Her focus was entirely on Jacob. “This is a bad situation. But it doesn’t have to get worse.” She waved her hand to the huddled group of innocent bystanders. “What do you say if we let these other people go? They haven’t done anything, have they?”
Without hesitation the kid shook his head, then scanned the people as if only now realizing he and this idiot weren’t alone.
“Can we let them go?”
For just a split second, Kade thought he was going to agree, and then his back snapped straight and he shook his head. “No.”
“Okay.” Cassie nodded. “That’s okay if that makes you feel better. Do you feel better?”
Again, the kid hesitated, considering her words. Kade watched, mesmerized. She was actually connecting with this kid.
The kid’s gaze met hers. “I’ll feel better when Emily is better.”
“Of course you will.” Cassie’s stance remained calm, casual. “You love your sister.”
The kid just nodded. What Kade couldn’t decide was if they were making progress or not. He was, however, extremely grateful that the banking idiot who started this whole mess was clearly too petrified to open his mouth.
“That’s a nice bracelet,” her voice remained impossibly calm. “Did you make it?”
The question was so absurd, so completely out of left field that it had Jacob’s head snapping back before looking down at the worn leather bracelet on his wrist. “My sister did,” he mumbled, his voice barely a whisper. “For my birthday.”
“It’s beautiful.” Cassidy smiled ever so sweetly. “She’s very talented.”
Kade could feel the shift in the room. The air was still thick with terror, but something else was creeping in. A thread of human connection, spun from a simple, unexpected question. He was still coiled, still ready to move, but a part of his soldier’s brain watched her work with a sense of profound, disbelievingawe. He was trained to end a fight. She was trying to prevent one from ever truly starting. He could only pray she didn’t get herself killed in the process.
“Jacob.” Her voice was a soft, gentle murmur. “I know you’re trying to be strong for her. But you can’t help her from inside a jail cell. Let us help you. Let me help you.”
Any fool could see the conflict in the boy’s eyes, the war between desperation and the flicker of hope she was offering. The gun lowered, just an inch.
And then, in the distance, came the first, faint wail of an approaching siren. Jacob’s head snapped up, his eyes wide with fresh panic, the gun coming back up, trembling more violently than before.
“Listen, Jacob.” Cassie dared to take a step closer. “We don’t have much time. If you put the gun down now, before anyone else arrives, this can still be fixed.”
“Fixed how?” Suspicion crept back into his voice. “You can’t fix this.”
“Maybe not alone.” Still blocking a shot, she glanced briefly at Kade, then back to Jacob. “But the Sweet family has lived here for generations, they have connections. Resources. Let us help you and Emily.”
The gun wavered in Jacob’s hand. “Why would you help us?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Cassie said simply. “Because Emily deserves a chance. Because you deserve a chance.”
The siren grew louder. Jacob’s eyes darted toward the door, then back to Cassie. Panic flashed across his face. “They’re coming for me,” he whispered.
“Yes,” Cassie didn’t lie. “But what happens next is up to you.”
“It’s no use,” Jacob muttered, his arm straightening, the gun pointed directly and firmly at Cassie.
In that very instant, Kade knew the minute the doors flew open and the police barged in, that terrified kid was going to pull the trigger and there wasn’t a damn thing Kade could do about it.
Cassidy’s breath hitched, every muscle in her body screamed at her to dive for cover. A perfect dark circle, a tiny terrifying void, the barrel of the gun was aimed directly at the center of her chest. And yet, she didn’t move. Her gaze was locked with Jacob’s. His eyes didn’t reflect a killer’s rage, but a cornered animal’s pure, abject terror. The sirens were closer now, their wails a rising, frantic scream.
Time seemed to slow, to stretch. Like a movie scene suddenly rolling in slow motion. Everything came into strange, hyper-focused clarity: the frantic pounding of her own heart; the glint of the fluorescent lights on the gun’s slide; and Kade, a coiled, powerful presence only yards away, ready to launch himself into the path of a bullet meant for her. With a certainty as absolute as the gun in Jacob’s hand, she knew she could not let that happen.
“Jacob,” she didn’t dare move, “do you know what Emily would say if she could see you right now?”
The question hung in the air between them. His eyes flickered with uncertainty. “She’d be scared,” he whispered finally. “Scared for me.”
“Yes, she would.” Cassie took a small, careful step forward. “She wouldn’t want this for you.” The sirens were louder now, maybe a block away. She had seconds, not minutes.
