[Kaden]"What the hell is fucking taking so damn long?"My fingers dug into my scalp, strands tugging painfully as I paced in front of the ER doors. Nurses and doctors had been running helter-skelter for hours, but none had given a single goddamn update.My lips sank deep into my teeth, biting so hard I could almost taste blood. At the end of the hallway, Mason and Ryan sat, their heads bent low. I couldn't sit. I couldn’t blink. My head pounded so loudly I could hear my heartbeat in both ears like war drums."I'm at my boyfriend's house."The words slammed into me all over again, making my jaw clench tight until it ached.I was worried. Fucking worried for nothing. For a woman who left our kids to go spend the night with a man.He’s her boyfriend. And so fucking what?Does that give her the right to leave the kids alone at night just to satisfy herself?Who the hell does that?She knew what our kids had been through. She knew Cherry was still out of reach. Yet she had the guts the da
[Matilda]"Are you sure you're okay? If there's something that bastard said to you that you don't like...""He didn't say anything," I cut Leo off, my hand still clamping over each other.I bit down on my lip hard as I tried to calm the way my heart was pounding loudly in my chest. I wanted to call Kaden back to ask what he was trying to say but I know so well that Kaden had absolutely nothing reasonable to say to me, not with the way he's been constantly calling me for days now.But why was I still feeling some kind of way?"I don't like the way you are," Leo's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned toward him and shook my head."I'm okay. I just feel sad knowing that the children must have been worried," I said, and he nodded, dropping his hand on my thighs."I'm sorry about that. It's my fault and not yours. I shouldn't have slept off," Leo apologized again for the umpteenth time."It's fine," I mumbled, staring outside the window as the city blurred past us.I rested my head
[Matilda]"Oh good lord," I mumbled as I stirred softly, trying to shift my head into a good position. Why was my bed suddenly hard today? It has always been comfortable and soft.My eyes squinted against the light as I slowly woke up. My head was pounding so loudly."Goodness," I mumbled, my voice barely above a whisper. I bit down on my lips, blinking repeatedly as I tried to make sense of where I was.This is not the view from my bed. Did I pass out in the living room? But this isn't my...Hold on? My heart skipped immediately. Not minding how my head was still throbbing, I straightened up, my eyes shifting from one corner to the other as I tried to recall where the hell I was or what I was doing here.My eyes shifted to the side and I blinked back at the sight before me.Leo? What am I..."Oh my God!" My voice pitched up as everything dawned on me. "Leo!" I tapped his hand but he only stirred, turning his face in the other direction, with his hand almost touching the floor."God,
[Kaden]My hands were trembling as I tightened it on the steering wheel. Driving straight to the hospital.I had left just as a few officers arrived on the scene. One asked if I’d seen anything suspicious.I said no.Because I wasn’t going to give Cherry the fucking satisfaction of prison. She didn’t deserve the easy way out.She’s crossed the goddamn line—and if anything happens to Tilda, if she lays a single finger on her. If she dares to.The emergency units had tried to stop me from driving with the bullshit of I needed to be checked by the paramedics all because I was in a smoke for not even up to twenty minutes. When my kids are right at the hospital and their mother is nowhere to be found.Yes, I fucking ran back into the damn house with one of the firefighters following behind me. I told him there were places he didn't know in the house. That was all lies. I just wanted to be fucking sure that Tilda was seriously not in that house and I confirmed it. She was nowhere near that
[Kaden]"Sir, you need to stay back," The man shouted and just like that, two other people appeared behind me. Blocking my way"Please you need to step out," Their hands on mine were firm. Even with the mask on, the smoke was all over the place. I could hear people running in out and out but I couldn't see shit.I held onto one of them as they led me right outside the house. Out of the porchI growled, taking the fucking mask off my face as I squinted my eyes to stare ahead."Please sir you need to stay still and let us do our job," One of them said, standing beside me, while the other guy sprinted back to the porch.The night air was thick with smoke now. My throat burned with every breath, my eyes stung I couldn’t look away. My hand fisted into a tight ballI didn't know what I was fucking thinkingI stood still, my heart heavingThe man that ran off. The fire. He started the fucking fireWho sent him? Cherry? This is her doing! This is her fucking doing. I fucking swear...My eye
[Kaden]"What the hell is going on?" My heartbeat quickened as I charged up the porch My eyes were locked on the front of the house—on the sick trail of smoke curling upward, sliding from the corners of the door and windows.Thick enough to mean something was very, very wrong."Tilda!" I shouted, already bounding up the porch steps. "Tilda, open the damn door!"I reached for the doorknob and yanked it.Locked."Fuck!" I growled, turning around to where that bastard ran off. "Who the fuck was that? God! No, it can't fucking be what I'm thinking,"I reached for the doorbell pressing it nonstopI slammed my palm against the door. "Tilda, open the door!"I twisted the knob again. Nothing.My other hand joined the first as I threw my weight against the door. Still locked. Still holding. I could hear the crackle now. The smoke was no longer just drifting, it was seeping, pouring through tiny spaces like it was searching for a way out.I stumbled back, coughing. My eyes stung.My hand fumbl