Dillon’s POV “How about the Lighthouse Bar and Grill? I think that’s a pretty romantic spot. It overlooks the water?”I nodded. I’d called up my friend, Sam, the doctor who had seen Cassandra, to ask for restaurant recommendations. He was a real foodie so he knew all the best places in town. Plus, he also knew Cassandra so I figured he might have some insight into a great place to take her.“I’ve never been there but it has good reviews,” I told him.“Or, if you want to go super classy and high-end, there’s always ‘Le Fromage’. How does Cassandra feel about French food?”I smiled to myself, remembering a night together recently when I made her French onion soup. She’d told me she loved it. Apparently, the cuisine was one of the reasons she liked going to Paris.“She’d really like that,” I told him. “Sold!”I thanked him and then hung up, turning my attention to tracking down the number for Le Fromage so I could make a reservation.But then I paused. Was the restaurant good enough? I n
Cassandra’s POVI drove to the assigned place, my hands gripped firmly on the steering wheel. I told myself over and over to just stay calm, that I could do this. Part of me couldn’t believe that this was really happening. I was on my way to meet kidnappers. It felt so surreal.I was aware that Cameron was tailing me, but he was doing a good job of keeping his distance. I only saw him once or twice in the rear view mirror.The address brought me to a docking area right by the water. It was isolated. I saw the two men in black waiting by a shipping container. It looked like a scene out of a movie.Oh god, was that where Stella was? Inside a shipping container? Was she hurt? Was she okay?I pulled up close, my heart pounding in my chest.“Get out,” one of the men ordered.I did as he said, assuming he was going to bring me inside the container. But just then, a car pulled out from behind the container.The windows were tinted so I couldn’t see who was driving.“Get in,” one of the men sa
Cassandra’s POVThere was no one else in the room so I rushed over to Stella. She had a gag in her mouth but her eyes flew open when she saw me. Relief flooded over me. She looked tired and her hair was a mess, but other than that, she looked okay.I removed the gag from her mouth.“Cassandra!” she said, shocked. “What are you doing here? No. You shouldn’t be here. Please, go before you get hurt.” Her face was frantic.“Your kidnapper called me and told me to come. Of course I came.”“Are you here all by yourself?” she asked, aghast.I thought about Cameron. Was there any chance he’d been able to follow us? I highly doubted it.“I had to come alone,” I told her. “And I’m not leaving you,” I said firmly to Stella. Then I bent down and untied her legs and her arms behind her back. She rubbed her wrists. She had nasty rope burns from being tied up and I could tell it hurt.“Are you okay?” I asked, helping her stand.“Yeah. I think so. Just thirsty. And hungry. Where are we?”“I have no id
Cassandra’s POVEllie smiled at us both smugly.“Ellie?” Stella gasped. But I wasn’t surprised. I’d suspected that Ellie behind this right from the start. She’d gone missing after she was bailed out of jail. I knew how much she hated me and her hatred was too deep for her to just let things go. Jordyn had been trying to track her down, but I’d had a sinking suspicion that she was just waiting to make her next move.As soon as I received the text message informing me that Stella had been kidnapped, Ellie was the first person I thought of. I didn’t say anything to Cameron about my suspicions. I didn’t see the point. Instead, I’d called Jordyn as soon as I got in my car to meet the kidnappers.I told him about the text messages.“You think Ellie is behind this?” he’d asked, his voice tight.“I do,” I confessed to him as I drove through the streets. I told him I was on my way to meet Stella’s kidnappers. He got angry and told me that was too dangerous. I defended my decision. Stella was my
Cassandra’s POVI stared at the picture of a younger Ellie.“I don’t understand,” I told her, glancing back and forth from Ellie to the picture.“It’s all you fault,” she said in a huff, snatching back the picture and stuffing it back into her purse.“Um, you’re going to have to give a little more to go on,” Stella said. She was as confused as I was. I failed to see what Ellie’s parents had to do with any of this. Just as I failed to see how I had anything to do with her parents.“They died because of you,” Ellie seethed at me. “They never stood a chance in jail. My mother wasn’t that type of person. She was kind and sweet. They only lasted a few weeks before they were both murdered. My mother died in her cell from dehydration and my father was stabbed to death with a fork in the dining room.”“Oh,” I replied, not really sure what to make of this. I had no idea that both of Ellie’s parents had been killed. Hell, I didn’t even know her parents had gone to jail. Is that where Ellie got h
Dillon’s POVThere was a loud knock on my door. Cameron looked up from his phone with a quizzical look. We were at my house, in my kitchen, studying the pictures that Cassandra had forwarded us from her phone.Cameron had tried to tail Cassandra’s kidnappers, but they’d lost him pretty easily. He was furious at himself when he called me back for losing them, but I assured him that he’d done his best. I told him to come to my house so we could go over everything that had happened and come up with a plan.The person knocked again.“Who the hell could that be?” Cameron asked.“It’s Jordyn,” I told him. Cameron lifted an eyebrow.“You can’t be serious,” he told me. “Why is he here?”I sighed deeply. Yes, Jordyn wasn’t my favorite person in the world. But Cassandra and Stella were in trouble. So I decided to put aside our differences so we could focus on finding them.“I called him,” Dillon said. “I think he can help. And honestly, don’t we need all the help we can get right now?”Cameron t
Dillon’s POV“It’s not far from here,” Jordyn said, showing us the location on his map. “It’s an abandoned warehouse.” Then he paused and inhaled a sharp breath. “Oh my God,” he said.“What is it?” Cameron and I both asked at the same time.“That’s Ellie’s sweater. Right there. In the picture. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”He pointed to a sweater on the ground near the chair in the picture.“How do you know?” I asked. I mean, it looked like any other sweater to me.“I gave her that sweater for her birthday,” Jordyn told us. “I ordered it from France. She had gemstones added to the cuffs, right there.” He pointed again.My heart sank. I’d had a feeling Ellie was behind this.“This is fucking unbelievable,” Jordyn sighed. “Why would Ellie kidnap Stella?” he mused out loud.“To draw Cassandra in.” It was Cameron who said it.“Shit. I think you’re right. I have no idea how she kidnapped Stella, but I think she’s using her as bait,” Jordyn replied.“I think so too,” I added. “The
Cassandra’s POV“Ellie, you can’t possibly blame my family for your parents’ death,” I said. Ellie was pacing around the small room, a menacing look in her eye. Stella was standing beside me, clutching my wrist.“Of course I do,” she said. “Who else is there to blame?”“I’m very sorry that that happened to you,” I told her. “But I don’t see what I can do…”“Shut up,” Ellie snapped. “I know what you’re going to say, you righteous bitch. You’re going to yammer on about how kidnapping you won’t make up for my parents’ death.”I snapped my mouth shut. That was exactly what I was going to see. An uneasiness washed over me. What were Ellie’s intentions, really? What was she planning on doing to us?“You’re going to tell me that two wrongs don’t make a right,” Ellie scoffed. She stopped pacing and faced us, a maniacal smile on her face. “But I think they do,” she said, her smile spreading wide across her face. “I believe in ‘an eye for an eye.’ That’s why I brought you here.”“Cassandra,” Ste
Cassandra’s POVI entered Dillon’s room and my heart sunk. He was hooked up to even more machines than before, and his face was paler than I’d ever seen it. The machine beside him beeped rhythmically, showing his heart beat.But his eyes were closed.It killed me to see him like this, in a coma. I went to his bedside and took his hand in mine.The doctor had said that I should talk to him. What was I supposed to say? Tears brimmed in my eyes as I looked at his lifeless face. Cameron said he’d found a match for Dillon, but he was vague about who that was. I didn’t push the issue. As far as I was concerned, it was a miracle. Apparently this person was on her way. Dillon’s condition was critical though. The doctor told us that, at any moment, his organs could start shutting down.I stroked his hand with my thumb, thinking about what to say to him. Then a little voice inside my head told me to just speak from my heart.So that’s what I did. “Dillon,” I said softly. “I don’t know if yo
Cassandra’s POV“Isn’t good?” I asked. I felt faint. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears. “What does that mean?”“Dillon needs blood,” the doctor said. “Without it, there’s a high chance that his organs will shut down again. We’re doing everything we can for him. But without more blood, there’s really nothing we can do.”I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How was this possible? Dillon needed blood. There had to be blood, somewhere. There had to be someone with Dillon’s blood type.“We’re going to keep calling around. Unfortunately, because the blood is so rare, we often don’t get a lot of it from donors. So in the meantime, if any of you know someone with his blood type, then please. Reach out. I’m afraid the situation is quite dire.”With that, the doctor patted me on the arm and walked away.I watched him walk away, stunned. If we know anyone? How the hell were we supposed to know anyone with Dillon’s rare blood? Wasn’t that their job? This was a hospital for
Cassandra’s POVAgain, we found ourselves waiting. Again, we found ourselves tense with worry. Again, Stella stuffed her mouth with sugary snacks. And again, my thoughts turned to the worst case scenario.The doctor had told us nothing. There was no news, no updates. We were stuck in a holding pattern that felt like it went on forever. At one point, I felt like I would break. I honestly didn’t know how much more of this I could take.I’d been there, with him, in the room. He’d been smiling. A little groggy, yes, and talking nonsense about being my husband, but he had seemed…well. Hadn’t he?What had happened? One moment he’d been sleeping and the next? He’d been convulsing.He was in surgery. Again. That was all we knew.And again, all we could do was wait.I don’t know how long it was before Dr. Forter came back. I’d lost all sense of time. Hell, I didn’t even know what day it was anymore. Our time in the warehouse, with Ellie and her stupid pictures felt like a lifetime ago. Had it r
Cassandra’s POVShit.I was worried that Dillon was going to correct the nurse. And if he did, they might kick me out of here. So I gave Dillon a look that said, follow along. Although, he was pretty out of it so I wasn’t sure if would pick up what I was laying down.“He’s so brave, isn’t he? My husband.” I enunciated the last word, hoping Dillon would catch on. “Cameron and Stella are here, too,” I said. “But they can’t see you yet since they’re not family.” Again, I enunciated the last word.“Husband,” Dillon sighed contentedly. “I like the sounds of that.”“There, there,” I told him, hoping he wouldn’t say anything else. The nurse was nice and quick, thankfully. She just took a few vitals and jotted some things down.“All done,” she smiled. “He does need to rest though. So not too long of a visit, okay?” “Of course,” I said.When she was gone, I explained to Dillon that I was pretending to be his wife so they’d let me see him.“We don’t have to pretend,” he said, his voice stil
Cassandra’s POVI waited with breath held for Dr. Forter to tell me about Dillon. Cameron and Stella appeared behind him and came to join me.“He’s out of surgery,” the doctor said. “We were able to extract the bullet cleanly. Thankfully, it didn’t hit any major organs. He’s stable, for now. But he’s lost a lot of blood so we’re monitoring him closely.”His words were like heaven to my ears.“Stable?” I asked. “That’s good, right?”“It is,” the doctor smiled. “He’s not completely out of the woods yet, so to speak. But it looks very promising at the moment. It’s a good thing he got here when he did.”“Can I see him?” I asked. I felt an enormous weight lifting off my chest. I’d feared the worst, we all had. I’d been terrified that the doctor was going to come and tell us that Dillon hadn’t made it. But now that he was stable, my mind immediately turned to thoughts of seeing him.“You can, yes. But not quite yet. He’s still waking up from surgery.”“I want to see him too,” Cameron quipped
Cassandra’s POVWe did our best to pass the time but it felt like the clock was moving backwards. Jordyn went to get us some food, and when he came back, we couldn’t help but chuckle. He dumped an armload of vending machine crap onto the table.“What did you do?” Cameron asked, “Rob every vending machine in the hospital?”“I didn’t know what anyone wanted,” he told us, suddenly sheepish at the mass amounts of chips, chocolates, and candies he’d purchased.“Thank you,” I told him. I knew it was his way of helping. None of us knew what to do, really, as we waited there in that room. Jordyn was at least trying to feed us.Stella reached for some chips and tore open the bag.“Cassandra? What’s your poison?” Cameron asked me. I was sitting, my knees nervously bouncing up and down. “Chocolate? Gummies?”I shook my head. “I’m not hungry,” I told them. Food was the last thing on my mind. Dillon had been in surgery for over two hours now. Several other people waiting had been called away, one b
Cassandra’s POVBeep. Beep. Beep.The red line gave way to little peaks again.“We have a pulse,” one of the paramedics said.“You mean? It worked? He’s…okay?”I let out a massive sigh of relief. I watched his heart beating on the machine. His heart had stopped. He had…he had died. I stared at the machine, studying the tiny peaks, as though, at any moment, they might betray us and flatline again. “His pulse is still weak, but he’s stabilized. ETA to the hospital?” one of the paramedics asked the driver.“Three minutes,” the driver said, as the ambulance lurched to the left in a hard turn.It had worked. Dillon’s heart had stopped and they’d restarted it. If they hadn’t come when they had, if they had been even a little while longer…Dillon would have died in that room in the warehouse. Without their machine, we wouldn’t have been able to resuscitate him.“Thank you,” I whispered.“We’re just doing our jobs,” one of them smiled kindly at me. “You can hold his hand again.”I felt so muc
Cassandra’s POVThe ambulance tore off down the streets, sirens blaring. I sat on my seat beside Dillon’s stretcher. I felt like I was in the way. The paramedics went to work, trying to stabilize Dillon, they told me. He had an oxygen mask clamped over his face. His face was white as a ghost. They put a tiny thing on his finger to monitor his heartbeat.“Can I…can I hold his hand?” I asked, my face wet with tears. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and hold him. I wanted to stroke his hair. But I didn’t want to get in the way of whatever they were doing. “Of course,” one of them smiled kindly at me. I took Dillon’s limp hand in mine and squeezed it. His hand was so cold it made my stomach drop. “Will he…will he be okay?” I asked.One of the paramedics looked me in the eyes.“We’re doing everything we can,” he said.I didn’t like that answer. I wanted to hear, ‘yes, of course, he’ll be just fine.’ The vague response only made me feel even more uneasy.How had we come to this? I wonde
Cassandra’s POVEverything happened so fast. It was like a blur.The paramedics rushed at us, asking me to step aside. They removed Dillon from my lap and tore open his shirt. Blood squirted from the hole in his stomach. I felt weak in my knees. I gasped and covered my mouth.They started firing questions at us.“When was he shot? How long ago? Does he have any pre-existing conditions? Any allergies? How long has he been unconscious?”Stella and I tried to answer their questions as best we could, but I was so panicked I could barely speak.“He was shot about three minutes ago?” Stella said. “He just passed out, moments before you got here. We’ve been applying pressure to the wound. He doesn’t have any allergies. He’s healthy.”“What’s his name?” one of the paramedics said.“Dillon,” Stella said.“Dillon? Can you hear me? I’m a first responder. Dillon?” the paramedic asked. Then he glanced up at the other paramedic.“Pulse is 124. He’s gone into shock. He’s lost a lot of blood. We need