All Chapters of Dumped by the Heir, Claimed by his Brother : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

73 Chapters

CHAPTER SIXTY

CHAPTER SIXTY Cassie wanted to tell him he was being paranoid and that bad things just happened randomly and there was no pattern and no purpose. But there was a surety in his face that told her he wasn't going to back down on this, and honestly, the idea of someone deliberately hitting them was almost less frightening than the idea that the universe was just this randomly cruel."Okay," she said finally. "Look into it. But Leo, if you're right and someone actually did this on purpose, then we need to figure out who. And why… right?."" And we will.”He'd been checking his phone every few minutes, and Cassie could see the tension building in his shoulders. He was a good friend, but he was also a businessman with responsibilities, and the world didn't stop moving just because someone got hit by a car. "I have to head back to the office," he said around five, already standing and collecting his jacket. "The early investors are pushing for updates on the third location and I can't put

CHAPTER SIXTY ONE

CHAPTER SIXTY ONECassie stepped out when a police officer approached her around the corner. She’d been cooped up in that sterile room all night, caught in a restless loop of holding his hand until her fingers went numb, then pacing the cramped floor until the walls felt like they were closing in. Now, her whole body ached with a deep, heavy exhaustion from being trapped in that small space for so long. She’d honestly tried to sleep. She'd leaned her head back and begged her brain to switch off but every time she closed her eyes, the darkness just played the same horrific tape. She saw the headlights of the car coming toward them and Dom's face in that split second before impact. The officer had been waiting by the waiting room entrance. She could tell by the way he looked that he had been there for quite sometime. He was probably a good man who went home to a family and told them about his day, accident victims and grieving families, and then he probably tried to forget about them

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

CHAPTER SIXTY TWOShe had gotten used to the machines.At some point in the night the beeping stopped being noise and started being something closer to company. Cassie knew the rhythm of them now. The long steady pulse of the heart monitor, the silent hiss of the ventilator at intervals and the occasional soft click from the IV drip. She'd been listening to them so long that when one of them shifted tempo slightly around two in the morning, she sat upright, her heart in her throat and alerted the nurse to come and adjust it. The nurse assured her everything was fine and she could go back to sleep.She hadn't gone back to sleep.She sat in the chair with her knees pulled to her chest and she watched him breathe and she catalogued the changes overnight. The swelling on his forehead looked the same to her untrained eye and she didn't know if that was a good sign or not.She didn't know a lot of things.The window Dr. Osei had mentioned sat in the back of her mind counting down and she co

CHAPTER SIXTY THREE

CHAPTER SIXTY THREE Her mother arrived exactly fifty-three minutes after she had been checking. She'd clearly left the house quickly. Her coat was not entirely buttoned, her hair was pulled back rather than styled the way she usually wore it when she was going somewhere and she looked absolutely breathless, standing by the door. The moment their eyes met, Cassie melted. Her mother crossed the room in long strides and pulled her into her arms. She didn't intend to cry but the moment her mother's arms came, the warmth of being held by the specific person who had held her through her very first break up and every other breakdown after, broke through every false strength she had built. She cried into her mother's shoulder, letting all the pain out. Before now, someone was always there… either Leo comforting her or the people around that didn't need to see this weak part of her. And even the times she was alone with Dom, she'd needed to be the steady one in this room because the doctor

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR After a lot of back and forth, they had settled on the fact that her mum was going to stay for a while. The woman had simply decided she was staying and had nothing further to discuss on the matter. She'd found the extra blanket folded on the shelf near the window and even asked the nurse for a cup of tea which she didn’t even end up taking. She sat and watched and occasionally spoke. And then on multiple occasions, Cassie heard her whispering prayers quietly, her lips moving swiftly. When Cassie was little, she used to say praver was the private language between her mother and God and it always existed in the background of their home. And right now, Cassie found it steadying in a way she hadn't expected.They talked on and off through the hours about smaller things. Her mother asked about the apartment she and Dom shared and when Cassie told her it was a pent house, she couldn't contain her shock.“Mummy, Dom loves the kitchen, just like you.”"He cooks?" her reac

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE"Cassie."She turned but didn't see anyone except Dom and it wasn't his voice. “Dom, can you hear that?”“Cassie…” the voice called again and it sounded closer. "Cassie. Cassie, wake up."Someone tapped on her hand and slowly, she opened her eyes.The room was the same. The machines were the same. The golden yellow sun streamed through the window and Dom… Dom was in the bed exactly as he had been, eyes closed, completely still, the monitor wires in his hair and the ventilator hissing steadily. Her mother was standing over her with a takeaway bag in one hand and her other hand on Cassie's arm, her face was scrunched up in confusion as she took in the sight of her daughter. "You were talking in your sleep.”Her mother looked closer. “Are you crying? You're crying.” She dropped the takeaway and in seconds, she was sitting beside her. “Cassie… honey, what's wrong?”Cassie pressed the back of her hand to her face and true to it, her eyes were wet. But she wasn't wor

CHAPTER SIXTY SIX

CHAPTER SIXTY SIXShe was scraping the last of the pasta from the bottom of the container when the room phone buzzed."Mrs Hale?" The voice on the other end was professional and carefully neutral. "We have a visitor at the front desk asking for you. He says he's your father. A Mr. Reeves."Her body went completely still.The container in her hand, the spoon, the noise of the machines, the smell of food, all of it receded to somewhere very far away and she sat in the sudden silence of her present reality and felt absolutely numb"Mrs Hale? Are you there?""Yes…" She forced the word out and it surprisingly sounded steadier than she felt. "Yes, I'm here. Please let him in."She hung up and turned to her mother who was already watching her. "What is it?"Cassie set the container down on the table. Her hands were seriously shaking and she pressed them flat against her thighs."Your husband is downstairs."The silence that followed was deadly. They just stared at each other, silently prepa

CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN

CHAPTER SIXTY SEVENAfter a few minutes her mother turned back around and the composed version of herself was reassembled.She looked at Leo and then at Cassie. "I'll step out and give you two a moment."She slipped out into the corridor and the door closed softly behind her.Cassie exhaled slowly. She pressed her palms against her knees and looked at the floor for a second and then back up."He's threatening to disown us both," she said. "My mum came here to be with me and he followed her and he's angry and now she has nowhere to go tonight. She can't go back there, not tonight. Not with things the way they are."Leo nodded slowly. "I have someone she can stay for now.”“Cassie's head snapped up. “For real?”“Yeah… There's a spare room that is fully set up in one of my apartments. She can stay as long as she needs to.""Leo…" She felt the tightness in her throat again. "Thank you. Really…”"Don't." He waved it off. "She came here for you. The least I can do is make sure she has somew

CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT

CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHTSleep had only just begun to pull Cassie when a shrill alarm ripped through the silence.Her eyes flew open.Every monitor around Dom's bed flashed angry red as a rapid succession of beeps filled the room. The sound was so sudden and violent that for a moment she couldn't process what was happening. She was half-asleep and the alarms were like daggers cutting through the quiet of the hospital night.Dom's body was rigid as ever."What is happening?" she cried, jumping to her feet so fast the bed shifted beneath her.Two nurses rushed in, followed almost immediately by Dr. Osei. They moved with practiced urgency that came from having done this before, moving around Dom's bed with efficient precision."Ma'am, please step back," one of them said firmly enough that Cassie understood she wasn't welcome in their space anymore.She stumbled away, pressing herself against the far wall as they surrounded Dom. One nurse adjusted the oxygen mask on his face while another chec

CHAPTER SIXTY NINE

CHAPTER SIXTY NINE The waiting room was completely devoid of anything that might make a person feel better. Cassie sat in a plastic chair that squeaked when she moved, her leg bouncing up and down with a nervous energy she couldn't control.Leo paced. He'd been pacing for the last forty minutes, his phone in his hand, his jaw tight. Every few seconds he'd check the screen like the surgeon might text him an update instead of actually coming to tell them what was happening."It's been four hours," Cassie spoke quietly."Brain surgery takes time," Margaret said, squeezing her hand. "That's what the doctor said. He said it would take several hours.""But he said three to four hours. It's been four already.”"It's been four hours and fifteen minutes," she corrected gently. "And some of that time was preparation and positioning. The actual surgery time might still be within the expected window."Cassie nodded but the reassurance didn't help her stay still. Nothing did. She was suspended in

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