“I’m not going anywhere without answers,” Conrad said, digging his heels in.“Unless it’s to go after my wife.”
Cassie couldn’t blame him, considering all that was going on—his wife’s condition and the fact she was caught in the middle, now trapped.
Chloe gave a quick rundown of the situation.
“This is all my fault,” Cassie said to him as they ushered her back inside the house.
Everyone followed, including Beau, who was flanked by Hudson and the twin who must be Owen.
Everyone circled around Beau as Chloe filled Conrad in on the details.Hudson was distracted by Beau’s injury.This would be the perfect time to grab a pair of keys, slip out the back door, and make herself seen in public.
How had Jarek known she was on Sturgess property?
She realized he must know.The person who’d abducted Nikki had most likely been sent to snatch Cassie.It made sense with the way Jarek operated, flying under the radar and sneaking around.
Nikki had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Stupid.Stupid.Stupid.
Cassie should have known Jarek would take advantage of any weakness.It was one of the many reasons she’d never told him about her son.Though she couldn’t be certain he hadn’t figured that out, too.
She took a step back from the group, and then another toward the door.Slowly, carefully, she moved closer to the exit.
Seeing the family rally around Beau warmed her heart.He deserved the attention, the concern, the acceptance.Blending into an already formed family was one of the most difficult things you could do.She’d tried and failed a couple of times.She’d been sent back into the system for not “integrating” into a family as much as they’d hoped.Overhearing those words at ten years old hadn’t exactly brought her out of her shell.If anything, she’d retreated even more.Closed herself off even more.
That experience had made it easier for Jarek’s love-bomb technique to work on her.More of that guilt and shame surfaced.
She’d been fooled once.She would never fall for that trap again.If she ever opened herself up to the possibility of a relationship with someone, the person would need to be a quiet, steady presence in her life.Words meant nothing compared to actions.She’d learned the lesson the hard way that words were nothing more than empty promises.Her mistakes were etched in her brain, never to be made again.The pain those mistakes had caused was that they hurt too many innocent people.She deserved better, and so did they.
The moment her hand touched the door handle, Hudson looked.He frowned before handing off the duty of keeping pressure on Beau’s neck.
Before she could open her mouth to explain, Hudson was in front of her.
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go,” he said, masking any emotion with a robotic tone.“Please don’t go right now.Not until we know it’s safe to walk out that door.If anything happened to you…”
“I can fix this, Hudson.”
“Not without risking your own life.”
He was right.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” she said.
“Is that what you think we want?”
“It’s what your family deserves.”
He turned around and cleared his throat in a move that drew all the attention to him.“Does anyone in this room blame Cassie for what just happened?”
Heads immediately shook.
“Does anyone think she should leave so she can offer herself in an exchange?”
“Absolutely not,” came a quick response from Chloe.The others offered similar sentiments as grumbles filled the air.
“You’d be walking right into the hands of the enemy,” Conrad said.
Tears welled at the show of acceptance and support.Cassie sniffed them back.