Aidan waited until the doctor and nurse stepped out of the room, then he was in front of her. Cassie sat without her shirt on, a small bandage on her side, her feet dangling off the hospital bed.
She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Like you said, just a graze.”
He growled. “You shouldn’t have been anywhere near a flying bullet.”
“Well, lucky for us, it’s barely a flesh wound. In fact, the doctor said the field dressing you did on the wound probably would have been enough until we got to Cradle Mountain, since it had already stopped bleeding.”
“It could have been worse.” A lot fucking worse. “I’m going to have nightmares about that bullet.”
She cupped his cheek. “I’m okay.”
He grabbed her hips and stepped closer, lowering his lips to hover over hers. “Thank God.”
He kissed her. And when they separated, she sighed. “I’m ready to go home now.”
His body tensed. “Home?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. I should have said your home.”
His heart started beating again. “Our home.” Honestly, home had never been a place for him. It was anywhere she was. That’s why he’d been so lost these last few years. “We can go now.”
The second the last man had fallen today—the man who shot Cassie—Aidan had called Detective Shaw. He’d shown up within the hour and taken charge of the scene, while also calling authorities he trusted and directing them to the gas station.
Elijah had been smart to use outside contractors—and it pissed Aidan off. He was still counting on there being some sort of money trail that led back to the cult leader. If there wasn’t…
Fuck. He couldn’t think about that.
Cassie had been offered an ambulance, but Aidan insisted on driving her. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
He’d hated every second of the drive to the nearest hospital, watching his rearview the entire way. He still had no damn clue how the men had found them at the gas station. There’d been no trace of anyone following. And they were too well-trained not to spot a tail, even if it consisted of professionals.
A knock came at the door. Cassie quickly tugged on a top as Aidan called out.
The door opened and Tyler stepped in, followed by Callum, both looking far from happy. “We need to go. A car just pulled up at the front entrance—and they don’t look friendly.”
Aidan frowned. “Who?”
“Didn’t recognize them as members of Paragons of Hope,” Callum said. “Could be more outside contractors.”
Goddammit! There was no way Aidan wanted to hang around and find out. Yes, he could take the assholes, but Cassie had been through enough. And who knew how many guns Elijah had hired. The guy seemed to have endless resources.
“Before we go, we need to figure out how they keep tracking us,” Aidan said quietly. He turned to Cassie. “Do you have anything on you that Elijah gave to you?”
Her eyes widened and she shook her head. “No.”
“Nothing that came from anyone at Paragons of Hope? Even Damien?” Callum asked.
“All I had was the ball gown, which I left at the hotel.” She glanced down, touching the necklace on her chest. “Well, that and my necklace.”
Aidan frowned, looking closely at the small pendant. “Did he touch it?”
“What?”
“He mentioned the necklace when he had you cornered in that room last night. Did he touch it?”
Before she could answer, he reached for the pendant and turned it over in his fingers.
Son of a bitch. On the back was a small, almost undetectable, tracking device.
He tore it off the back of the pendant and held it out to show the guys. They both cursed softly.
Cassie gasped. “Is that—”
“A tracking device.” He crushed it between his fingers.
If situations were different, he would have attached the device to something to create some misdirection. But in this case, it didn’t matter. Elijah knew where he was taking her. He knew the team lived in Cradle Mountain.
But fuck, he’d tagged her like a damn dog.
Tyler moved to the window and tugged it open. Good. They were on the ground floor. He climbed out first. “Clear.”
Callum was next. Then Aidan looked at Cassie. “Your turn.”
He helped her out of the window, while Callum grabbed her from the other side. Then they moved around the hospital, continuing to scan as they went.
They’d just reached Aidan’s car when he heard it—heartbeats.
Two more than the four heartbeats that should have been present.
Where were they coming from? He scanned the lot. There were no people sitting in any cars.
His gaze narrowed on a large black SUV several cars over.
“Stay with Cassie,” Aidan whispered to Callum. He maneuvered silently through the vehicles, Tyler right behind him.
The second Aidan rounded the car next to the SUV, a pistol fired.
Aidan dropped, the shot narrowly missing him. Then he raced forward faster than the eye could track, diving for the shooter and rolling him beneath him. He seized the hand holding the gun and smashed it against the ground hard enough that there was a loud snap of bone. The guy cried out, dropping the weapon to the concrete.
Aidan clutched his throat and squeezed. “Who hired you?”
The man choked and attempted to push Aidan off. “The client’s anonymous! Paid us in cash!”
He watched the man’s face and listened to his voice, his heart. Truth.
The asshole was telling the truth. Fuck.
They wouldn’t be able to trace the attacks back to Elijah.
Aidan lowered his head, whispering into the guy’s ear. “You come anywhere near her again, I’ll kill you. Got it?” His fingers tightened. “Pass that on to your friends,” he finished, before applying enough pressure that the man passed out. He looked beside him, noting Tyler’s guy was also down for the count. He rose and returned to Cassie.
She was shaking a bit but looked steady otherwise. “Are you okay?” she asked.
He studied her body, making sure no bullets had caught her this time. “Yes. Let’s go, before more assholes attack.”
Cassie’s eyes flashed open as she sucked in a gasping breath. Oh God, the dream… It had felt so real.
She’d been down at that river, her kidnapper’s hand around her throat while he pointed a gun at Aidan. But instead of fighting, Cassie had just let the guy shoot Aidan right in front of her. She screamed and scrunched her eyes closed because she didn’t want to see his lifeless body on the ground, and when she opened them again, she was in the hospital parking lot…and once again, Aidan was on the ground, bleeding out.
Not real. The dream wasn’t real. Aidan’s alive.
She let her gaze flick around the masculine bedroom. Aidan’s bedroom. But no Aidan.
He’d driven them home the day before. Tyler had followed while Callum waited at the hospital for Detective Shaw.
Cassie had worried every second of that drive. Worried that more of Elijah’s men would come after them. Worried that this time, Aidan wouldn’t be able to dodge the bullet. It took her forever to fall asleep. Even having Aidan’s arms wrapped around her last night hadn’t made sleep come any easier.
Where was he? The curtains were still closed, but there was light bleeding around the edges. With a deep inhale, she glanced at the bedside clock.
Nine a.m. She’d slept in. Not a surprise after tossing and turning all night.
Carefully, she climbed out of bed. There was a small ache in her side from the bullet graze, but it was mild. Not that she’d be admitting that to Aidan. The guy was tormented enough as it was over her wound.
She moved to the dresser, and her gaze caught on a framed photo on top. It was of Aidan, his brother, and his parents.
Memories assaulted her. God, she hadn’t seen them in years. Christmases and birthdays and other celebrations had always been fun with his family. She’d loved them, and they’d seemed to love her.
Not anymore, a voice whispered in her head.
They had to hate her after what she’d done. How could they not? She’d kept in contact with them, his mother in particular, for the first few months. They’d cried together. Been hopeful of his return together. Then Mia had returned to Elijah, and her plan to return to Paragons of Hope was set into motion…so she’d broken off contact. Aidan’s family would have been leverage against her, and Elijah would have been a threat to their safety.
Sighing, she lifted the frame. The second it was off the table, something fell from the back. Her heart stuttered and a small gasp slipped from her lips.
A photo of her and Aidan.
She was sitting on his lap in the back of their van. She didn’t know which road trip this was—there were so many. But she looked happy and carefree. Tears filled her eyes at the thought.
You had no idea what was to come, Cassie.
“I always loved that photo.”
She jumped at Aidan’s voice from the door. The framed photo almost fell from her grasp. “Oh my gosh! Aidan. You scared me.”
He crossed the room and took hold of her hips from behind before kissing her neck. “Sorry.”
Her insides warmed. She looked down at the photo of them. “I’m surprised you kept this.” She’d assumed the man would have gotten rid of anything that reminded him of her.
Not just gotten rid of it. Burned it so it would never come back to haunt him.
“I needed it close, but at the same time, I couldn’t look at it every day.” His words sliced at her insides. “So I kept it behind the frame. And when I was feeling weak, or like the world was too heavy without you, I pulled it out.”
She knew that feeling so well. “I wore the necklace for the same reason. It made me feel close to you, and that helped me get through the days without you.”
His fingers tightened.
She placed the photo of his family back on the dresser. “How are your parents and brother?”
“They’re good. I talk to them a couple times a week. They ask about you a lot.”
That had her head shooting up, and she looked back at him. “They do?”
He turned her to face him. “Yep. Just like my team, they’ve been on my ass this entire time to go to you and find out what the hell was going on. My mom always insisted something wasn’t right, and you wouldn’t marry someone else without a damn good reason. Guess mothers really do know best.”
She’d always loved that woman. “I didn’t want to marry Damien.” She’d already told him such, but it felt worth repeating. “But when I asked to return, it was either live inside the compound or marry. And I knew that if I lived there, my freedom would be gone. It would be harder to contact law enforcement and set things up. And I’d drown.” Survival. A large part of her decision had been about survival. “I was already drowning with everything else.” Without Aidan.
Aidan’s hand continued to graze her side.
“I had no idea where you were. If you were dead or alive. I was mourning your loss and feeling so alone. So I just… I threw myself into doing everything I could to get Mia out. I knew if I asked Damien, he’d say yes to marrying me, because he wanted out of the compound too. He wanted freedom but had no idea how to obtain it. Elijah doesn’t just let people leave the cult. In fact, I haven’t seen anyone leave, ever.”
Except her mother…
Aidan curved his arms around her waist. She didn’t miss how careful he was to avoid her injury. “I’m meeting with the team at the office to plan our trip to the compound.”
“I’ll come and help.”
He kissed her neck. “Good. I want you close. Always.”
She hummed at the feel of his lips on her. “Will I get to meet the rest of your team in person?”
“Yeah.”
A nervous trill rolled through her spine. The members she’d met so far had been friendly, but would everyone on the team be the same?
As if reading her thoughts, he whispered, “They’ll love you.”
