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The anonymous food blogger who could go into any eatery and make it light up with dollar bills with one of their reviews...
That was Cassie. Only, it wasn’t the one I’d known, but this new version. This sadder version.
I stared at the wedding photos that Conor had included and I peered at the man who was her husband.
My mouth tightened as I studied the clasp he had on her hand. His fingers were taut, and hers bled white from the pressure.
It was a controlling hold.
He beamed a bright smile at the camera, whereas her posture was cowed, her shoulders faintly hunched.
Hadn’t her family seen what was going on?
By the time we made it to Inessa's building, I was both outraged andenraged.
Conor, clearly intrigued, had sent me more information. I'd received private medical notes from several ERs and had looked at too many X-rays of broken ribs and fractured ulnas—both were proof of Cassie's husband's brutality.
That photos had been taken gave me hope that she was trying to fight her way out of the marriage, but there wasn’t a single DV charge on Harvey Rundel’s record, for fuck’s sake.
Had Cassie never reported him?
As I tried to figure out if I had any means of helping her, I recognized that I could do more harm than good by intruding on this situation. It killed me to leave her in that toxic environment, but I didn’t have a choice.
If she needed me, she had my number.
I had to hope that she remembered how close we’d been before our careers had taken us in different directions, and I had to hope that, from my articles and rep alone, she’d know I was a safe place to land.
Angry and hurt, sorrowful and grieving for the woman Cassie had been and what she’d been reduced to, I was shaking when I stepped out of the car and was still trembling when I made it into the elevator.
Aidan might think that Inessa had all the personality of white paint, but when she saw the state of me, her arms immediately opened and she tugged me into a hug.
"Are you okay? I know it's terrifying when these things happen. But you're safe and Aidan protected you and everything will be okay."
My lips had to twitch.
Here she was, thinking I was crying because of Sunday, and instead, I was here for an entirely different reason.
Maybe Lucas was right—Iwasmore trouble than the Sparrows and the ECD.
I pressed a kiss to her cheek and, as I pulled back, told her, "Never change, Inessa. You're far too sweet for this world of ours."
She blinked at me. "Thank you… I think."
"I definitely meant it as a compliment."
Her hand hovered by my cheek. "The burns look sore."
"They are." I grimaced. "They won't take long to heal."
"Eoghan told me what happened."
"He did?"
She shot me a smile as she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen with her. "He tells me some things. Things I probably shouldn't know."
"Color me intrigued," I teased.
She snorted. "You probably know a lot more than me."
