All Chapters of Dumped by the Heir, Claimed by his Brother : Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

155 Chapters

CHAPTER NINETY

CHAPTER NINETYThe Doctor left and David lingered longer, scribbling something on his tablet before he followed, leaving the room quiet in a way that felt different from the usual silence it used to hold. Cassie looked at Dom. He was staring at his hands in his lap, and when he finally looked up at her, his eyes were bright and glistening. "I get to go home," he said, like he was still convincing himself."You get to go home," she echoed.He reached for her hand and she gave it, lacing her fingers through his the way she'd done a thousand times in this room over the past six weeks, except this time it felt different. It felt like the beginning of something instead of an anchor against something else."I want to see the highway before we go anywhere near the house," he said suddenly.Cassie blinked. "What?""The stretch where it happened. I want to see it before we drive past it for the first time.”Cassie studied his face, looking for the fracture point, the place where the request m

CHAPTER NINETY ONE

CHAPTER NINETY ONELeo sat in a stool and looked up at her. "Do you understand what it means to not get in my car after work today and drive straight to the hospital? Like I just drove straight home. No visitor parking or nurse giving me that look because visiting hours are almost over." He rubbed his face with both hands. "I didn't realize how much I hated that drive until I didn't have to make it."Cassie slid the mug across to him. "I didn't realize how much I missed my own kitchen until this morning.""Different kind of prison, same relief," Leo said, wrapping both hands around the mug like it was doing something for him beyond the caffeine. "How's the patient?""Sleeping. Which is a miracle in itself, given how long it took us to get him up the stairs last night."Leo raised an eyebrow over the rim of his mug. "That bad?""Worse," Cassie said, and despite herself she felt a small laugh building at the memory. You know the laughter that only came after something had stopped being

CHAPTER NINETY TWO

CHAPTER NINETY TWO Cassie waited until Dom was asleep on the couch before she picked up the phone and called the lawyer back."Mrs. Hale," he said, like he'd been expecting the call sooner than this. "Thank you for returning it.""What does he want," she said, skipping past any pleasantries she didn't have in her right now."He's asked for a supervised meeting with you and your husband before his plea hearing. He was very specific about the wording. He said he wants to settle something before the record settles it for him."Cassie sat down slowly on the kitchen stool, the same one she'd been sitting on the morning Gregory's arrest broke. "What does that mean?""I can't tell you what he intends to say. I can tell you he's been insistent about it for days, and in my experience that usually means guilt looking for somewhere to put itself down.""Does he understand we're not obligated to give him that?""He understands. He's asking anyway. For what it's worth, Mrs. Hale, I've represented

CHAPTER NINETY THREE

CHAPTER NINETY THREE Cassie watched the two of them go back and forth, Dom's jaw setting the way it did when he'd already decided something and was only humoring the argument out of respect, David's frustration was thinning with every exchange because he knew, probably better than anyone in the room, that he couldn't actually stop him."What if we compromise," Cassie asked before it could go another round. "How about we apply ice before we leave and the second we're back?”“Cassie…”“David look… I get you, and I am on your side but we both know Dom is a stubborn man and will do what's on his mind eventually so I think we should just help him make sure it's safe.”“And you too… you haven't gotten over the trauma of driving when that accident happened. How do I trust him to drive him to and fro in one piece?”“I am not driving.”“And Dom can't either, so who…”“We called someone.”David sighed. He looked between them, clearly unhappy but recognizing the fight for what it was, one he wa

CHAPTER NINETY FOUR

CHAPTER NINETY FOUR Cassie felt the air in her lungs go still, her whole body going quiet. How dare he call them all the way down there to admit to attempting to murder her?“Is that it?" Dom asked, his voice frighteningly calm. "Because I already know that."Marcus looked at him for a long second before letting out a slow breath. "I had paid someone to handle the documents and carry out the job because I couldn't just sit there and watch you have what was supposed to be mine." His eyes shifted to Cassie. "You had no right walking away, Cassie."The room fell silent. Cassie stared at him, almost unable to believe what she was hearing."So you tried to kill her..." Dom said. His hands were shaking now. His voice stayed low, but every word carried a dangerous edge. "You are trying to tell me that you tried taking a woman's life because she chose another man over you?"Marcus swallowed. "It wasn't just about that.""No?" Dom shot back. "Then tell me what possible explanation makes this

CHAPTER NINETY FIVE

CHAPTER NINETY FIVE The drive home was quiet for a long time. It was like something heavy had been dropped and it had weighed them so much they couldn't find words. Dom seemed strangely lighter than he had before they went, like something in him had finally set down a weight it had been carrying since the hospital. He talked a little about the business meeting Leo had set up for the following week, about wanting to call David later to update him on how the leg had held up through the whole ordeal, ordinary things, the kind of things a man says when a door has actually closed behind him and he's testing what it feels like to walk forward without it."I keep waiting to feel worse," he admitted at one point, watching the city blocks slide past the window. "Like I should feel angrier, or sadder, or something bigger than what I actually feel. But then it's Marcus…”"So what do you actually feel," Cassie asked."Tired," he said. "Just tired. Like something that's been sitting on my chest

CHAPTER NINETY SIX

CHAPTER NINETY SIX Dom glanced at Cassie, he almost looked shy. That was the first time she'd seen that particular expression on him in weeks. "I want to write a book."“What?”Even Cassie gasped. She didn't know he had taken their conversation seriously. Dom averted his gaze from Leo as the other sat starstruck by what he just heard. “You want to do what?”“You know I don't like to repeat myself Leo. I've always wanted to write, I just never thought I could achieve that because of the kind of family I came from and the kind of responsibility I carried from a very young age. We were never thought to do anything that wasn't business so I let it die. But I just realised I am my own person now. I have freewill now, and I will use it however it pleases me.”“Wow..." Cassie let out a slow breath, still trying to wrap her head around everything he'd just said. "That's... that's a lot to process.""I know," Dom said with a small nod. "I've had time to think about it, and that's exactly what

CHAPTER NINETY SEVEN

CHAPTER NINETY SEVEN Cassie held the letter for three full days before she finally opened it.She had taken it and carried it with her from room to room in those three days, an odd little habit she couldn't quite explain to herself, the envelope tucked into her bag when she went to the pharmacy for Dom's prescriptions, left on the nightstand while she slept, moved back to the kitchen counter each morning like it needed to be somewhere she could see it even if she wasn't ready to face what was inside it.Dom noticed, of course. He noticed everything now, in a way he hadn't before the accident, like the six weeks in a hospital bed had sharpened something in him that used to be dulled by the constant motion of his old life."You don't have to open it," he told her one evening, watching her turn it over in her hands at the kitchen table, the envelope soft now at the corners from all the handling."I know.""You also don't have to keep carrying it around like it's going to explode if you

CHAPTER NINETY EIGHT

CHAPTER NINETY EIGHT Margaret came over on a Sunday afternoon, calling ahead this time instead of simply showing up the way she used to, a small shift in behavior that Cassie noticed immediately and didn't comment on, understanding instinctively that her mother needed the control of an announced visit rather than the vulnerability of just showing up.She came with a bottle of wine and sat stiffly on the edge of the living room sofa, hands folded in her lap, the posture of a woman bracing herself for something she'd rehearsed and was still nervous to say out loud."I need to tell you both something," Margaret said, glancing briefly toward the hallway where Dom's voice could be heard faintly, on the phone with Leo about something related to the business transition. "Actually, I'd like Dom to hear it too, if that's all right."Cassie called him in, and he came slowly, cane tapping against the hardwood, easing himself into the armchair across from Margaret with every motion measured now

CHAPTER NINETY NINE

CHAPTER NINETY NINE Eleanor called Cassie to ask if it was convenient to stop by. “Of course, mum. Anytime.”She was dressed plainly, none of the polish Cassie remembered from the handful of family events she'd witnessed Eleanor at over the years, none of the careful armor of a woman who'd spent decades performing a role rather than living a life. She looked, Cassie thought, like someone who'd been stripped down to something more honest by the events of the past several months, the same way Margaret had.Dom met her in the living room alone at first, asking Cassie for privacy, and Cassie retreated to the kitchen, close enough to hear murmurs of conversation through the ,doorway without making out full sentences, giving them the space they needed while lstaying near enough that Dom would know she was there if he needed her.The conversation was slow and from what she could tell, there were long pauses between exchanges, neither voice raised, neither voice particularly warm either, j

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