The weight of the past never truly lifted from Cassian Roque Velarco's shoulders. It wasn't a burden he carried willingly; it was more of a presence— an uninvited guest that lingered in his mind and heart. The day she disappeared, he thought he had lost everything— his innocence, his heart, his soul. She had taken those pieces with her, leaving only fragments behind, scattered in the chambers of his memories. Yet, as time passed, the pieces of him that she had taken were never replaced. There were moments when he felt her absence so acutely that it almost consumed him. She had been the one to complete him, the one who understood him in ways no one else ever could.
But she was gone.
Cassian stood by the massive glass windows of his office, overlooking the sprawling city that he had built, watching the traffic below as it moved in a rhythmic dance— smooth, calculated, and predictable. The city had a pulse, a rhythm, just like his empire. Every decision he made, every move he took, was methodical, planned, precise. But none of it had ever felt as real as the love he had once shared with Isolde Maren Eloriaga.
The woman he had loved, and still loved, in secret.
He had often wondered, in the quiet moments, why she had disappeared. Why she had chosen to walk away from a future that seemed so perfect. Was it something he had done? A mistake he had made without realizing it? For years, those questions gnawed at him. He had searched for answers in the places he thought she would be, in the people who might know her, but there was no trace of her. It was as if she had vanished into thin air, like a dream that dissolved the moment he tried to hold onto it.
He had not understood. He had tried to move on. He had tried to forget her, and for a while, it seemed possible.
Until the day he married Selene Dae Navarro.
Selene had been his strategic partner, the woman who could help him solidify his empire's place at the top of the world. Their marriage had been one of convenience, a union forged out of practicality rather than love. She was everything the Velarco empire needed: poised, intelligent, business-minded. She was someone Cassian could trust to handle the complexities of the corporate world, someone who could stand beside him, a steady hand in an unpredictable landscape. She was dependable, and for a man like Cassian, dependability was important. He had never been the type to believe in fairy tales or idealized love. Life was too short for dreams.
But in the years that followed, as the empire expanded and Selene continued to fulfill her role as his wife and business partner, Cassian began to feel the weight of something unspoken. Something missing.
It wasn't Selene. She was everything he had expected her to be and more. But there was a part of him that longed for something deeper, something that went beyond strategy and cold logic. Something he had once felt with Isolde.
The thought was a betrayal. A betrayal of his marriage, of his duties, of his role as the head of the Velarco family. But that didn't make the ache in his chest disappear.
He had buried his feelings for Isolde, buried them deep, buried them under years of work, achievement, and success. But as time went on, those feelings refused to stay hidden. They resurfaced, gnawing at him like a persistent wound that refused to heal.
It was the last place he expected to find her— back in his life, standing before him as though the years had never passed.
Isolde Maren Eloriaga, the woman who had disappeared without a trace, had returned.
She came with an explanation that sent his world spinning. Her disappearance hadn't been her choice. It hadn't been something she wanted. There had been no closure, no final conversation, no apology. And for the first time since her sudden departure, Cassian had the answers he'd been seeking. The answers that seemed to unlock the door to the feelings he had buried for so long.
But her return also brought complications.
Selene was still in his life. The woman who had stood by him, who had shared his dreams and ambitions, was still there— unaware of the ghost from his past that had reappeared, uninvited, into their carefully constructed world.
The tension between the past and the present felt unbearable.
Isolde's eyes were the same, soft and filled with a quiet sadness that Cassian had never been able to forget. When she spoke, her voice was a melodic echo of everything he had once longed for. But her words were filled with regret, her explanation a mixture of sorrow and uncertainty.
"I never wanted to leave you, Cassian," she had said, her voice barely above a whisper, yet heavy with the weight of years lost. "But it wasn't my choice. I had no choice."
He wanted to believe her. He wanted to hold her, to erase the pain of their separation. But there was so much more at play now. There was the empire, there was Selene, there was the life he had built with her. Could he really risk everything for the woman he had once loved?
For a moment, as he looked into Isolde's eyes, he saw the woman he had once adored— soft, gentle, full of warmth and life. He saw the love they had shared, the quiet moments, the stolen glances, the laughter they had shared in the privacy of their own world.
But that world no longer existed. The Cassian Roque Velarco of the past had died the moment she walked away. And the man who stood before her now was different. He had changed. He was hardened, built on a foundation of steel and ambition, determined to make his empire the most powerful force in the world.
But as Isolde looked at him, her eyes filled with longing and regret, Cassian realized that the man he had become was no longer the man she had known. And as much as he wished to reach out to her, to pull her back into his life, he knew that doing so would unravel everything.
He had responsibilities now. He had a wife. He had Selene, who had stood by him, who had shared his vision, who had given him the stability he needed to build everything he had. Could he throw it all away for a love that was built on the ruins of the past?
The empire he had fought so hard to build seemed insignificant in comparison to the emotions that now swirled inside him. He was trapped in a maze of regret, guilt, and longing, torn between the woman who had quietly loved him all along and the woman who had been there through it all.
Selene was everything Cassian needed for his future. She was the perfect partner in every sense of the word. But was she the woman he truly wanted?
And Isolde— was she the one he was always meant to be with? Was their love a mere illusion of the past, or was there still something real, something worth fighting for?
Cassian's heart was torn in two, and no matter how much he tried to ignore it, the truth was clear: the love he had buried for Isolde had never truly died. It had been suppressed, hidden beneath years of ambition, but it still burned within him, a constant reminder of what he had lost.
And now, with Isolde back in his life, the question lingered— could he redeem himself? Could he rebuild the life he had once shared with her, or had time stolen too much from them?
But there were no easy answers. No simple solution. The future seemed impossibly uncertain, a fragile web of choices that could either tear apart everything he had built or rebuild something he had once dreamed of.
Cassian Roque Velarco stood at the crossroads of his life, caught between the woman who had quietly loved him and the woman who had been his rock. Between the past he could never let go of and the future that was still being written.
The woman who had captured his heart so completely all those years ago might be the one he was destined for, but the woman he had chosen to marry was still by his side, her presence a constant reminder of everything he had built.
Could time heal what had been broken? Could he redeem himself, or was it too late for any chance at love?
As the city stretched out before him, Cassian could only wonder: could he find a way to balance his past and present, or was he forever doomed to live in the shadow of the love he had lost?
The answers, it seemed, were still out of reach. But Cassian knew one thing for certain: the choices he made from this moment onward would determine the rest of his life.