’t you!" she shrieked.
Nova casually dropped her fork on the plate with a sharp clink. She rested her chin in her palm, staring up at Clara with unbothered expression.
"If it weren’t for the fact that you currently pose no threat to me, I would love to borrow your head right now and never return it," Nova mused internally, a harmless, sweet smile playing on her lips.
"To disappoint you," Nova continued, her voice smooth and completely calm, "this shirt is now mine. And guess what? Not just this one shirt. All of his clothes are mine too. What belongs to him is mine, and what is mine remains mine. Don’t be too surprised later when you see me wearing the rest of his wardrobe." She stared fixedly into Clara’s eyes, unblinking.
Clara’s breath heavily. She stared at the girl in disbelief. "Very well... you have quite the sharp tongue, don’t you? You just wait," she hissed, digging her phone out of her pink handbag and dialed a number.
The line rang for a very long time. Finally, the call connected. Clara immediately switched on the speakerphone so Nova could hear, her voice instantly softening into a pitiful tone.
"Hello, Cassian..." Clara called, glaring at Nova while trying to sound deeply wronged. "I’m at your house right now with the purest intentions. I even brought you breakfast! But I met this random... lady here. Not only is she wearing your favorite shirt, but she also insulted me!"
A long, heavy silence follow, over the line. Clara pulled the phone away, checking the screen, convinced the call had disconnected. But the timer was still ticking.
"Hello? Cassian?" she called softly.
"My apologies, Miss Clara," a pissed, unfamiliar male voice echoed through the speaker. "The Boss is not available right now. Furthermore, please stop calling this line. This is not the Boss’s personal number."
Click.
The call disconnected instantly. A low, mocking smile curled the edges of Nova’s lips.
Clara’s face burned with a violent shade of red. Humiliated, she jabbed her finger against the screen, redialing the number. It rang repeatedly, but no one answered.
Desperate, she tried a third time, but the call failed to go through at all. The person on the other end had clearly blocked her.
Clara’s fists clenched at her sides. Hot tears of embarrassment welled up in her eyes as her grip on the phone tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Nova let out a light chuckle. "Not bad... I can certainly see how close you are with Cassian," she mocked, skillfully concealing the icy undertone in her voice.
Pushing her chair back, Nova stood up. She took a slow, deliberate step toward Clara, though she maintained a careful distance—mostly to avoid the blindingly colorful dress Clara wore.
"Warning people isn’t usually my style," Nova murmured, tilting her head. "But let me make this very clear for you. I already have both of my eyes set on Cassian. Whether he wants it or not, he can only be mine, and no one else’s. Do not let me catch you near him ever again."
Her tone dropped, turning into a deadly, bone-chilling. In that fleeting second, she looked nothing like the angelic girl from moments before. She looked like a demon crawling out of the abyss. "Otherwise... you will find yourself questioning your creator about the very reason for your existence."
"If it weren’t for the active cameras, and the fact that I don’t want to scare my big guy away just yet, you’d already be missing an entire arm as a warning," Nova thought coldly.
Clara stumbled backward, her entire body freezing in terror. Just looking into Nova’s glowing blue eyes sent a violent shiver down her spine. She swallowed hard, unable to breathe.
Just as quickly as the suffocating aura appeared, it vanished. Nova smiled brightly, looking entirely harmless again. "Cassian isn’t home right now. Would you like to entertain me instead? If so, you’ll need to change that dress of yours to black. Or..." Her wicked smile returned. "your blood’s colour."
Clara almost lost her footing. She shook her head in terror. "I’m leaving... I’m... leaving right now!" she stuttered, turning on her heel and fleeing the dining room as if her life depended on it. She wasn’t willing to spend another second in the same room as that monster.
Nova’s gaze turned cold as Clara was completely out of sight. She slowly shifted her eyes toward Sonnie, who was still standing by the table with her head a little bowed, silently watching the entire scene unfold.
A sudden chill raced down Sonnie’s back, but she didn’t dare lift her head. "There it is again. I feel like she knows I set this up. Or...am I just overthinking things?" Sonnie panicked inwardly, her knees physically trembling beneath her skirt.
Nova turned away, suddenly losing her appetite. "I’ll take a stroll outside," she announced casually, walking out of the dining room without sparing another glance at Sonnie.
......
Meanwhile, miles away in a large corporate office, Cassian sat comfortably in his leather executive chair. His elbow rested on the desk, his dark eyes locked onto the computer monitor. He had been watching the live CCTV footage from his dining room the entire time.
A low, amused smile tucked at the corner of his lips. His free hand tapped a slow, rhythmic beat against the table.
Standing beside him was Venom, Cassian assistant, a young man with sharp blonde hair, who was also watching the entire scene. Venom’s expression, however, was highly complicated.
"Cassian, I really don’t think she is the innocent little lamb you claim her to be," Venom warned, his eyes narrowed at the screen.
Cassian chuckled deeply. "She is. Just a little wild, that’s all."
His mind shift back to the previous night—how she had hopped into his room so bizarrely, her bold claim of merely "borrowing" his bathroom, and how seamlessly she transitioned into a gentle, defenseless girl. Just the memory of it made his smile widen.
Venom stared at his boss, shaking his head in disbelief. "You can’t just throw caution to the wind because you’re interested in this girl. She gives off heavy spy vibes. You need to investigate her properly, at least for your own safety," he urged.
"Venom," Cassian warned, his voice instantly dropping its warmth.
"Boss," Venom responded respectfully, bowing his head.
"I am not just interested in her," Cassian corrected, a dark, possessive gleam returning to his eyes. He let out a low chuckle. "I love her."
He reached across the desk, picking up a thick brown folder. "As for the investigation... it’s already done."
He flipped the file open, scanning the freshly printed pages. As he read the contents, the amusement drained entirely from his face, replaced by a terrifying, pitch-black expression.
"She was actually sold to the underground bar," Cassian revealed, his voice freezing the air in the room. "And it was perfectly done by her own biological sister."
Venom gasped softly, stepping forward to take the file from Cassian’s extended hand. He scanned the sickening details, momentarily tongue-tied. He looked up at his boss. "This... this is unbelievable. What are you going to do now?"
Cassian leaned back in his chair, a cold, dangerous smirk playing on his lips as his eyes flicked back to laptop screen showing Nova walking through his garden.
"Let’s ask my little lamb first," he murmured smoothly. "Even though she has amnesia right now, those people will undoubtedly come looking for her eventually. We will be waiting."
"Also.... handle the three dead men, make it clean"
"Yes"