Keep my daughter alive.
Nothing else mattered.
No one else mattered.
Chapter Ten
The lights in the hospital were too bright and hard, glaring down on her as Cassidy lay on the operating table. She wasn’t shaking anymore. That was good, right? She was sure trying to take it as a good sign. The violent tremors had rocked her for so long, and she’d been terribly afraid.
I don’t want to die.
There were too many things that she wanted to do in this world. Death wasn’t an option.
Please, don’t be an option.
An IV fed into her wrist, she wasn’t sure why, and there was a circle of doctors around her.
“Cale?” She needed him to be there with her. Her head turned a little to the right.
And she saw that he was. Stepping quickly to her side. Sliding his hand over her cheek.
The heartbeat that had begun to race slowed down. The beeping machines quieted a bit.
“They’re almost finished stitching you back up,” he told her.
It seemed like every time she turned around, she was getting stitched up—or he was. Couldn’t they manage to go a few hours without injury?
But Cassidy didn’t want to think about stitches or wounds then. She could feel the slight pressure on her, but she didn’t try to look over at the doctors.
She kept her eyes on Cale.
Genevieve is dead. A hollow ache filled her chest. She’d lost someone else that she cared about. Sometimes she felt like she was cursed. Always meant to be on her own.
Genevieve had deserved better than to die because she knew Cassidy.
I should have gone to her. As soon as Genevieve had called her, Cassidy should have run to her.
But she hadn’t.
She’d been too busy keeping her secrets. How many lives would her secrets cost?
“Th-the other agent,” Cassidy whispered as worry pulsed through her. “Drew Lancaster. How is he?” Be alive, be—
“Lancaster’s fine. It takes more than a bullet to stop him.”
But one slice of a knife had almost taken her out.
“Cass.” He breathed her name like a caress. “What happened to your hands? Your knees?”
She tried to smile for him. “I jumped out of the van.”
His eyes widened.
The pressure on her wound finally stopped. Cassidy pulled in a deep breath. “Get me out of here,” she whispered to Cale. “Please, just get me away from here.” Away from the death. Away from those bright white walls. Away from the nightmares that just wouldn’t stop.
Cale stared into her eyes, then, after a brief moment, he nodded.
Thank you.