Cassandra’s POVWe all bolted onto our feet. The surgeon approached us as he removed his plastic gloves. We waited expectantly, fearing the worst. Jordyn took my hand and held it so hard, I thought he would crush my knuckles. “He’s stabilized,” the surgeon said.Jordyn let out a long breath. He released his grip on my hand.“Really?” Jordyn asked, relief in his voice.I was relieved too. I’d been so worried that the surgeon was going to come and tell us that Stanley hadn’t made it.I couldn’t even bear the thought of it.“Yes,” the surgeon confirmed, nodding his head. His tone was dry and factual. “He’s out of the woods, so to speak. His life is no longer in danger.”“Thank God,” Jordyn said.“Not God,” the surgeon quipped. “You have modern medicine to thank for this one.”“Yes, of course,” Jordyn said absently. I couldn’t tell if the surgeon was joking or not. His face remained serious.“Fortunately, the myocarditis hadn’t progressed to the point where he needed a heart transplant.
Cassandra’s POV“What?”He repeated himself with the same, calm voice.“I don’t want a divorce.”I was speechless!Speechless and angry! Where was this coming from? Who did he think he was? What did he mean ‘he didn’t want a divorce?’I stared at him, bewildered, unable to mutter even a single syllable.“I believe we can save our marriage,” he continued. But I held up my hand to stop him.I didn’t want to hear this. I didn’t want to hear ANY of this.“Jordyn,” I said, regaining my composure. I gently placed Stanley’s hand down on his blanket and stood up, to face Jordyn. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”“Please listen to me,” Jordyn pleaded. “I can explain. I can…”“Stop,” I shook my head. He did. He furrowed his brows and swallowed hard. Then he waited for me to continue. My mind was reeling. I didn’t even know where to start.“It’s not…it’s not that simple,” I said. “You neglected me for years. Do you know how many nights I sat alone, waiting for you to come home? Craving your aff
Cassandra’s POVI called Stella first thing the next morning and explained the situation. I wanted to go back to the hospital to visit Stanley, but I wasn’t sure how she’d react. She thought Jordyn was a total asshole so I didn’t think she’d be overly sympathetic.To my surprise, however, she was.“Of course, Cass. Don’t worry about anything. I’ve got it covered. I’ll look after things here at the company while you visit Stanley,” Stella told me.“Really?” I asked, unable to hide the shock in my voice.“Yes,” she laughed. “I’m not a cold-hearted bitch! I know you care about Stanley. I hope he recovers soon. Just check in with me, okay?”I agreed and hung up, a little flummoxed by her support. Clearly she understood that this was about Stanely, NOT Jordyn.A little while later, I pulled into the hospital parking lot and was surprised to see Ellie. She was just getting out of her car and she hadn’t seen me.“Really?” I scoffed to myself. It was hard not to get riled up when I saw her.
Cassandra’s POV“He’s awake!” I gasped, rushing to his side. “Stanley, can you hear me?” I gently took his hand. He squinted under the bright light, waiting for his eyes to adjust. For a moment, he looked confused. Then realization dawned on him.“Cassandra?” he asked, turning his head towards me and smiling weakly. “What are you doing here, dear? There’s no need to fuss over me.”I squeezed his hand. I was so relieved to hear his voice. For a moment last night, I thought I’d never hear it again. He still looked very weak and he was hooked up to an IV, but he was awake and alert.“Nonsense,” I smiled at him. “Of course I’m here. How are you? Are you in pain? What do you need? More pillows? Water?”“Slow down,” he chuckled. “Always the caregiver, that one,” he pointed at me and winked at Persa.“I just want to make sure you’re comfortable,” I told him. That’s why I was there, after all. To take care of him. “I’m perfectly fine, Cassandra. In fact, seeing your beautiful face is medicin
Cassandra’s POV“I meant my boss, obviously, any problem?” I said quickly, feigning innocence. I whispered a prayer that he’d buy it. How could I have been so stupid? I was overtired and careless.He nodded quickly. “Well, please let me know as soon as you hear anything,” he said. Apparently, he didn't take my words seriously.Phew. I dodged a bullet and managed to circumvent any suspicion.I told Jordyn I had to go but that I’d check back in with Stanley later. I went straight to the studio and sat down in Stella’s office.“How’s Stanley?” she asked. I sighed deeply.“He’s recovering,” I told her. “But I don’t know, Stell. It’s strange. He was perfectly healthy and then bam, he just developed this heart condition. The doctor’s looking into it. Running more tests. That sort of thing.”“Well,” she said, resting back in her chair. “I’m glad to hear he’s doing okay. Hopefully, you’ll have more information soon.”I nodded.“And Jordyn?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.“I saw him just befo
Cassandra’s POVThe next day, I pulled up to the café to meet with Dillon. I was a bit nervous as I walked through the door. I didn’t know why I was nervous. Was it because I had to tell him we wouldn’t be moving forward with the collaboration?Or was it something else?I did my best to shrug it off. This was a business meeting, after all.Dillon had chosen the café. He said it was one of his favorite places, and raved on and on about pastries or scones or something. Originally, I’d wanted to meet in his office, since that felt far more ‘business-like’, but he’d persuaded me.He was already there, seated in the corner of the small café. He was wearing a crisp white shirt, rolled up at the elbows with a couple of the top buttons undone. He looked casual and comfortable, like usual. He saw me and waved, a huge smile breaking out onto his face.I went over and he motioned to three coffees on the table.“I took the liberty of ordering a coffee for you,” he said. “But I didn’t kno
Cassandra’s POV“Do I look like an assistant?” I asked.It was three days later and Stella and I were standing outside Jordyn’s office. We were about to meet with him to sign the contracts but I, of course, had to keep posing as a personal assistant.“What the hell does that even mean?” Stella laughed.“I don’t know,” I said defensively. “I mean, like, am I dressed okay?”Ever since I’d almost let my true identity slip at the hospital, I’d become a little paranoid. I really didn’t want Jordyn to discover who I really was until the divorce papers were signed.“Yes,” Stella huffed. “You’re fine. Stop worrying so much. He already thinks you’re an assistant. He had no reason to think otherwise. Now come on, we’re gonna be late.”Stella and I met the receptionist, and then we were led into a large conference room. Jordyn and his team were already waiting for us.“Miss Sinclair,” Jordyn said, standing to address Stella. “I hope traffic wasn’t too bad.” He extended his hand and Stella shook i
Cassandra’s POVThe revised divorce papers sat on the table. The room was completely silent.Ellie’s eyes flew open. Jordyn stared at the papers in stunned silence.“Jordyn,” Ellie started, but he waved his hand dismissively at her. “Leave, please” he said. “All of you.”Everyone stood and awkwardly filed out of the room, Stella included. But as Stella left, she winked at me, gave me a little thumbs up, and mouthed:‘Good luck’.“What are these?” Jordyn asked, his eyes fixed on the papers on the table.“You know what those are,” I said firmly. I was done with playing games. He agreed to sign the papers after his meeting with my company’s CEO. And I was holding him to it.“The divorce papers?” He looked up at me and I saw a flicker of sadness in his eyes. But I couldn’t let myself care. I reminded myself of our marriage and the way he had treated me all those years. His feeble apologies now didn’t make up for the years of neglect.“Yes, Jordyn,” I replied, lifting my chin. “Sign them.
Cassandra’s POV “Crap, Cass. I’m sorry,” Dillon said behind me, scampering away from the screen. I hadn’t even realized he’d come home. I’d wandered upstairs while on the phone to sit outside. I hadn’t heard Dillon come in through the front door.I turned to face him. “It’s okay,” I smiled at him. He was acting like we’d just been caught doing something wrong, which was far from the truth. I had no issues with my parents knowing I was at his house. I just hadn’t told them that yet.“Was it Dillon?” my mother asked. I turned back to my phone. My parents’ faces were smushed up close to the screen, inches away, their eyes squinting.“Yes,” I laughed. “Now back up please. You look ridiculous. Dillon, come say hi.”Dillon saddled up beside me. I could smell his shampoo.“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Stoneworth,” Dillon waved at the phone.“Dillon! So nice to see you. What are you doing at Cassandra’s?”“Actually, I’m at Dillon’s,” I said. “See?” I pointed the camera through the French doors into Di
Cassandra’s POVI decided to Facetime my parents. I was feeling pretty stressed about the meeting and I hadn’t talked to them for a while. They always made me feel better and Dillon was out grocery shopping for dinner ingredients, so I figured it was a good time to call.I dialed and moments later, my mom’s face popped up on the screen.“Cassandra, love! How are you?” my mother asked. She was donning her wide-brimmed gardening hat, which only meant one thing. She was trying to cut roses. We had a professional gardener and groundskeeper, of course. But every so often, my mother got it in her head that she should go and cut some fresh roses herself. It never ended well. She either cut them too short so that they couldn’t really sit in a vase, or she pricked her fingers on the thorns and cursed, or she got bored and gave up.We all tried to convince her to just give up on the whole gardening thing. She clearly didn’t have a green thumb. But she never listened.“Whatcha up to?” I asked, su
Cassandra’s POVShit.‘Bad kittie,” I hissed at the cat the moment I realized my camera had been turned on. Not knowing what else to do, I dove down, my head between my legs, trying to get my face away from the camera. Stoffs, not knowing that she’d done anything wrong, just curled up on the laptop.Everyone started cooing when they saw her.“Oh my, what a pretty little kitty,” I heard someone say.“Look at her. All snuggled up on the keyboard. Oh! She just yawned! I saw her cute little pink tongue. Are we boring you, little kitty?” someone else gushed.But through all the gushing and cooing over the cat, I heard Jordyn’s voice, loud and clear.“Cassandra?” he asked.Damnit. Had he seen me? There had been roughly five seconds before I realized the camera had been turned on, five seconds where my face had flashed right into one of those little Zoom boxes on the screen.I carefully crawled off the chair and onto the ground. When I was sure I was out of the camera’s view, I stood up.“Cas
Cassandra’s POVI slept better my first night at Dillon’s than I’d slept in a long time. Dillon and I spent the afternoon lounging by his pool. It wasn’t warm enough for bathing suits, which was fine because I didn’t have one there anyway. But it felt nice to relax with the sun on my face.After that, Dillon ordered what felt like a pharmacy’s worth of medicine for me as well as Chinese food.“I didn’t know what flavor you like,” he said, setting down bottle after bottle of cold medicine onto the counter. I was touched. I’d been sick a few times during my marriage to Jordyn, and he hadn’t exactly been the best caregiver. In fact, come to think of it, he’d often seemed annoyed when I was sick, like my being sick was an inconvenience to him.Dillon was the opposite. He bent over backwards to make me feel comfortable. We binge watched some Netflix while we ate Chinese food. It was nice. Dillon didn’t let me lift a finger, literally. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt that at ease,
Cassandra’s POVDillon led me into his foyer.“Well, how about the grand tour?” he asked as we awkwardly stood at the door. Now that we were actually at Dillon’s, I wondered if I’d made a mistake coming there. This was his house, his personal space. Surely, I was putting him out.He seemed casual as ever though as we walked through the house. In fact, he seemed genuinely happy to have me there as he proudly told me all about his house.“I went back and forth between granite and this new, cement-like material for the countertops,” he said as we walked through the kitchen. “I settled on granite, as you can see. I guess I’m a sucker for something tried and true.”His kitchen was stunning. The white granite and the stainless steel appliances gleamed under the numerous pot lights. We walked through the kitchen to the formal dining room, outfitted with a massive mahogany dining room table that could easily seat ten people.“I don’t use this room much,” he told me. “I usually just eat at the
“Well, that went well,” Dillon chuckled as we turned onto the highway. He reached over and gave my thigh a little pat. “Nothing like slapping someone with the threat of a lawsuit to really make them back off. Huh?”He took his eyes off the front windshield for a moment and flashed me a smile.“I guess,” I sighed. At the moment, I’d been pretty impressed about how things had played out in the parking lot. Cocky, even. Dillon had shut Jordyn down in such an intelligent, calm way. But now, as I sat there in that car with the scenery flying by, I felt uncomfortable.The whole thing just felt like such a mess. I didn’t understand how we’d gotten to this point, Jordyn and I. I was angry with him, yes, but I’d loved him at one time. I’d stood before him on our wedding day and said vows, real vows, vows I had intended to keep at the time. I’d been his wife, and I’d thought we’d grow old together.But now we were arguing in parking lots while his pregnant fiancé cast me dirty looks. Hell, I wa
Cassandra’s POV“What the hell do you want?” Jordyn sighed as Dillon approached. Dillon stepped in front of me, shielding me from Jordyn.“I want you to stop harassing my girlfriend,” Dillon said, glaring at Jordyn. Jordyn scoffed and rolled his eyes.“Who the hell are you?” Ellie asked, her hands on her hips.“Apparently,” Jordyn said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “this is Cassandra’s new boyfriend.”The tension between Jordyn and Dillon was palpable. For a brief moment, neither of them said anything. They just stood there, glaring at one another. I stepped out from behind Dillon. I wasn’t used to seeing Dillon like this, all riled up and super protective. I appreciated where he was coming from – he wanted Jordyn out of my life as much as I did at this point. My family had never liked Jordyn and they had made no show of hiding their feelings about him during our marriage. I was certain that Cameron had overheard many scathing remarks about Jordyn over the years.And since Dillon a
Cassandra’s POV“You don’t mean that,” Jordyn said, his eyes wide and serious.I did mean it though. I’d had enough of Jordyn and his constant interference in my life. When we agreed to the collaboration with Jordyn’s company, I knew it would come with its own unique set of challenges. But I’d honestly thought that Jordyn and I could maintain a professional relationship. I never, in a million years, thought he’d keep trying to barge into my personal life like this.What was he doing? Why was he even talking to me at all? His fiancé, and the mother of his child was currently waiting for him in the gynecology department. Why was he out here, arguing with me in the parking lot? He should be inside, with Ellie!“I mean it,” I told him, my voice firm with steely resolve. I’d tried multiple times to make it clear to Jordyn that I wanted nothing to do with any of his personal affairs. I’d done my best to be polite and cordial. But this was the last straw! I’d just been discharged from the hos
Cassandra’s POVJordyn walked fast, back through the parking lot towards his car. For a moment, my breath hitched in my throat. Why was he coming back? Had he seen me? I watched, frozen in place as he approached his car. He opened the door and grabbed Ellie’s purse.Oh. He’d just come back for Ellie’s purse, I realized with a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted right now was to see him, let alone to talk to him here, in the parking lot. I didn’t have time for this bullshit. I had to get to Dillon’s so I could start working again. Someone was already submitting our stolen designs to fashion companies. We needed to get some of our designs out to the public ASAP.But as I started getting into the car, I heard a voice call out.“Cassandra?”Shit. It was Jordyn. He must have spotted me across the parking lot. I slowly turned around to see Jordyn marching towards us, his eyes narrowed.“What are you doing here?” Jordyn asked as he approached. “Is everything okay? Why are you at the hospi