جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED The call from the prosecutor's office came on a Wednesday morning, while Cassie was clearing breakfast dishes and Dom was going through his morning stretches on the living room floor, the routine David had mapped out now second nature to both of them.Cassie answered, listened for a moment, and then walked the phone over to Dom, mouthing that he needed to hear this himself.The assistant district attorney's voice was stiff and professional, the voice of someone who'd delivered difficult news to enough families that the delivery itself had become smooth even when the content wasn't. She explained, carefully, that with Gregory's plea negotiations moving forward, certain details of the case were becoming part of the public record, and she wanted the family to hear the specifics directly rather than through news coverage that might get details wrong or sensationalize them.Gregory, she explained, had been quietly funneling misappropriated investor funds through a netw

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWODom called Daniel to explain the situation and they rescheduled the appointment for the following morning.That evening Cassie made dinner, something simple- pasta with the sauce because her hands still hadn't quite settled from earlier and this was an easy recipe. They sat together at the kitchen table, neither of them had much appetite for the meal. The steam rose off the plates and neither one picked up a fork for a while. Dom had to take his meds and he wouldn't eat without her, so she forced down a few bites just to give him a reason to do the same.Finally, Dom brought up the elephant in the room, sitting across from her instead of letting the moment just go away. "I know we spoke about this earlier but you were still panicking. Now that we're both calm enough to actually get through it, we need a plan."Cassie set down her fork, some of her earlier steadiness slipping away. The clink of metal against porcelain seemed too loud in the quiet kitchen. "A

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FOURThe doorbell rang just as Cassie was setting three glasses on the counter."That'll be him," Dom said from the couch. She wiped her hands on a towel and went to the door. She pulled it open and there was Leo, grinning, balancing three plastic bags stacked one on top of the other, a bottle of something tucked under his arm."Please tell me you didn't already eat," he said, pushing past her into the apartment before she'd even said hello."We didn't eat. We were waiting on you.""Good, because I got extra spring rolls. The lady at the counter likes me now, she gave me a whole extra portion.""Everyone likes you, Leo. That's not new information.""See, this is why you're my favorite Hale.""I know…”"Details." He set the bags down on the kitchen table and started pulling out containers, lining them up like he lived there. "Where's the man of the house?""Ignoring you, apparently," Dom called from the couch."He heard that," Cassie said."I heard that."Leo lau

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXCassie found the folder in the back of the closet almost by accident, looking for a spare blanket, and sat down right there on the bedroom floor when she recognized what it was.Wedding plans for earlier. "What's that," Dom asked, coming in from the hallway, cane tapping against the hardwood, and stopping when he saw what she was holding."I forgot this was even still in here," Cassie admitted, flipping through the brochure, the little stone chapel photographed against autumn trees. Dom lowered himself carefully to sit beside her on the floor, wincing slightly at the angle but not willing to stand there and make her crane her neck up at him. "We said we'd get a date," he said. "That night your mother came over… We never actually picked one."“You really want to redo it?”“Everything has been a rush of decisions and it's been very complicated. This is supposed to be the thing that isn't."Cassie smiled, something loosening in her chest at the thought. The i

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN The milestone test had been scheduled for weeks, the first attempt at walking without the cane for a full sustained distance, something David had built the entire physical therapy plan toward as a marker of real progress. Dom was practically buzzing with nervous energy the morning of the appointment, pacing the living room in a way that made Cassie laugh despite herself."You're going to wear yourself out before we even get there," she said, watching him move back and forth."I just want to actually do this," Dom said. "I've been building toward this specific test for weeks. I want it over with.""It's not a test you fail, Dom. It's just where you're at today.""I know that logically," he said. "Doesn't stop me wanting to prove something.""You don't have anything left to prove," Cassie said softly. "You've already done the impossible."He smiled faintly but didn't answer. Instead, he reached for his cane and headed toward the front door, determination w