Aidan leaned against a wall in the hospital hallway. Cassie was in full view from the open door, the early afternoon sun casting rays of light over her face. She sat on one side of Damien’s bed, holding his hand, while Dean sat on the other.
Shaw had organized for Damien to be safely transported to Cradle Mountain. The team had also reached out to their FBI contact, Steve. They should have brought him in the second Cassie crossed state lines. Elijah’s crimes were no longer a small-town jurisdiction issue. The contractors had also crossed state lines to reach Cassie.
Her cheeks were still wet from the tears she’d shed upon seeing Damien, and there were dark circles under her eyes from stress.
He hated seeing her upset. Hated it. It was like shards of glass tearing up his insides.
Fuck Elijah. Fuck his entire organization. Elijah and his brothers needed to die. Now.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and was about to go in and check on her when he saw Logan, Grace, Blake, Willow and Callum heading down the hall. They stopped in front of him, the women immediately peeking inside.
“I might go see if she’s okay,” Grace said quietly, before heading into the small room.
Willow nodded and followed Grace.
“How is he?” Blake asked.
Aidan shook his head, watching as the women pulled chairs closer to Cassie. “He has brain swelling from so many knocks to the head. Because of the trauma, he’s been put into a medically induced coma. They’re not sure how long he’ll need to be under.”
Logan and Callum both tensed, and Blake swore under his breath.
“Steve wasn’t happy we entered the compound last night,” Aidan continued. Hell, he wasn’t happy they’d waited this long to contact him. “But he left it at that, said his team will take over from here, starting with trying to contact Olive.”
He needed this entire fucking mess to be over. He’d only allowed himself a couple hours of sleep last night. He’d spent the rest of the time holding Cassie. Listening to her breathing. Her heartbeat.
Logan gripped his shoulder. “So our job is to keep Cassie and Damien safe.”
They’d sure as hell do that.
“She wants Mia back.” She hadn’t said the words out loud, but he knew. Despite the younger woman’s choices, despite her belief in Elijah, Cassie missed her, had always felt responsible for her, and now was no different.
“When they get Elijah—and they will get Elijah—she’ll have her,” Blake said.
“We’ll keep a guy on Damien’s hospital door at all times,” Callum added.
Elijah would definitely know the man was gone by now. And there was a great chance he was putting every resource he had into locating Damien and ending him before he could tell anyone what they’d done.
The guys waited in the hall for another ten minutes, then Aidan made his way into the room. He ran a hand along Cassie’s back. “You need a break and some fresh air, sweetheart. Let’s go downstairs for a walk, then we can come back.”
It would also give Dean a few moments alone with Damien.
She must have understood, because her gaze flicked to Dean, then she gave a small nod. She pressed a kiss to Damien’s hand before standing. She hugged both the women, who left with Logan and Blake, then she rounded the bed and hugged Dean.
The guy seemed nice enough. Quiet. Aidan could see the love he had for Damien. And Damien’s current condition was tearing him apart. Dean had driven down earlier that morning, the second he’d received the call from Aidan’s team.
Callum remained by Damien’s door, giving Aidan a nod as he slid an arm around Cassie’s waist and led her down the hall. She was quiet as they left the hospital. He didn’t press her to talk. It was after ten minutes of walking that he finally squeezed her waist.
“I’m sorry, Cass.”
He’d said it a million times this morning, but it felt worth repeating. He was sorry she had to go through this. Sorry she had to feel the pain of knowing Damien was in a coma.
When she looked at him, he expected to see more tears. What he saw was anger. Cold, hard anger. “I hate Elijah. I hate him so much! I want him to pay for everything he’s done. I need him to pay for this!”
Her fury was something he was intimately familiar with. The same thing he’d felt for so long for his own enemies.
“When we got taken by Hylar and the people from Project Arma, I had that same hatred,” Aidan said quietly. “Then we got out, and all I wanted to do was destroy everyone who played a part in what happened. I wanted to tear them limb from limb so they’d feel a fraction of the pain they’d brought on me.”
Hylar had been the commander who’d created Project Arma. He was the man responsible for Aidan being kidnapped, his DNA forever altered.
He felt Cassie’s eyes on him. “I thought their deaths would somehow dim the pain of what we went through…and the pain of losing you.”
Her muscles tightened.
“It didn’t,” he finished quietly. “I’m not telling you this because I don’t think you should focus on bringing Elijah down. The asshole needs to be ten feet under, or at the very least, locked up for a long time. But I just don’t want you to think it will instantly make everything better.”
Their friends in Marble Falls, a group of former SEALs who had also been affected by Project Arma, had killed Hylar and destroyed most of what remained of the project. Yet that hole in his chest, the pain from lost years and being changed irrevocably… Yeah, that had gone nowhere.
She leaned into his side. “I’m sorry about Project Arma. I’m not sure I’ve said that yet. But I am.”
He kissed the top of her head. “We still ended up back together.”
The first smile of the day tugged at her lips. “Almost like we were meant to be.”
“We are meant to be, Cass.”
They were quiet for the rest of the walk, but it was more of a peaceful quiet now, something he knew they both needed.
When they returned to the hospital, they’d just walked through the doors into the waiting area when Cassie stopped. He followed her gaze to a woman standing in the center of the room, looking lost. When she turned, Aidan sucked in a breath.
Olive.
Cassie’s eyes widened as Olive met her gaze. The woman rushed over to them.
“Olive, are you… I mean, what are you doing here?” God, she was so shocked she could barely speak.
“I’m so glad I found you. I remembered you telling me Aidan lived in Cradle Mountain, so I hoped this was where you’d make sure Damien got treatment.” Her voice filled with pain at the mention of Damien. “I don’t have long. I need to give you something, then I have to get back.”
Cassie sucked in a breath. Was it the evidence?
“We should go to the police station,” Aidan said, his hand tightening around her waist.
Olive shook her head. “I don’t have time. I told them I had a specialist appointment in Wyoming for my diabetes. If I’m away too long, they’ll get suspicious.”
“You drove all the way here on your own?” Cassie asked quietly, concern for the other woman filling her voice.
“I had to. After I saw Damien last night…”
Olive had seen Damien? Her gaze shot to Aidan. He hadn’t told her.
He might insist on taking Olive to the police, especially now that the FBI were involved. Technically, Blue Halo was no longer supposed to be involved in dismantling Elijah’s organization. And going to the authorities was safer.
But then they ran the risk of Olive leaving. Of this evidence slipping through their fingers.
She trusted Olive. The woman wouldn’t set them up. Cassie gave Aidan a beseeching look.
He sighed and tugged her toward the door. “There’s a coffee shop next door.”
The air whooshed from her chest.
Aidan led her out of the hospital, and Olive followed. His gaze shot around the area before he pulled his phone from his pocket and typed something. He was probably texting his team.
The shop was busy, and they took one of the last open tables near the back of the café.
“This won’t take long,” Olive whispered.
There was fear in her voice, but there was also something else. Relief? That she was finally helping?
“I’m so glad you came, Olive. Thank you.” Cassie reached across the small table and covered the woman’s hand with her own. Aidan was tense and quiet beside her.
Olive glanced at Aidan. “Record our conversation. Take it to the detective or whomever you’re working with.”
Aidan did as she asked. The front door opened, and she saw Logan and Blake enter. They sat at the small counter at the front of the shop.
There was a heavy moment of silence while Olive’s gaze held Cassie’s, as if she was the only person in the room. “I always suspected Elijah was dosing the drinks at our family nights. I’d always end the night feeling dizzy and tired, and I remembered very little about those evenings the next day. But I didn’t question it because you don’t do that at Paragons of Hope.”
Olive paused, her fists clenching on the table.
“One night, Elijah paid me more attention than usual. He was by my side most of the evening. Talking to me. Always ensuring my glass was full.” She shook her head. “I was naïve and stupid, felt special that our Holy Leader was paying me so much attention.”
Disgust scrunched her features. “I drank more than my usual one glass. At the end of the evening, he asked me to come to his quarters.”
It took a lot of self-restraint for Cassie not to scowl. To not show her absolute revulsion for the man. Scumbag.
Olive looked down at her fists. “Everything was a blur. I could barely walk. But he was our leader. I felt safe.”
She paused. And even though Cassie knew what was coming, her chest ached with dread.
“I remember bits and pieces from that night. Elijah touching me. Kissing me. Lying naked under him.”
Bile rose in Cassie’s throat, and she felt Aidan stiffen beside her.
“I woke up in my bed the next morning, but I can’t remember how I got there.”
Elijah had raped her. Like he had countless others.
Once again, Cassie reached across the table and squeezed her arm. “I’m so sorry, Olive.”
God, her words felt so inadequate. They were inadequate. There was nothing she could say that would ever heal this woman’s pain.
Olive nodded, tears shimmering in her eyes. “I didn’t know what to do after that night. It was almost like I couldn’t figure out how to live with myself. The world had gone from vibrant colors to a dark gray. I knew what had happened. He knew what he’d done. And yet I was supposed to just…go on. To exist in a world where I saw him every day and act as if nothing was different, when my entire world had changed. I felt so confused and angry and lost.”
The anguish was so distinct in her eyes, Cassie wanted to cry for her.
Olive paused and breathed deeply before she continued. “I just tried to survive in this fog after that. But it was a couple of weeks later when I had to know… I snuck away from a family night and went to the kitchen in the Great Hall. When I heard someone coming, I hid in the pantry and watched through the slats of the door. It was Joshua and Isaac. They were preparing more punch. They grabbed a small bottle from one of the top cupboards and poured something into the pitchers.”
She paused again—and pulled something out of her pocket before sliding it across the table. “When they left, I found the bottle and poured some into a small container. I don’t know why. Maybe I was hoping I could find someone to test it one day. Confirm that what happened to me didn’t just happen because of my own poor decisions.”
Aidan grabbed the small container and slipped it into his pocket.
“This is amazing, Olive,” Cassie said. It wouldn’t have been easy to take this. Or to sneak into the kitchen at all. Heck, it would have been terrifying.
Olive glanced at her, looking exhausted. “A month later, I missed my period. I bought a test. That’s how I found out I was pregnant.”
Cassie’s mouth slipped open, her skin chilling. That was a part of the story she hadn’t known.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” Olive continued. “I was terrified. You had to be married to… To partake in physical intimacy with a man, and there was no way Elijah would admit to what he’d done. So I stayed quiet. Three weeks after that, I…” Her eyes closed, and when she opened them, there was a glimmer of tears. “I miscarried.”
Oh, God. “Olive…”
“Suddenly, sitting on my bathroom floor, looking at all the blood, something inside me just…flicked. The devastation turned into this blinding anger. I didn’t think, I just acted. I went into Rodney’s room, grabbed his work phone, hit voice record and went searching for Elijah.”
Cassie’s heart thumped. Had she actually recorded Elijah saying something he shouldn’t have?
“Elijah was alone in his office. I marched in there and told him I knew what he’d done to me, and I wanted him to admit it to my face. To admit that he’d drugged me, then raped me.” More clenching of her fists. “At first, he played dumb. But I kept pushing. I wanted his words. His admission of guilt. Then, finally, he said it. He admitted to having sex with me while I was passed out. Spewed some ridiculous bullshit about God’s will.”
Olive’s face turned white.
Cassie’s stomach jolted. She wasn’t going to like what came next.
“I didn’t know that Rodney had seen me heading for the office and followed me.” She choked on a sob. “He stormed in, shouting that he was going to kill Elijah. And Elijah—he just lifted a gun and shot him in the head.”
Jesus Christ. This poor woman.
“I hadn’t even noticed the gun. And Elijah didn’t hesitate for a second. I dropped beside Rodney and just screamed. His men came running at the sound of the shot, and they shut the door. Elijah looked me dead in the eye and told me if I ever breathed a word of that night or about Rodney to anyone, my mother was next.”
Every part of Cassie hurt for Olive and what she’d been through. Tears pressed at her eyes, but she willed them away. “God, I’m so sorry, Olive.” It was as if the grief never ended for this woman. And here Cassie had been, pushing her for months to spill her guts to a stranger.
“He made Rodney’s death look like a suicide. And while everyone mourned at his funeral, Elijah sat beside my mother the entire time, his eyes on me. And I knew he meant what he’d said. My mother would never be safe unless I played by his rules.”
She reached into her purse—and pulled out a phone.
“It’s been turned off and hidden since that day, but the recording should still be there.”
Aidan took the phone, but Olive only had eyes for Cassie. “Make him pay, Cass.”
“I will.” It was a promise to Olive, to herself, and to every other person Elijah had ever hurt.
“I need to get back.” Olive stood, and Cassie followed. She tugged the woman into her arms. All she wanted to do was keep her here in Cradle Mountain, shield her from further pain.
She was just pulling away from Olive when she saw something. A car. Driving fast and headed straight toward—
“Get down!”
The shout had barely left Logan’s mouth from the front of the shop before Aidan dove onto both women as a car crashed through the café’s window. Shouts and screams filled the space.
Cassie’s gaze lifted just in time to see men with guns.
