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“Cade, baby.” I cup his cheek. Tears slide down my face and plop on his cheek.
“I’m sorry, Abby.”
That only makes me sob louder. “I need to call an ambulance.” I try to pull away, but he doesn’t let go. “Please, Cade, I need to call…someone.”
“…called for help…’fore I arrived,” he mumbles. “…be here soon.” His eyelids flutter down.
“Cade, no, please. You need to stay awake.”
He raises his eyelids, and those mismatched eyes gaze at me with a look I’ve never seen in them before. Love, so much love, and tenderness and devotion.
“Kiss me,” he murmurs.
“What?”
“Kiss. Me. Abby.”
I kiss him. Guess he still holds sway over me. He’ll always hold sway over me. And I’m not sure how I feel about him. It doesn’t stop me from parting my lips and allowing him to deepen the kiss.
“That guy… He won’t bother you again,” he whispers against my mouth.
“Hush. Let the police handle him.”
As if on cue, footsteps clatter behind us. Then two men in uniform rush in.
47
Abby
I pace back-forth-back in the waiting room of the hospital. Zara watches me from one of the seats. On the seat next to her is a basket with her newborn son. I told her she didn’t need to come, but she brushed aside all of my protests and was the first to arrive. He is her brother, after all. And thank god, she came. Because once the press got wind of the fact the captain of the English cricket team was hurt, they descended on the hospital.
The cops wanted to take me in for questioning first, but one word from JJ Kane, and they relented. How much sway does he have over the London police force? Considering he’s the one who called the police so they could reach us in time to apprehend the stalker, then also had them back off from interrogating me...is something I can’t get my head around.
It’s thanks to him I was allowed to ride over in the ambulance with Cade—a very pale, silent Cade, stretched out with the paramedics running tests and radioing ahead to the hospital with their conclusions. Their voices washed over me, and I held onto his hand, willing him to live.
Of course, he’ll live. He has to live. He’s too vital, too strong, too mean to have his life cut short that quickly. And he saved me again. He took the knife meant for me. Tears slid down my face and I wasn’t able to stop myself. Not even when I jumped out of the ambulance to be faced with a cackle of paparazzi and their cameras. JJ appeared again, this time, with Declan, whose appearance helped distract them long enough to enable me to walk in behind Cade’s stretcher.
They took him straight into surgery and left me wringing my hands in the waiting room. Declan stayed with me. He told me JJ was off doing whatever was needed to take care of the situation. Then Zara arrived. When she hugged me, I almost fell apart. She held me close as I sobbed, before finally composing myself. Solene messaged to say she’d be on the next flight to London. Penny and Mira, too, texted to say they were on their way. I didn’t have the strength to tell them they shouldn’t and that I was okay—because I wasn’t. How could I be fine when he was in there fighting for his life?
“He’s going to be fine,” Zara says softly.
I nod.
“He really is going to be okay.”
I nod again.
“He’s too much of a tyrant to let anything keep him down for long.”
I half-laugh, half-cry at that. Sniffling, I walk over and sit down on the other side of the baby’s bassinet. “He’s so cute.” I touch baby James’s cheek.
“Doesn’t sleep at night and naps all day. He’s turned my life upside down.” I glance up to find her beaming down at her son. “He’s a replica of Cade when he was little.”
“Oh.” A sob catches in my throat, and I turn away.
“Oh honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you distress.” She reaches over and grips my shoulder. “He loves you, Abby, and clearly, you love him, too. He’s going to be fine and causing hell again very soon. He—"
Footsteps sound. Zara and I glance up as a man in scrubs—who’s features are familiar—walks over to us. He’s accompanied by another man, also in scrubs, but slightly younger.
