Page 113 of One of Those Amnesia Stories

I slowly turned my head back toward her. “We’re discussing heaters. Do you have a hearing problem now?”

Her jaw clenched so tightly I could hear her teeth grind.

“I hate you so fucking much.”

I tilted my head, studying her with genuine curiosity. “What is this really about, Cassandra? Be honest. You can’t actually be standing here, screaming on a sidewalk, over Cassian.”

I paused.

“I mean… him? What even is his personality?”

I’d spent a whole week in the same house and still couldn’t pin it down.

A smug, superior smile spread across her face.

“You’d never understand what we have. It’s so far above you, you couldn’t even comprehend it.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. “My dad even named me Cassandra to match his name. To show the world how meant to be we are.”

I blinked. “Then he fucked up, because those two names together sound like siblings.”

Her eyes widened in horror.

Then her expression twisted with pure rage, and she launched herself at me. “You fucking—”

I didn’t move.

Naija did.

In one fluid motion, she caught Cassandra’s wrist mid-swing and twisted it sharply. Cassandra cried out, a sharp gasp of pain escaping her.

“Boss doesn’t keep me around just for my filing skills,” Naija said calmly.

She gave Cassandra’s wrist one final warning twist before releasing her. Cassandra stumbled backward, clutching it to her chest.

Naija and I turned toward the car.

Then Cassandra laughed behind us.

“How does it feel to be unwanted, Alessia?”

My feet stopped.

Her laughter continued, brittle and sharp. “I had to see it for myself. The great Alessia Quinn. You had everything—his name, his ring, his home—and you still couldn’t make him stay.”

I said nothing.

“All that planning. All that effort.” Her voice tumbled out faster with every word. “Throwing a party he’d rather miss. Giving him all the attention he’d rather avoid. Even the convenient accident…”

My stomach tightened.

“And he still discarded you. The moment he could walk away, he did. He signed the papers without a second glance.” She paused, her lips curling into a sneer. “He didn’t want you, Alessia. He never did.”

Naija tensed and started to turn, but I moved first.

I walked straight toward Cassandra until I was standing directly in front of her, close enough to see the triumph glittering in her eyes.

“Did you ever bother to research me?”

Surprise flickered across her face, quickly followed by confusion.