If I’d ever wondered exactly how much he meant to me, I knew now.
“Here we are.” Arlo indicated towards a door. “I’ve paid for the best private treatment possible. You can go in, talk to him. The doctors say it helps to hear familiar voices, and I’m sure yours will be the one he most wants to hear.
I entered the room, my eyes going straight to the bed where my boyfriend lay, all sorts of tubes and machines surrounding him.
“Caiden,” I whispered, my lip trembling as I took in his still form. I collapsed into the chair next to his bed, gently threading my fingers through his, careful not to disturb anything. The only thing that helped me keep it together was the machine showing his steady heartbeat. Proof he was alive and he was going to come back to me.
I bent my head to whisper in his ear. “I love you. So, so much. Wake up for me, please, Caiden.” I brought my free hand up to run it through his hair, the strands soft under my fingers. I ran it over the scratchy stubble on his jaw, every touch feeling like a privilege after coming so close to losing him.
“He’s going to be okay.” At Weston’s voice, I turned, to see him, Cassius, and Zayde grouped around the end of the bed. I hadn’t even been aware of them; my entire focus had been on Caiden.
“What happened?”
Over the next few hours, we discussed and analysed what had happened, and the boys each took turns to fill in the blanks. Cassius and Weston had managed to get Jessa away from Petr. While they were doing that, Zayde had taken out another one of Christine’s men. Hyde Senior had managed to escape during the chaos, Joseph in tow, but Arlo apparently had a plan to pin some stuff on him that would get him locked away.
I listened carefully, asking questions when I needed clarification, Christine’s words about the death of Caiden and Weston’s mum coming back to me. It didn’t appear that Weston had heard her—too far away and too busy with Jessa and Petr to pay attention. I was so thankful—he deserved better than to hear the news second-hand from her, and I knew Caiden wanted to tell him in his own time.
The gunshots I’d heard? Petr had a gun, and I gathered from what Arlo had told me that he had been the one to shoot Allan, as well as shooting at the boys. Mack had made it there at the same time as the ambulance, and he’d been the one to organise the clean-up while the rest of us were en route to the hospital.
Caiden had been lucky. The bullet had struck his abdomen, but miraculously there was no major damage. He’d passed out from the blood loss, but the doctors weren’t worried—they were confident he was going to make a full recovery. When I’d been panicking, thinking the worst, he’d still had a pulse, but it must have been too faint for me to feel.
I never, ever wanted to go through that again.
Once I was completely up to date, the room fell silent.
“It’s really over, isn’t it?” I said at last. “After all this time.”
“At last.” Cassius gave me a small smile.
“Yeah.” The hoarse, scratchy word from behind me had me spinning around, as something happened that I’d thought only happened in movies.
Stormy eyes met mine, and Caiden’s lips curved into a smile.
My heart jumped, and tears of utter relief and joy filled my eyes as his fingers curled around mine. He winced, staring down at the dressing covering his wound, as the memories rushed back to him.
“Christine?”
“Gone,” I told him, and he looked at me, his gaze searching.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, running my thumb over the back of his hand, and leaned down to kiss him softly. “I’m okay. You…you got shot because of me.” My lips trembled, and the tears that were filling my eyes spilled down my cheeks. When I thought about how close I’d come to losing him…I choked back a sob, desperately trying to hold it together.
His grip on my hand loosened, and he reached up to brush my tears away. “I told you I’d take a bullet for you, baby.” He held my gaze, his voice lowering to a croaky whisper. “I’d do anything for you.”
“Please don’t get shot again.”
That smirk I loved so much played across his lips. “I’m not planning on it.”
“Cade.” I smiled through my tears as I stared down at the man who owned my whole heart. “I love you so much.”
The depth of the love I felt for him was reflected in his eyes, shining out of him, taking my breath away.
He tugged me closer.
“It’s over now. But you and me? We’re just beginning.”
EPILOGUE 1