Lia spent two days in the hospital before being released. She had a mild concussion and needed five stitches for the wound on the back of her head. The baby was fine and the doctor saw no reason for alarm. We’ve been staying with my Aunt Fae since leaving the hospital and we’re to be married in the pool area here in just over an hour. We had agonized over whether we should postpone the wedding until after the baby was born. With all that had happened, it was difficult to imagine moving forward, but in the end, we’d decided that a new beginning was something we desperately needed.
I turn from the window I have been staring out when I hear movement behind me. I turn, my mouth dropping open in shock as I see Aidan standing there. I fully expected he wouldn’t come today and assured him that I understood. He had been holed up in his apartment—drinking heavily from what Max and I had gathered—since Cassie’s death. I know he blames himself that he couldn’t save her—yet when the decision had to be made, he knew he first had to get Lia and our child to safety. I’ll never be able to repay him for that—knowing what it cost him to leave Cassie behind.
He realized as she’d fought him, determined to kill Lia, that she’d never really gotten better. It had all been an illusion. She was still a danger to herself and everyone in her path. But love is not something you can suddenly turn off, and he’s suffering her loss greatly. I study him as he walks closer, noting that his liquid diet has left him thinner—almost gaunt. His expression is bleak as he stops before me. I pull him into a hug, holding him for longer than I ever have before. He doesn’t return the embrace, nor does he pull away. There are no words of comfort I can give him—nor do I try. What can I say when I’m marrying the woman I love today while his lies in the ground? While I can’t fathom the gamut of emotions he is dealing with, and while I know he wasn’t in love with Cassie anymore, I have no doubt that he grieves for the woman he thought he saw emerging from Cassie’s shell. Aches for how fooled we’d all been, and how unwell she truly was.
He steps away and rocks back on his heels. Anger flashes across his face. “I talked to Monique yesterday,” he spits in disgust. His voice is hoarse as if he has barely used it in days. “At first, she refused to say anything, but when I went into graphic detail of what was going to happen to her in prison, she finally broke down and started begging for my help. I guess her daddy has even refused to come visit her. I told her that I needed some answers before I could even consider it.”
Shocked, I ask, “Surely to hell you’re not going to help that bitch?”
“No! Fuck, no way,” he hisses. “I just needed to know what happened. I mean, Cassie’s doctors were so certain she was getting better. I had just talked to them right before Monique signed her out for the trip to Colorado. They had no reservations at all about it. Then she’s…trying to kill Lia in the next breath?”
No matter how much I’d never like to hear Cassie or Monique’s names again, I’m as hungry for answers as he is. I know from what Lia has recounted that Monique likely spun some elaborate tale to send Cassie back off the deep end. And in all likelihood, she was probably never as far from the edge as Aidan and her doctors had hoped she was. I straighten my shoulders and brace myself. “What did she say?”
“What we already suspected. She told Cassie that Lia was trying to take her baby away from her. Convinced her that with Lia gone, she could have you and her baby back. She also told her that Lia had been the one who had been screwing around with you behind her back in college.” I grimace at the last part, grateful I’d finally told Aidan about cheating on Cassie the night that everything had imploded eight years ago. “She is fucking insane. Cassie was unstable and Monique recognized that fact and used it to her own benefit.” Turning, he brings his fist down on a nearby table, almost toppling it. “And I was sleeping with her. You tried to tell me to get away from her, and I didn’t listen. I mean, I knew she was a bitch, but I never saw the evil within her. If I had, I could have prevented all of this. Instead, I signed Cassie over and maybe a part of me was even relieved to let Monique handle things.” Fuck, he blames himself? What the hell?
“Aidan. Fuck, man, this isn’t your fault. You’ve done nothing but try to help Cassie. Monique played us all. I had no idea what she was up to, either. I figured she was just playing games as usual. I certainly never guessed what was really going on.” Now it makes sense why she sought Lia out at Leo’s that night. How does someone become so evil? I put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, but he’s rigid—filled with inner pain and rage. I’ve been there. My brother…