Page 91 of Free to Dream
The only time I’ve left Cassidy in the last three days was for Keene and I to contact the Attorney General due to the complete compromise of Hudson. When I had Phil hand me his earpiece, I heard every word my mother had said about Hudson and after. With the Greenwich Police present, we explained the information I heard in my statement. After listening carefully, he said he needed to absorb the information with how it pertained to the open cases and call us back, but not before letting us know he would do everything possible to make certain my mother was convicted of every possible crime she could be.
After, we set a trap to bring down the traitors within Hudson. Fourteen people, including my executive assistant and Charlie’s wife, all walked into it. Within hours, they were arrested and are now facing criminal charges.
Charlie, while heartsick, was not only a pragmatist, he apparently loved the Freemans more than his wife. “I can always find another wife. I can’t find more kids to love.”
And people wonder why I keep his ass around?
So here I sit, praying over the only woman I’ve ever loved. Apologizing over and over about everything that’s happened. Holding her hand, kissing it, hoping for a sign of life. Maybe she’ll open those gem-colored eyes and blink at me. Maybe she’ll smile. Maybe she’ll…
“Go…” comes a raspy voice from the depths of the bed.
Oh my god, she’s awake. What did she say?
“Cassidy, love?” I ask cautiously.
“Need you to go,” Cassidy says with dull eyes. She repeats the word, causing my heart to begin to bleed. “Go.”
I reach for the nurse’s button as I stand, but she stays my hand. “Go.” Her eyes are open, looking directly at me.
They’re not blazing, they’re dull. They’re in pain but they’re alive. They’re beautiful. Her face is so pale, the skin is almost translucent. If I were to glance away from her perfect features, I imagine the bag with the drainage behind the bed would be visible.
I wouldn’t care if she didn’t have a single lock of hair on her head or a million stitches. She would still be the most beautiful thing in the world.
Even if she just told me to go.
“Baby…” I start to say, but I manage to hold it in. Barely. Because I feel like all of this is my fault. “I’m so fucking sorry,” I choke out.
“Need you to go,” she says again.
My heart stops. She means it. She wants me gone. She can’t forgive me.
“I need…” She pauses, closes her eyes and swallows. “I need you to go, Caleb.”
Even as my heart stops beating inside my chest, I think back to the words written on the piece of paper in my wallet that Matt gave me so many months ago.
I let the tears flow over. I reach up and brush a wayward curl away from her cheek and whisper, “I will always love you, Cassidy Freeman.”
I see her eyes flare as I bend down to brush my lips against hers. The tears from my face drop onto hers, and I carefully brush them off before kissing her forehead.
It may be the last time I get to touch my love. My heart. My soul.
I stand up and start to draw my hand away when I feel a small movement that causes me to look down.
I feel her fingers gripping at the sheet as she tries to inch her hand with the IV closer to mine.
Tentatively, I move my hand closer. Her fingers curl slightly over it and she sighs. Her eyelids lower, and her lips have a small smile on them.
“Go,” she whispers. “Need you to go get the others.”
Need you to go. Not go.
My heart aches as the blood slowly starts pumping through it again.
“You’re not telling me to go?” I choke out in disbelief.
“No.” Her eyes crack open. “I reserve the right for angry later. Should have tried to tell me.”
I half-laugh, half sob as I gently lay my lips on hers. “I know, and you’re right. You can reserve the right for whatever you need later, my love.”
