Page 55 of Crushed Vow
I scrambled for it with shaking fingers, praying it wasn’t too late.
“Hello?” I whispered. “Please—hello?”
“Stay on the line. I’m tracking your location,” came Brook’s voice—harsh, cold, like he didn’t want to be the one calling.
Relief hit me like a punch. “Okay,” I said quickly.
“Ethan, stay with me, okay? Cassian’s bodyguard just called.”
“Where is he?” I asked Brooks. “Cassian... is he okay?”
“You don’t get to ask that,” Brooks snapped. “You don’t get to pretend you care now.”
“I do care!” I yelled. “Please. Just tell me if he’s alive.”
Silence.
Then another voice—weak but unmistakable.
“Charlotte...”
Cassian.
I sucked in a breath. “Cassian. Your brother and Vincent locked me up. They shot Ethan—he’s dying.”
“I’ll get you out,” he said. His voice—hoarse, like it took effort just to speak. But determined. “I promise.”
Tears spilled again. “What’s wrong with you?” I whispered. “You’ve been hiding something from me. Haven’t you?”
A pause.
“You’re right. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
Another pause. Then quietly—“Because it won’t. Not in the long run.”
A sound cracked near the door.
I jolted.
“I have to go,” I whispered into the device. “The door—someone’s coming.”
I shoved the device into the corner, hiding it beneath a loose stone.
Luca entered, smug as ever, a man in a white coat trailing behind him with a medical kit.
“Please,” I said quickly, standing protectively over Ethan. “Don’t shoot him again. Please.”
Luca waved a hand like he was swatting a fly. “Relax. I’m not an animal. That’s what the doctor’s for.”
I watched, heart pounding, as the man kneeled beside Ethan, stabilizing him. He removed the bullets carefully, Ethan fainting and waking again with each tug of metal.
I held him the entire time. My lap cradled his head. My hands held his blood.
“Seems like you care more for him than your own husband,” Luca murmured, crouching in front of me with that serpent smile.”
“Get away from me!” I snapped, but I couldn’t move. Ethan needed me still.
