Cassandra Without the Dress
Chapter 09 - Cassandra Without the Dress
Cassandra was released under supervision while prosecutors reviewed her role.
She returned the wedding gown to the designer.
The designer refused it because oil stained the hem where she stepped near the ring.
Photographs of the stain became a tabloid obsession.
Grease and Gold, one headline declared.
Mason disliked the phrase.
It turned class conflict into fashion.
Cassandra requested a final private meeting at Reed & Sons.
She arrived in jeans and a plain sweater, as if simpler clothing could prove sincerity.
“I did love you,” she said.
“I believe part of you did.”
“Then why won’t you let me explain?”
“Explanation is not access.”
She admitted knowing Richard wanted the ring and the marriage agreement. She claimed she did not know about the fire.
Mason believed that too.
“You knew the agreement gave your family my work, my name, and anything I inherited.”
“I thought we would share it.”
“Your signature gave you authority. Mine was supposed to be obtained while I was surrounded by guests.”
Cassandra looked at the motorcycles.
“I was raised to think control was security.”
“So was I, in a different way. I was raised to believe having nothing meant no one could take anything else.”
They had both inherited fear.
Only one had used it to coerce the other.
Cassandra placed the replacement wedding band on the counter. It was platinum and covered in diamonds—the ring she had intended Mason to wear after the ceremony.
He did not touch it.
“The simple gold ring was never beneath you,” he said. “I was.”
Cassandra left without asking again.
Mason waited until the door closed before allowing himself to grieve.
Cassandra’s plain sweater at the final meeting had been chosen by a public-relations adviser.
Mason learned this later from discovery records.
The adviser recommended no jewelry, minimal makeup, and visible regret.
The knowledge did not prove Cassandra felt nothing.
It showed even apology had been managed as appearance.
Mason became cautious about reading morality from clothing in either direction.
A white wedding dress did not make innocence.
Grease did not make honesty.
May you like
A plain sweater did not prove remorse.
Conduct remained the only reliable center.
